Back to the Winter Gallery

Ahem. Side tracked.
So the opening day came round and with clean white walls (thanks Kat and Danielle!) We were ready to hang our collective works...

Time rolled on very quickly and with the opening looming, measurements, hammering, drilling and finishing sped up. It was nice to work collectively having made our work separately in order to finish the project as a whole.


The Lightbox attached smoothly with the frankly professional muscular help of Dan and Rory. Having measured the baseline for the box, the boys held it straight and I pencilled out the holes in each of the four shelf brackets(below) and the two mirror plate fixings (above). We put the box down, I pre-drilled the holes, the boys held the box up again and I screwed it into the wall. All previous worries of it's weight and size etc dropped away as i proudly welded it up and there it sat glowing away...

One item absolutely necessary to the entire act of hanging an exhibition? Spirit Level.


With the work hung and straightened I rushed home to change (HA!) and returned to the space. The private view was very enjoyable. Friends, friends of friends and vigilant members of the art community turned out to enjoy a relaxed and very straightforward opening night.

A lovely touch to the gallery is it's drive space in front, perfect for outside enjoyment of the gallery. With the big double doors wide open and inviting it was nice to enjoy the evening sunshine and look in on a group of people enjoying our hard work...and our beer!

An after hours celebratory drink for Kat and myself. Hurrah!

"Hi, I like your art"
"Why thank you. Here, take a card"

maybe one day?

Me and my niece

A truly memorable image for both uncle and niece to enjoy for years to come! Cheers Bruv!

Iron like a lion in Zion!

With uni slowly edging out the window, I have fun time...
Ink on growing paper...


Just a quick scan as It's too large for my scanner bed. Nice dark lines...

Distracting photoshop fun...

I have plans to produce several colourful versions, with block colours and smooth dark edges.

Morning

Bright an early both, lights fixed down and ready for a test before sealing up.

And with light forced through,
the images,
usually dull and flat when lamp lit,
explode from their windows.

Inversion and collusion of prescense,
like closed circuit television,
a watchful gaze on
the static impression of moving time.

Life in Colour.
Bound and defined
By the darkness surrounding;
this is the mind.

Let there be light(s)!

The fluorescent tubes I used were 2ft long. Each one lies diagonally behind a set of four images. This gives an even coverage without too much contrast in light fallout between the centre and edge. Through the translucent opal acrylic there is a warm even glow with a slight orange hue.

To attach the lights neatly, I took the top off the housing and found a hole which I could drill through from the back into a piece of wood.
The short piece of pine(bottom) sits in the housing on top of the pencil line. The two dark vertical lines show where the holes will be.

From underneath, i drilled through the back of the MDF, through the holes in the light housing and into the wood. This held the light tightly inside and the screw head ensure the back would still fit flush to the wall.
I repeated this for the other light, realised it was 11.15pm, drilled a single hole for the power cable and stopped using power tools.

To get power to both lamps, I bought a two way adapter and three metres of cabling to run from the lights box to a mains plug. I wired the plug and attached the lights.

The last photograph before sleep
Making this lightbox within my room was difficult; it was the best space to do it in but left me with kilos of sawdust and a workshop for a bedroom.
I can't lie it's been great fun.

Spray and image mounting

After drilling, cutting out and sanding the MDF I was ready to paint the top.
I used spray paint, Easy and Cheap. 3 coats was enough to covers the top

Following this, I secured the images into their windows. I tested several combinations and felt that this order gave harmony to the left group of four and the right group of four whilst also creating four columns of two stacked images; each duo working together to either hint at narrative, light conditions or concept.

I secured the images with glue then glued the acrylic sheet on top, securing it around he edge of the images. I then clamped them to ensure a strong bond.

Here, the board is placed on my window sill, lit by cloudy day light.
I began to see the lightbox take a tangible step forward

Sane Man Lightbox

"Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you" Carl Jung

Mid lightbox building snap...
More building process to come shortly.