We're now nearly finished - ahead of schedule, which is excellent news. The lighting was adjusted at the end of last week, showing the photographs off beautifully. Derv, the Museum's Preventive Conservator, was on hand with her light meter, to make sure that the posters and the Punch and Judy puppets, in particular, aren't exposed to too much light. Steve, one of the technical team, worked his magic from the Genie lift, patiently tweaking the lights until everyone was happy. We've put in the benches and the deckchairs that will function as seating in the exhibition - Richard has painted the benches blue, and the red and white striped deckchairs add more colour and a seaside feel. They've been secured to ensure that there are hopefully no trapped fingers! There have been a couple of last-minute snags to iron out - trimming the three giant graphic blow-ups that are in the exhibition, as the edges looked a little bit rough and ready, and a few bits of paintwork to touch up, but everything now seems finished. I think the last thing to do will be to put up the stripy curtain that we've had made to screen the audio-visual section off, which we can do early next week. Well done to Louise, our Project Manager, for making sure that everything has been done on time!
Meanwhile, Jude and I have been busy recording a podcast on the exhibition and checking the labels. We've been going backwards and forwards with Cathy, the graphic designer, to try and make sure that there aren't any mistakes, and that the words all fit comfortably on the labels. We'll put them up towards the end of this week, once Cathy has mounted them on card; I've got my scissors, Velcro, tape-measure and spirit-level at the ready. The Design Studio has already carefully plotted where each one should go, so we should be able to get them up with maximum efficiency. And finally, the accompanying brochure has gone off to print; we've seen a mock-up from the printers, which looks lovely. It should be an attractive reminder of the exhibition for people to take away.
Beside the Seaside opens to the public next Wednesday, and the final preparations are going on elsewhere in the Museum. The stock will be arriving in the
shop any day now - I think they've even got rock! - and the Marketing team have prepared the poster. We'll do our briefings to the gallery assistants early next week, so that they know what the exhibition is about, and then all that remains is to celebrate the final realisation of the last 9 months' work!