Organising a beadwork exhibition - finding an organising principle

I have had a frantic week preparing for the launch of my first beadwork exhibition. The launch was held last night (Sunday 27th Sept). Various dictionaries claim that an exhibition is an organised collection of items for public display. It was hard on Saturday night to imagine I’d ever reach the status of ‘organised’. Jewelry was strewn throughout the house, display boxes were in a state of undress and my printer decided to run out of ink just when I wanted to print the exhibition leaflet. A minor miracle and timely help from my partner and friends got me over the line.

Creating an ‘organised’ collection of beadwork was much harder than I imagined. It meant trying to find an ‘organising’ principle. Should I organise according to purpose (for instance, put all the earrings together, etc.), would organising by shape or colour create an enticing display or should it be organised by grouping items together that are from the same collection? I had advertised that I would have items from three of my collections (the Endangered collection, the Desires collection and the Earthstones collection) on display. What do you think I did - what organising principle do you see in the photos of two of my display frames for the exhibition?

Many exhibitions occur in large institutions such as museums, galleries and exhibition or trade fair venues. My exhibition is in a lovely small organic café called the Healing Web’s Vitality Café, in Geelong, Victoria, Australia (you can catch details on their Facebook page ). Geelong is the second largest city in Victoria and it is about to be larger by 200,000 or so people as it is hosting a major international bicycle event in the next week. My exhibition didn’t attract quite those numbers (the venue only takes about 25 people at any one time) but it was lovely to have friends attend and support its launch. Thanks to everyone who attended and supported my work in this way.

The Art to Enrich exhibition is on until the end of October – pop by and enjoy great food and coffee if you are in Geelong. You can also see the meditative artwork of my exhibition partner Lynda Crowther.