Altering our presentation…
I’m certain most of us have visited an art gallery - even on occasion finding a work that we connect with or whose subject resonates with something within us. Imagine, just for a moment, if we could present some form of our own hobby in this manner?
I’ve spoken about art on here before, but this time I’m drawing on that emotional connection to the art form and pondering, is an art gallery a place to engage ‘the public’ in a way wholly different from the entertainment of the exhibition?
I visited a local gallery in Ruthin this week, by accident really. By one of those serendipitous coincidences there was an exhibit whose content, presentation and even craft heavily overlapped with our own. It stopped me in my tracks and as well as enjoy the content, I felt I needed to capture it in some way, as a means to discuss this subject again here on the blog.
Although the subject of the exhibition is not the key subject of the blog, it was a pair of pieces created in 2011 and 2016 by Antonia (‘Toni’) Dewhurst and is on for another month or so at the Ruthin craft centre.
Three elements struck me, the long thin room accentuated the scale of the small model houses, the photographs of similar, inspiring structures and the display of tools showing the process of creation.
The photos told one part of a story and were captioned. The model houses a second part, not individually captioned rather as a whole. The public are left to explore the work(s) without a route, or guide. There is no one to interact with. The messages to be shared must be evident, the depth of interaction then depending on the connection the viewer feels with the piece. This may be through a curiosity of the small houses, as cute objects perhaps wondering how they were made? They invite a closer look filled with little neat well observed details. Perhaps you might read the introduction sign first, and understand they represent one night dwellings, a curious piece of Welsh history. You may be drawn more comfortably to the photographs of things and places you recognise and then drift to the structures and see the connection for yourself. The journey is yours.
I have often wondered if our hobby is missing something in the way we present our work. The exhibition is for entertainment. Viewers are guided by aisles and guidebooks around the subject, a few minutes tops at each exhibit that is created by a different hand, little consideration other than physical size given to arrangement or choreography of scale, subject, presentation or dare I say it, quality.
What would a gallery exhibit of our craft look like?
How would a gallery exhibition differ, would it engage the public in a different way? Is it even worth exploring as a concept? Let’s consider one idea I’ve been mulling over for some time.
I long for a patron to commission me to build a whole series of small cameo layouts that connect in a story rather than physically. This series of muses would show different parts of the same picture, perhaps different periods, different scales, or different parts of a process or journey. Take this to a gallery setting and consider this idea alongside an exhibition of photography depicting the same subject. Recently my musing has been on the end of a national wagonload freight network, the Speedlink era, 1989-1991. I would explore the history of wagonload freight and what the end meant to me, first hand. I would share photographs choreographed to explore the muse, the backwaters, the yards, the rolling stock and the humble shunter. I would craft miniatures that looked at and explored these elements. I would talk about the craft in non railway terminology and let the public explore that melancholy feeling I had and still have from the period.
Perhaps there could be other elements, video recordings projected providing a sense of these movements? Sound or smells, evoking the decline and transition of our railway network, a set of steel ribbons connecting the country slowly rusting and returning to nature.
Would the miniatures even have movement? I’m not sure they would. Movement takes us closer to play whereas I am creating these scenes for a different reason, the craft involved is channeling something inside. Yes I’m happy to shufffle a few wagons around on Paxton Road, but the layout would feel as important with just a lone cement wagon by the silo. These are model railways not train sets.
Without the ability to guide the public around the space and miniatures myself it would be interesting to observe how people interact with such a display. Removing the hobby from the sports hall into this grown up exhibition space may change how people see the potential for model making as an expressive form of art, art making, rather than ‘big boys toys’. Chris encouraged me to go and speak with a gallery about this idea, but I’m not sure I’ve the energy or time to devote to creating the content in an unpaid form. That said, is there a middle ground?
Some of our smaller exhibitions, the one day shows can be more focused and choreographed in the style and subject if layouts they include. Is the natural progression taking this one step further and putting on a one day event in a gallery space with this approach in mind? Removing movement and instead inviting the public into interact in their own way? A simple questionnaire afterwards may allow an insight into the mindset and opportunities this could have in future? What do you think?
Until next time, more soon…
Read an interesting interview with Toni here. There are some interesting reflections about art and it’s form that resonate with my current meandering thoughts and helping with writing the ‘second book’.
