Exhibitions are at the core of museums’ public functions and successful exhibition planning is necessary for museums to thrive. Institutions in the Denver art museum community continually challenge themselves to offer unique, world-class exhibitions to their audiences, but often they must struggle against pre-conceived notions that they are not up to the task. This paper examines three exhibitions, chosen for their variety in scale, objectives, presentation, and the background of the curators and presenting institutions.
The first exhibition studied in this paper is Masterpieces of Colorado: A Rich Legacy of Landscape Painting, presented by Foothills Art Center in Golden, Colorado and the Colorado Council on the Arts, and curated by Rose Fredrick. The second case study is based on Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Prints and Objects, presented by the Metro State College Center for Visual Art (CVA) in Denver, Colorado, and curated by Jennifer Garner. The third exhibition examined is Clyfford Still Unveiled: Selections from the Estate, presented by the Clyfford Still Museum, and curated by Dean Sobel.
The primary research method is first-person interviews with the curators. Preparation for the interviews was done through site visits to the exhibitions, research on the artists, and research on Best Practices in museum exhibition planning. The results are an informed study on the methods and processes undertaken by these curators, and the conclusion that it is nearly impossible to define one set of rules for exhibition planning. There are many variables and every institution must find a system that fits its situation.