I felt both excited and apprehensive upon starting this project. Although I had been doing a myriad of preparation work behind the scenes, I still felt rather unsure about how the whole exhibition would come together so quickly. I was also intrigued by the challenge of displaying artwork in such an old building, which would be open to the public throughout our installation. 

DAY ONE 

My first day on site was rather relaxed, as I helped schools drop off their artwork in the Undercroft. It was exciting to see the room fill with such an abundance of colours and shapes, with so many different interpretations of the theme ‘Courage’. There were a lot more larger scale, 3D pieces of art than I had anticipated. Many of which we left directly in the Cloisters, so as not to damage them in transport. I was struck with the level of care the schools had taken to produce such intricate pieces. I also liked the fact that so much of the artwork was collaborative, with many different contributions from children across year groups. 

DAY TWO 

As Rich and Steve set about fixing the board issues, I was sent out to hunt for screws to help secure the new brackets. I wanted to help wherever possible to alleviate the stress of the morning but found this difficult as I did not know the process as well as Rich or Steve – and my knowledge of screws and brackets is next to none! Three shops down, I finally acquired the size needed and we pressed on to try and make up for lost time.  

I spent the next part of the morning relocating the artwork from the Undercroft into the Cloisters. As the Cloisters filled up with all the work, I felt rather daunted and wondered how we were going to fit everything in. I felt strongly that each child’s artwork should be given a space, yet this felt a large ambition to achieve.  

Rich, Steve and I spent the rest of the day really familiarising ourselves with the artwork, sifting through each piece slowly until different themes started to emerge. Given the theme of ‘Courage’, we immediately noticed the plethora of lions we had to work with, debating whether to create a lion ‘corner’ or spread them out throughout the exhibit. As well as grouping other notable themes such as animals, superheroes and VE-Day, we also collected artwork together that had complimentary colours or styles. Breaking down the artwork like this helped me see the task ahead as more manageable and less daunting.

DAY THREE 

Now various themes and groupings had begun to emerge, we started to place artworks next to the display boards, forming a rough plan of where the pieces could be displayed. I spent a lot of time observing Rich and Steve at this point, having never done this before, and I wanted to understand more about their thought processes. I was struck by how considered this process was; there was a real emphasis on positioning and flow but with a noticeable emphasis placed on the idea that artwork may move, as we got further into the week.

DAY FOUR 

Time to start hanging pictures! It was satisfying starting to see work go up and I liked the amount of care Rich and Steve took, selecting mountboard colour to compliment the piece, or displaying in different configurations to keep the eye interested. It was amazing to see how a different backing colour could bring a piece to life. 

One of the biggest challenges in displaying the exhibition in the Cloisters was not being able to see all areas as you are working. I began to fear we would use up all our most impactful pieces on whichever side we were working on, leaving whichever side we came to last to be sparse. Having curated this exhibition before, Rich and Steve were familiar with this challenge and began to move between sides of the Cloisters, before fully finishing the previous one. At first this almost sporadic process seemed odd to me, but I quickly realised it was essential to avoid an unbalanced exhibition.

DAY FIVE 

As Rich and Steve continued to mount artwork, I was tasked with organising and displaying the 3D artwork and sculptures on tables and plinths. I enjoyed this creative freedom and spent a while considering my options, especially when it came to the various tabletops or boxes the artwork could be displayed on or the colour mountboard which could be placed behind it.  

DAY SIX 

As we fixed more and more artwork, we were left with smaller, more fiddly pieces. These took longer to display than bigger canvases as there was more to arrange (and get level!) We pushed on, using blutack to work out different arrangements on the boards before fixing them with staples.

I had the chance to decide the arrangement of some Georgia O’Keeffe inspired pieces. It took me a while to get the balance right of these smaller pieces, across the span of three boards, but I was pleased with the end result.  

Towards the end of the day, I really began to feel like things were taking shape and that the end was in sight. There began to be more completed boards than there were blank spaces, and I was pleased to see all our hard work coming to fruition. 

DAY SEVEN 

The final day was all about finishing touches. We strung some hanging pieces in cathedral windows and made sure each artwork was firmly secured with no risk of falling. 

Finally, Rich, Steve and I labelled each artwork. Working together, this became an easy, streamlined process, as we swapped post it note markers for laminated labels, and stapled them all on, making sure each artwork was clearly labelled with the correct school. I was aware of labelling issues in previous years, so I wanted to make sure each artwork was clearly labelled with the correct school. I felt this was integral to maintaining the high standard of the exhibition we had worked so hard curating. 

Reflections on my overall experience:  

Overall, I had a brilliant time curating this exhibition. I really enjoyed working with Rich and Steve, a big ‘thank you’ to them for welcoming me into the team. I learnt a lot from observing their process, whilst also feeling like I had creative freedom of my own. Although hard work, I found the whole week a great pleasure as well as a great learning experience. I have certainly developed skills and confidence which will aid me as I move forward in my career. 

A few things I learned from this:  

• To start slow! I had a real compulsion to dive in and start hanging up work, but learning from my fellow curators I realised that becoming familiar with the work is the most important thing to do in order to aid the process down the line.  

• When undertaking such a task it is really important to step back and observe from a different viewpoint. It is easy to get lost in the detail and lose the sense of the bigger picture.  
• It doesn’t have to be right first time – I really had to push myself throughout this process to just try something out, an artwork here, a sculpture there, if it doesn’t work, that’s ok, change it! 

My words of advice to future Emerging Curators: 

• Stay on top of labelling work! Post-it notes are a life saver for this. If you keep on top of labelling as you go, you will thank yourself at the end.  
• Keep walking around the space. It is worth doing a lap of the Cloisters as regularly as you can, this helps you keep in tune with which artwork is where in the space and what is left to do, as well as giving you a refreshed perspective of whichever area you are currently working on. 
• Trust the process! It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the task ahead, particularly early in the week, but it is key to take the curation step by step. When broken down into sections and themes, everything will feel easier to tackle.