Monday, 6 December 2010

Another try at art exhibitions labels

For my last exhibition, I tried a different way to print my exhibition labels. Instead of using a heavy card, I printed them on paper and then mounted the paper on foam board. The idea is to come closer to the type of labels you see in galleries and museums.


I proceeded this way:

  • Printed all labels using PowerPoint, each label being in a black frame (to make sure they are the same size)
  • Cut the labels leaving a seam
  • Glued the paper on a 2 mm foam board and
  • Cut each label on the foam board with a sharp craft knife, using the black frame as a guide.




The overall result looked good. The labels were light and sturdy and easy to affix to the wall with whitetack . The foam being quite fragile, I had to transport the labels in a plastic sandwich box.


There is still room for improvement:


  • I had to redo some of the labels because the paper was torn away while cutting the label. I found out that the different density of the material caused the issue. The trick was to have a first pass with the blade to cut the paper and then a second pass to cut through the foam.


  • Some labels had a thin black line on some of their sides. I will have to be more careful to cut “inside the line”. Getting rid of the frame would solve the problem, but it would also make more difficult to cut all labels to the same measurement. I should try to print the frames in a very light grey. This way, even if the line appears, it should be almost invisible from afar.


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3 comments:

Suzanne said...

Handy tips, thank you!

Anonymous said...

How would you attach a label to art if it's on an easel not a wall?

Benoit Philippe said...

For work displayed on an easel:

- If the work is framed, you could try to use a thin cardboard board to print the label on and fold the top twice to slide it in the frame (this way, the label should sit on the frame, but not before the work.

- If the work is not framed, I would fix it to the bottom of the canvas (with tape).