She Made Her Mark -- Day Six

Well, day six is sort of squirmy. Maybe it's me that's squirmy. I'm heartily sick of the back brace that allows me to sit upright in what a doctor considers comfort.

I've been through this image deck again and again. I've sorted it six ways from sunday. Sorting is about useless when it comes to setting the sequencing of an exhibition. The Marie Webster House, The Quilters' Hall of Fame is an Edwardian mansion built in early in the first decade of the twentieth century.






This image is the floor plan of the entry and main area in the building. It shows the architectural vestiges of the Victorian era. Note the main staircase in the very large entry hall. On back you see the servant's stairs.

From two thousand miles away it's a bit difficult to envision the traffic flow. An exhibition has to grab a visitor and pull them along in a predetermined path. It's particularly important in a space such as this. As 80%+ of the population is right handed and everyone in America drives to the right of the center line of the road, it is normal and natural to live one's life in the continuous right turn sequence. It avoids all sorts of problems in life.

So, looking at this floor plan, the reception area opens directly on the staircase proceeding up. It is the most "drawing" architectural element. So, with right hand preerence, the keynote and first major exhibition area is just past the double pocket doors leading into the grand parlor. It's counter intuitive because the huge space of the pocket doors wants you to turn right. However, if you want the viewer to enter the grand parlor a bit farther back in the house, the enticement must be strong enough to be placed between the front door, the stair, and the entrance to the gift shop.

That done, the visitor can choose whether to work their way around the grand parlor in the continuous right turn of clock wise. So, the works selected for the grand hall~reception area and the grand parlor all have to speak to each other. It's like selecting voices for a large choir; each has it's own range yet each must be a comfortable and capable part of a congenial whole.



This image gives you the wall space of the interior of the grand parlor, the wall containing the pocket doors.

I had thought about doing the arithmetical acrobatics to scale color xerox images to match the scale of these drawings. Then, hum, you do call yourself an artist? Don't you? Eight inches to represent a ten foot high room doesn't seem quite sufficient.

Why not draw each wall in a one inch equals one foot? That will make, eventually a mock up of each room. You will be able to sort and try and fuss and fidget. The works will finally tell you where they belong. So, I'm thinking of searching out the B size quad pad. What? You have a T-square and the ability. Why not just re-draw each wall on foam core?

So, that is where my squirmy mind is taking me today. Choosing the works for an exhibition is the very least of the work. Creating the sequence, rhythm, balance, and cadence of the works is what excites the viewer and draws them through an exhibitin.

Bleght ! I've a lot of work to do.