Themes Emerge at Atlantic Health

All of our venue coordinators have their favorite aspect of our show.  For Ania Lesiak, our Atlantic Health System coordinator, it’s curating the displays.  With a venue that averages between 180 to 200 pieces each year, this task may seem overwhelming so we asked Ania to describe her process for organizing the artwork on drop off day.

“We hang our exhibition in one day, so in general we take all of the large artworks as they come in and immediately hang them in the main hallway coming off the hospital lobby since we cannot fit them all on the black display boards. We adjust them/move them around as the day goes on, based on juxtaposition and try to keep like themes/colors together, or to have pieces play off of each other. For example we kept a large-format horse photograph by an adult and a medium size horse drawing by a child next to each other in the hallway.

Then as we take in the artworks throughout the day, we just lean them against the blackboards in the floor, facing out. We move them around (Ok, I move them around!) according to similar categories/themes in the same way, and we start really hanging in the afternoon when we have enough pieces to create a full theme. We always end up moving hangers and pieces when a more appropriate matching piece comes along, or we come up with a new theme. For example we had so many artworks of birds this year that I had to spill it over into another board.”

With their largest show to date, featuring 220 pieces by 153 artists, you may be wondering what Ania’s favorite section was this year. Her answer, the "Treasure" themed wall!