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Interesting. I remember a layout based on the Sand Hutton that went for a very theatrical display that would suit this type of venue.. I do think it would require a different approach. Perhaps one based on foundations built by Iliffe Stokes.
ReplyDeleteAnd a different tack entirely would be needed for a genuine museum exhibition, rather than an art exhibition - somethign that I think is long overdue.
Are you remembering the Tottenhoe? We’ve discussed that previously on the blog.
DeleteI guess what I’m exploring here is not a different presentation of the traditional model Railway, rather wondering what a different setting and audience might do for the hobby?
Possibly. There is a lot of interest in the craft side of art at the moment. But I do think the emphasis would need to be audience specific, perhaps more diorama based
DeleteAs I said, unless I was earning some sort of commission from the exercise I don’t think I’ve time to generate the work and curate the presentation.
DeleteThat said, I’ve an idea to do a small local show where the style and subject are carefully choreographed.
Excellent post, James - one of the most thought-provoking I've read. A lot to unpack and mull over here...
ReplyDeleteThis whole piece encapsulates something I've been pondering for a while; the possibility of creating layouts and cameos in a slightly different way. Perhaps a pre-grouping layout in black and white, or one using rear projection to evolve the back scene according to the rolling stock being run, bringing a sense of the hours passing by using gently changing lighting, reactive environmental sounds, smells even. I've been thinking about all the above and trying to come up with technical solutions. But, having missed a few decades in the hobby, all of that could've already been done a million times for all I know.
However, I am intrigued and inspired by your idea of a series of cameos, specifically representing different periods in the same location. I think the closest I've probably seen to this were Jim Finlayson's Neuburgs 1913 & 2013 at Warley, which were both really lovely but probably not quite the approach either of us would take with that concept. I'd also like to see something I saw Kathy Millatt do (representing the same small scene in all four seasons), but expanded up to four full cameos. Just imagine Pont-y-Dulais with this approach!
I do enjoy the entertainment of the traditional main line loop 'train set paradigm' layouts, but perhaps paradoxically, I seem to spend longer looking at the small, detailed layouts at shows as that seems to be what really grabs me these days.
With reference to 'Why are you here?', I suppose the interactions at shows aren't entirely surprising. This phenomenon reminds me of the questions one gets in response to a piece of music; what software did you use; what synthesizer/instrument; what template? As if those technicalities will reveal how that piece of music came to be, like some kind of easily replicable cheat code. Very rarely questions about the emotion, memories or essence of yourself that you put into the process. But perhaps that's ok. You commented on the fact that the artist isn't (usually) in the gallery to walk us through the meaning of their art. What that allows us to do is form our own emotional connection. Which I suppose, in the context of a model railway exhibition, is perhaps not made any easier when you're asking what track was used. Yeah, not sure where I'm going with this... Maybe just that visual artists who attend their own gallery exhibitions perhaps get asked questions about the media they used?
I seem to have stumbled back into the hobby at an interesting time - the idea of what constitutes an exhibition-worthy layout seems to be evolving, from what I can see. I haven't read Toni's interview yet (as I write this) but I'm already sure I'll be wanting a copy of the new book, especially if you'll be exploring more of the ideas above.
One of my stand out experiences was the lighting in the Venetian Casino in Vegas. I hate most things about Vegas but this was mindblowing. And I suspect we only recently have toe affordable tech to do it with a diorama or cameo.
DeleteThe musical analogy is interesting, you could use photographey as another example. We know the difference between a technically perfect musician and one who puts their sould into it, but defining it is altogether more difficult. Which are the layouts and builders who involve us emotionally? I remeber visiting Pendon with non-railway enthusiasts and they were blown away.
James, a long and thoughtful reply.
DeleteI think there are some interesting ideas here…
My own approqcc would not be to model the same scene different ways, or at different times. Rather capture a moment through different studies…
As James also says above, there is a focus on craft at the moment. Perhaps this is the opportunity to share a more craft based art exhibition of what drives us to make model railways rather than trainsets with scenery?
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DeleteI'd be inclined to agree - the time seems right. I don't know for sure, but I suspect there's also the audience for that approach, based on the popularity of certain YT channels focused on said craft.
DeleteI'm intrigued by your different studies of a moment idea. I'm also mulling the idea that much of what drives what we do is the attempt to capture a memory in miniature form, which I suppose is in its own way a metaphor for how memories diminish and become less resolved with time.