Window Art
It’s been a year since the Brea Gallery decided to revamp and redesign our display window!
We decided to share some of our ideas and the process of creating a new look with each of our previous exhibits.
In the past, the window was used primarily as a marketing tool with posters and a TV inside. It documented upcoming workshops and the exhibit calendar with show dates. The photos above show how much text used to be displayed and a few items from the Gift Shop.
Staff discussed how we could change this up and start to utilize the window as an extension of the title wall for our shows.
So, we got to work!
The glass panels behind the window had some stenciling with paint that required LOTS of scrubbing. It also meant that someone had to get in the window for the project! You can see a shot of the view from our office, looking out (nevermind the ceiling, we were having new lighting installed in the offices at the same time!).
Paperworks Refolded
Paperworks has been one of the most talked about exhibits for the past few years so we were so excited to bring it back summer of 2018. The title wall was covered in these folded origami pieces in gradient colors. We folded a few more and made these cool shapes to hand in our new window. A work desk filled with paper tools like scissors, tape, and glue sat there as if someone left for a quick moment and would be back later to keep creating art. Our first attempt at our new window design and it turned out pretty cool!
Watercolor West
Incorporating the medium of watercolor, we took coffee filters and used watercolor to create these big pompoms. They took forever to make, were super time consuming but they were so sweet and dreamy it was worth it. We kept our artist table, this time full of paint supplies and even a watercolor landscape painted by a very talented intern, Hannah Yokoo. A few all-white pompoms were left scattered on the bottom, giving the impression that they were waiting for their turn to be colored.
IMMERSION
The beginning of 2019 was a totally new direction for the Gallery as we had our very first all installation exhibit. This unique show was an adventure for us and we had the opportunity to work with a number of incredible artists all over the country. Taking paint sticks and colored yarn, we created these hanging fiber pieces and filled the window with them.
Made in California
We took inspiration from a piece in this year’s Made in California Juried Exhibition by artist Hadley Mattwig “Laundry Day, GTG Run Some Errands Now”. Her large scale plastic and paint installation motivated us to create our own painted industrial plastic pieces as an homage.
We chose a color palette of orange and green (which matched our exhibit marketing materials) and though, ours was no where near as impressive as Hadley’s artwork, we loved how funky and weird it turned out.
Colored Pencil Society International Juried Exhibition
When discussing our window for this summer during the Colored Pencil exhibit, we thought about the spectrum of colors in a pencil bow. Which led us to this crepe paper rainbow design with white tissue paper clouds. We attached strips of crepe to a wood rod, and unfurled them, then used fishing line to sweep the paper up like a curtain. You can see how it took a few people in the window to carefully work with the delicate material.
The finished product looks so cheery!
That’s been our whole year of creative experimenting with our display window. It’s been a lot of work, but also so exciting to figure out how to bring another interesting artistic layer to the exhibitions at the Gallery. Even if we’re closed or at night, visitors at the Civic and Cultural Center can still enjoy a small peek at our exhibitions with the display window.
