Hanging In There!
Hello, Readers!
This week at the Phoenix Art Museum, my mentor and I finished up with setting up the gallery. We completed the rest of the framing that we needed to do for each document. Once again, I cut out more mats, laid out more buffer paper, and pried apart more table mounts.
My favorite thing to frame was a magazine that needed to be open when mounted so the insides would be displayed. For that frame, I used buffer paper for the backing, and since the magazine is too heavy to hold itself, then I got to work with clear mounting corners to hold it in place.
My least favorite part of the framing was using the clear float frames. Although the frames made the items look cool, they got scratched super easily, and it was pretty hard to get the items to stay in place. I was glad we only had to work with two of that type of frame.
I thought of a poem about the frustration of the float frames:
O Float Frames,
How annoying you are
You scratch faster
Than Arizonans driving cars
Finally, we got to work on hanging up everything. My mentor had already made models mapping out where each document would go on each wall. Then, she printed out documents showing that positioning and grouped them by which wall they belonged to.
When it came to the actual hanging, we used a variety of ways to put up each of the displays: command strips, hooks, nails, putty, and more. At first, I was worried that we would damage the walls too much, but I was assured a few nails in the drywall would not cause the whole building to collapse. We first used tape to outline where each frame would go and where the hook needed to be. Then, we nailed it down. My mentor handled most of the hammering, but I got the opportunity to do a few.
Picture credit: Aspen Reynolds
Here’s a series of photographs illustrating the evolution of the showroom:
Although the gallery’s opening date was set to March 7th, there are a few finishing touches we still need to do in order to ensure the longevity of the documents, mainly adjusting the overhead lighting so it does not point directly at the light-sensitive items. I will be handling that next week, and after that, I believe I will return to learning about book preservation since the gallery work will be done.
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