Behind the scenes of 'Foot in the Door 4'
This
job provides for a couple of perks, one of which is
being involved in interesting art exhibit projects
from a 'behind the scenes' perspective. In other
words, friends in the art world ask you to volunteer
to help them with an event. Yesterday was a perfect
example.
Every 10 years (this being the fourth time), The
Minneapolis Institute of Arts hosts an event called
the "Foot in the Door" exhibit. Essentially, any
Minnesota resident, at no expense to themselves, can
submit one original piece of art they have created to
be exhibited at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts.
The art cannot be larger than 12"x12" for wall art or
larger than 12"x12"x12" for three dimensional art. It
is a terrific opportunity to exhibit in one of the
most prestigious museums in the world for four
months.
Art check-in takes place over four days. As a
volunteer for the art check-in, my responsibilities
were 1) insure the art did not violate the size rule,
2) collect the paperwork for each piece, 3) assign a
wall location, 4) provide a receipt for the art and
then 5) deliver the art to the staging area. In other
words, the first point of contact for the artists.
The art itself was impressive and the range was
amazing. Each piece was cradled by the artists as if
it were a newborn.
After the art is received, it is staged in an exhibit
room and waits to be registered in the computer and
photographed for the on-line catalogue. Over 1,000
artists checked in art the first day and over 3,000
submissions are expected. At the peak crowd size, the
wait was 2.5 hours, but everybody was extremely
patient and in a very good mood.
One of the other perks in volunteering is checking in
your own art (and your friend's art) without the
complication of waiting in line. Those will be posted
later.
Today my back is killing me (marble floors) and I am
exhausted. It cost me a day's pay to be there and the
tuna sandwich was stale when I finally had a chance
to eat. But I made many new friends and saw many
familiar friends and would do it again in a New York
minute. I can't wait for the exhibit reception which
is on February 18, 2010.
