Creating a mood: Art exhibits take thought, effort behind the scenes

Art curators, gallery managers, museum directors, call them what you will, but with each exhibition they install, they all do the same thing: transform a space to create a mood.

When visitors walk into an art gallery, they can scan the exhibit and get a feel for the mood of the work, then slowly make their way around the room, flowing from one piece to another, appreciating the relationship between pieces and each piece on its own. At least, that's what curators and directors hope happens.

To arrange an exhibition, they consider size, color, medium, lighting, space -- the space between piece of work and around it. No piece should overshadow another. Each one should be perfectly lit.

"There's not really a science to it," said Emily Booth, gallery coordinator at the River Campus Art Gallery in the Seminary Building. "It's an organic process."

Booth and other gallery managers around town said the goal is to use the art pieces to lead people through the exhibit; to find a balance between the pieces so that path does not clog with chunks of the same type or color of art.

Once a show arrives, Booth said she unpacks the art and separates the wall pieces from the sculptures. She then lays them where she thinks they will look best and takes a step back.

"I constantly go to the door," she said. "If you're just working on one wall, you're just concentrating on what's in front of your face."

Depending on the type of show, the art will be grouped in a certain way. In a solo show, the designer may group the art chronologically through the artist's life or arrange the pieces so that the colors and subjects balance out the room.

For group shows, all the work from one artist usually ends up displayed together. Sometimes the medium dictates grouping, with paintings here, ceramics over there, a fibers corner.

Once the pieces have an assigned spot, they go up.

Galleries hang most artwork so the middle of the piece hits about 60 inches from the floor. The idea, Booth said, is that 60 inches is the average eye level. The height changes depending on the size of the piece and the size of the space, but the art world agrees that 60 is a safe guideline.

The space between art relies more on the size of the pieces. There needs to be enough space between works to signal to the viewer that the side-by-side images are different.

"If things are too close together, things tend to blend together," said Peter Cuong Nguyen, the new director at the Crisp Museum. "It looks like one piece."

An exhibition coordinator also thinks about how a person will look at the art. Larger pieces will need more space for a person to back up and view the entire piece, Nguyen said.

"A smaller piece is more intimate," he said. A coordinator might put a sculpture on a pedestal in front of a small painting to encourage viewers to stand closer to the painting.

With the art hung on walls and sculptures set up, curators turn on the lights.

Look up in most art galleries and track lighting covers the ceiling. The adjustable heads allow for better control.

"Lighting is crucial to either make a work come alive or kill it," Nguyen said.

Direct lighting on a painting can damage the paper and fade the colors. It can also cause a glare on glass or high-gloss oils.

"You want to illuminate and spotlight, but you don't want to take away," Booth said.

They use filters and send light down and across instead of directly at a work

It's "another organic process," Booth said.

Organic, but calculated for the best possible result: creating a mood.