1. ~ Volume One
The first of a multi-part illumination from:
The Gallery Goddess
Vicki L. Bower, 2011

2. The first volume of a multi-part illumination by
The Gallery Goddess,
A character created to help impart Arts
Management knowledge by
Vicki L. Bower
All Rights Reserved. For educational use only. This Ebook & The
Gallery Goddess copyright, Vicki L. Bower 2011.

3. What is a didactic label?
“The term Didactic is used as an adjective to
describe something (generally, a text), that
exists to instruct or convey information.”
- Darryl Bank, March 26th, 2008, Curatorsincontext.ca.
~ a museum on the Isle of Wight~
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4. Didactic labels give instruction. They are found in
many forms. They can be as small as an arrow or as
large as a whole wall of text.
Museum of Modern Art, New York City
In this case, we are focusing on the labels that are placed
near individual museum or gallery objects, intended to
inform the viewer of origin and give a deeper understanding.
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5. Key Elements
In a gallery or museum most items have a didactic (instructive)
label, which identifies the work. Although institutions' preferences
and protocols might differ in form or order, they almost always
contain:
Artist’s name: The Maker of the item
Title of work: What the creator of the work named it
Who owns work (often a museum)
Information if on loan from some person or institution
Information if a gift from a person or other institution
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6. The Visual Experience
Merriam-Webster defines didactic as:
a : designed or intended to teach
b : intended to convey instruction and information as
well as pleasure and entertainment <didactic poetry>
-That right there is pretty interesting... To convey, or
give an impression.
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7. What we are describing is a visual experience, not
one written in a book or on a page, but what's been
manifest right before our eyes; an experience of
emotion and neurons, of human reaction, not a story
narrated to us through words.
Text placed before an item sometimes gives a verbal
prelude to work. In some cases, this is highly
undesirable, as this could interfere with a viewer's
unadulterated first impression.
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8. Each piece of art has a Maker
Individuals that we are, each experience will also be our
own, unique interpretation. There will be variables specific to
each and every viewer that ensure each and every
interpretation will be slightly different and customized to that
particular pair of eyes as paired with that particular brain.
As a Maker, each artist may
have more than one meaning or
motivation enveloped and
embedded into the work and to tell
someone what to think or see
before they experience it could be
detrimental to their overall viewing
experience, and unfair to the
original creator of the art.
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9. Didactic at Dictionary.com:
1. intended for instruction; instructive: didactic poetry.
2. inclined to teach or lecture others too much: a boring, didactic speaker.
3. teaching or intending to teach a moral lesson.
** Please note the second definition from Dictionary.com.
The LAST thing a label should contain is *solely*
boring, didactic information. **
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10. Ten Guidelines, as outlined by the V&A Style Guide
Gallery Text at the V&A: A Ten Point Guide , from Victoria and
Albert Museum, "The world’s greatest museum of art and
design," in London:
One: Write for your audience
Two: Stick to the text hierarchy and word count
Three: Organise your information
Four: Engage with the object
Five: Admit uncertainty
Six: Bring in the human element
Seven: Sketch in the background
Eight: Write as you would speak
Nine: Construct your text with care
Ten: Remember Orwell's Six Rules
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11. George Orwell
In his essay
Politics and the English Language
(1946), Orwell wrote about
the importance of precise
and clear language, arguing
that vague writing can be
used as a powerful tool of
political manipulation
because it shapes the way
we think.
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12. Orwell's Six Rules?
1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech you are
used to seeing in print
2. Never use a long word where a short word will do
3. If it is possible to cut a word, always cut it out
4. Never use the passive when you can use the active
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word
if you can think of an everyday equivalent
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright
barbarous*
George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946
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13. Number 6. Break any of these rules sooner than say
anything outright barbarous*???
* Yeah, that. In regards to this last rule of Orwell's, due
to recent trending toward a more organic approach, if it
seems to suit the situation, by all means be barbaric in
nature, for not all art is quiet and reserved!
How would YOU
describe “Without Hope”
by Frida Kahlo?
Don't you think it's
best to let the viewer to
first see for themselves?
Frida Kahlo. Without Hope.
1945. Oil on canvas mounted
on Masonite. 28 x 36 cm.
Dolores Olmedo Foundation,
Mexico City, Mexico.
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14. Lately, arts professionals are taking a more organic
approach. They encourage the audience into participating with
the art and ultimately, the artist based on their own unique
perception. An attempt may be made to evoke the artists'
message first, before doling out technical information of form,
formation, and foundation.
Sol Lewitt
drawings at
DIA Art
Foundation.
Beacon, NY
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15. For example, wall text describing a
piece might be put after the piece
according to the natural flow of exhibition
traffic.
This would allow the viewer to absorb and
translate the work autonomously before
being influenced by outside interpretation,
thus perhaps receiving the initial message
the artist intended to evoke before being told
what to feel.
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16. At Storm King, the great outdoor sculpture collection, the
pieces in the landscape are identified by plaques set in the
ground near each piece. These labels have an appropriately
muted visual vocabulary (words on flatland in the ground) in
relation to the pieces (sculpture in 3-space above the ground).
Plaques mounted on sticks up in the air would not work!
-- Edward Tufte, December 7, 2003
Ultimately, the didactic label depends on the art and the
artists' intentions. Sometimes it is up to us to figure that out.
It is our responsibility, as arts professionals to maintain the
integrity of the work and preserve its original message.
I look forward to expanding upon this further in
Volume 2.
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17. No mere words could express the vast magnitude and
the feel of standing in a Richard Serra sculpture (this
photo taken at the Gagosian, NYC, October 2011).
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18. About The Gallery Goddess
Vicki Bower has Associate's degrees in Gallery Management
(2011) and Computer Information Systems (1997) from Hudson
Valley Community College in Troy, NY and is currently a junior in
Arts Management at Purchase College in New York.
She has worked in The Teaching Gallery, HVCC,
Troy, NY, interned at the Esther Massry Gallery at
The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY, actively
volunteered at Albany Center Galleries, and
created and assisted with many public art space
events throughout New York's Capital District
area.
The Gallery Goddess, “Gallery and Arts
Management divine guidance and illuminations,
with a New York focus” came about through her
Social Media and the Arts class and has gathered
quite a following, becoming a trusted source for
Art News and Arts Management guidance and
information.
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19. The Gallery Goddess
On Twitter: @GalleryGoddess
On the web: www.thegallerygoddess.com
Email: thegallerygoddess@gmail.com
Copyright 2011, The Gallery Goddess by Vicki L. Bower. For educational
purposes only. All rights reserved.
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