An update about a show that I had the role of lead curator. The exhibition was titled ‘For the Love of Lempa’ and was between 23rd of September and 7th October 2017. The idea for an exhibition arrived via a discussion with artist Sarah-Jane Mason a couple of years ago. We were both regular visitors to the Cyprus College of Art at Lempa, Paphos and wanted to do something in 2017 to tie in with the fact that Paphos would be the European City of Culture. Sarah-Jane would curate her own show titled ‘The Lempa Link’ and was shown at the college in April 2017. She would then join myself later on in the year to help with the curation of ‘For the Love of Lempa’.
Above: The main gallery space looking out to the court yard
Above: Main gallery space and the work of Grahame Parry (left) and Stass Paraskos (right)
The planning for the show started earlier on in the year, when I asked artists that I had met over the years at the college if they would be interested in taking part in the show. The theme of the show was how these artists had all been either influenced by the founder of the college, the Cypriot painter Stass Paraskos or the college itself. In the end, the show featured 25 artists from various countries, but mainly from the UK. The bulk of the work was done during the summer and this involved: making a web site; an online submission form; information pack for participating artists; design and print of an A4 poster; design and print of a 44 page exhibition catalogue; press & marketing kit; social media graphics & images; visitor hand outs; exhibition signs; a curatorial pack; organising artists talks; organising invigilation; organising return of work.
Above: Studio 1 exhibition space
It was a lot of work. If I curate another show it will be with less artists, perhaps 5 or 6 at the most. There was a wide variety of experience, some have widely exhibited and knew exactly what to do and how the process worked and others were relatively knew to the process. It is not an easy job trying to communicate with so many people. There are also temperaments and moods to deal with. I learned an awful lot from the process, but it was very difficult. For example, the spaces for hanging the work needed a lot of preparation and painting as they had been abused by students. The walls in the main gallery were also difficult to work with as there was a lot of soft filler and it was difficult to actually get a nail in. Logistically it is also difficult to invigilate the show and I spent most of the first week of the show doing the invigilation.
Above: The work of Emilio Koutsoftides (left) and Serena Boheimer (right)
Above: co-curator Sarah-Jane Mason
However there was a lot of positive energy from (most) of the artists that were there on site. The help from Sarah-Jane Mason was invaluable, she has a lot of experience as an arts practitioner and works with many galleries including Leeds Art Gallery, The Tetley and Yorkshire Sculpture park.
Above: The Exhibition catalogue
Above: Alan Rutherford with the Director of the Cyprus College of Art, Margaret Paraskos
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