cut price exhibition preparation?

[brenphoto]

Hi,
I'm having my first exhibition next month.
I haven't done this before.

It is as part of an arts festival, so it is not a normal gallery-run exhibition. As far as i am aware it will be up to me to prepare the prints for exhibition, and since I won't be selling the prints, I have to do this the cheapest way possible.

My thought is to have the images printed, paste them on to black 9or white) backing card, and paste a frame of the same card stock over the front.

How does this sound?
Any other ideas?
Anything I need to affix to the rear?

Any advice welcome, thanks.

[Lani]

What size and how many prints are involved?

[brenphoto]

Between 12 and 20 images, either 16" by 16" or 12" by 12". was planning to get the prints done by Camera House or somewhere similar, then do the mounting myself. But as I say, haven't done this before. :-)

[Lani]

For printing try Digitalworks (http://www.digitalworks.net.au/owners/index.asp) or RGBDigital (http://www.rgbdigital.com.au/) to compare prices.
Digitalworks have some good information on colour management on their site.

Re mounting, it depends a lot on how they are to be hung....matte board is the best way to mount them. Maybe cheap black frames from a discount store? As long as your mounts are uniformly presented they will look ok.

I think that if you feel your work is worthy of being exhibited, then it should be presented as nicely as possible....and that is not necessarily cheap, unfortunately.

[ricktas]

Check out www.frameshop.com.au (http://www.clixGalore.com/PSale.aspx?BID=62371&AfID=181059&AdID=7541&LP=frameshop.com.au) who are an Ausphotography advertiser, for backing board and pre-cut matts. Get some double sided acid free tape (art supply stores) and you are ready to mount your prints

[wideangle]

Digitalworks have a good range of options and they have many options in which they mount onto, worth checking out.

[hoffy]

Just remember. Regardless on how good the pictures are, shabby mounting (unless that is the look you are after!) will reflect badly on you!

In the end, its not too hard to get standard size cut matts. All depends on how the images are hung, it could be all you need (check out how the hanging is done in the gallery you are displaying at).

[Shane.R]

Many people pin a print to the gallery wall these days. Or you could just get them laminated. If not framed, my choice would be mounted on 5mm foamcore.

[mynxt]

What do they say? First impressions count. Whether it is an arts festival or a gallery exhibition I think you should make the best impression you can. Who knows maybe someone will offer to buy the images from you. Don't your images also deserve the best presentation you can give them?? It might not be cheap to frame them,but you can see it as an investment. Maybe have fewer images with great presentation?

Good luck with the festival :)

[brenphoto]

Thanks everyone, pre cut mattes are the way to go, and i'll follow these suggestions up.

[colemansmithadam]

Yeah, Pinning them up has a cool look, try think of some new and different way of displaying them, for example using bulldog clips and string to attach them to the roof and floor creating a 3dimentional aspect to your exhibition? If you are going to mount them on wall my suggestion would be in frames (black or white, nice and thick with sharp square edges i think look good), you can maybe buy cheap ones from wharehouses, make sure you buy ones that are quite a bit larger than your print because the space will make your images stand out more. This is all my opinion on what I think looks good and will create a professional and clean look. Probably how I will do my exhibition if I make it that far. Congratulations on having an exhibition!