Art Gallery Experience

I visited Rima Fine Art Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona where one of my interior design teachers, Carrie Vielle, has an exhibit. It was fun to see her work in a gallery with artists like Renoir and Picasso.

I paid attention to how the gallery is designed to best show the paintings and sculptures. The gallery is about 4000 square feet including a few offices. There is a wall through the center of the gallery to divide the space and make it easier to maneuver and view the artwork. There are two sets of two small, movable walls in the front of the gallery to block the sun from the rest of the gallery in addition to hanging paintings. Like many of the other Old Scottsdale galleries, Rima has a large awning that is about ten feet deep to add shade to the front of the gallery. The street the galleries are on is aligned east to west so the galleries do not face the sunrise or sunset. Rima features simple cases for sculptures with black, rectangular bases and glass boxes on top. The cases are placed in corners or in the center of a room to make navigating the room easier. The gallery has a huge amount of track lights with halogen bulbs, and there is at least one spotlight for every single work of art. Wayfinding in the gallery is mostly done through wall placement and placement of exhibit pieces rather than throught color or lighting. Small sculptures are placed in cases that are lined up in the center of a room to guide visitors through the gallery. There are also built-in walls with large, arched doorways so viewers know which art to look at next. The gallery walls are a beige color so that they do not detract form the art, and the floors are dark brown. The gallery's ceilings are white along with the base and crown moldings. The colors, though neutral, add interest to the space without taking viewers' attention from the art.

The most efficient part of the gallery's design, in my opinion, is its method of allowing the public to see inside the gallery without very much sunlight. The awning outside and small movable walls at the front of the gallery both protect the artwork from the sun and without blocking the art from the public.

Here is a quick sketch of a rounded corner in the gallery. The drawing shows some of the spot lights as well as a sculpture case out of vistors' paths.