I felt a responsibility for making the project happen. Although we didn’t officially elect a leader, I started the communications, prompted people to explain their ideas/work, and asked for input. Unfortunately, it ended up feeling like I was handling a lot of the project’s weight even though it was supposed to be a collaboration. I wrote everything our group ever submitted, because no one else was willing to contribute anything beyond vague ideas or suggestions. I’m happy with where our ideas ended up, but I am disappointed that I had to take everything into my own hands, in order for it to get done.
I enjoyed the installation process, working with the group to manage our layout. Seeing how the works informed each other and setting up visual connections/balance with such a diverse range of style was very satisfying and engaging. I do wish we could have had more time to produce work, because I felt very rushed. If future classes do group exhibitions, I would recommend giving them more time. I would have liked to have more on the wall. It’s important to our theme how the space feels and as is, it feels somewhat empty. However, our group has most of the younger students, myself included, so many of us didn’t have work we could re-use or add to bolster our exhibition.
Overall, I would have enjoyed more collaboration. If I was doing a project with less people, so we could get to know each other and our work better, perhaps we could have engaged in more productive conversation. I tried to make that happen for our group. I’m not sure if people were uncomfortable because we are mostly strangers, or just didn’t want to put in the time, but we didn’t have hardly any group conversation about ideas. That is something I’d be interested in doing in the future perhaps, because I think having more than one person’s input can grow something to be a better version of itself. (Most of the time)
This exhibition has peaked my interest in thinking about how to display my work. In the context of school and group critiques, I’ve never really put effort into making a display of my work except for portfolio review. Moving forward, I want to think about my work in its own context. I’ve been experimenting more with my studio wall and hope to continue this exploration.