For two semesters at Beloit College, I worked at its campus art gallery/store. Gallery ABBA (Art as Business, Business as Art) was part of an entrepreneurial grant given to the college for the application of the liberal arts to small business ownership. It was located in a section of the old Beloit main street, where the college also had a recording studio, a small office for other grant projects, and a television studio.
My duties included updating the website with new shows, acting as a co-curator at shows, sitting in the gallery during business hours, and designing many of the posters for the various shows taking place at the gallery. This gave me the opportunity to improvise ways to hang pictures, search through the artifacts that accumulate in a gallery basement, and rub elbows with some interesting alumni during shows. One VIP I got to see at a show and also at an awards dinner was the late self-made billionaire and president of ABC Supply Co. and Beloit native Ken Hendricks, who died a couple years ago under tragic and ironic circumstances (A building supplies mogul, who originally made a fortune in roofing supplies, dying after a fall from his roof while repairing it. Why does a billionaire repair his own roof? The mystery deepens.).
I got to spend late nights putting together shows, designing fliers, and working with friends while wearing suits and pointing at art of varying quality that I had hung in the hours before. I’d do it again. Here are some of the fliers I made for the shows that I helped assemble and curate.
My first ABBA flier, for the alumni show.
A questionable theme for a metashow.
Senior show fun. Don't like this one so much, it was made under the instruction of someone over my shoulder.
My favorite flier I made. It was for the fantasy club's art show, which was a pretty interesting collection. Fairy people, etc.
Tags: art, Beloit College, fliers, installation
