Measure by Measure

by Ashley Rand

As the Museum at Work project continues, I learn more each week. This week especially allowed me to be more hands on because I was the only intern present on Monday. This enabled me to learn how to handle different situations, such as how to hang artwork on the wall. Normally, we have two to three people working each day, so helpers tend to work in the same area in which they feel comfortable. I absolutely hate using a tape measure, because of the fact that I'm horrible with numbers. However, after spending the entire day measuring, I now feel extremely comfortable. I not only learned how to measure the artwork, but also how to measure for accurate wall hanging. I was intimidated at first, because of all the numbers and adding and subtracting, but it now seems easy to me. In order to hang up a piece of work you need three main measurements: the height of the entire piece that you divide in half, from which you then subtract the distance of the hanger to the top of the piece, and after this, you add 60. The resulting measurement of this equation becomes the point where you place the hook on the wall. This way, each work will be centered at 60 inches, which is a good height for people to view the work. Once all those measurements are done, you measure the distance between hangers for the distance between each hook. I never realized how long it could take to make sure every piece is hung at the exact same level. It is quite interesting that no matter how big or small the piece is, with this formula they will be hung exactly even to each other.