The Object of Labels:
Writing interpretive text for exhibitions

About the event

People viewing an art installation in a gallery
Photo: Ian Dooley, courtesy of Unsplash.

Date: 29 October 2019, 10am – 1pm
Location:
Logan Art Gallery

This workshop provided participants with the knowledge, skills and confidence to write effective interpretive text, exploring both the theory and practice behind good labels. The presenter, Samantha Littley, covered topics including:

  • Why write labels – the purpose of interpretive text
  • Considering your audience – how visitors use labels 
  • Label hierarchy – introductory text panels, themed panels, object labels – and what to include on each
  • Writing labels that work – tips to engage interest 
  • Accessibility – writing for diverse audiences

The workshop was an opportunity for attendees to participate in practice-based learning, share their own experiences and contribute to a conversation about how to write labels that visitors want to read.


About Samantha Littley

Samantha works independently as a writer and curator, and is a Masters candidate at the Centre for Art History and Art Theory, Australian National University. From 2003 to 2008, she was Curator of Australian Art to 1970 at the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art, where she curated the retrospective Making it Modern: The Watercolours of Kenneth Macqueen, and oversaw the rehang of QAG’s Australian Art galleries, which opened together with GOMA in 2006.

As Curator at The University of Queensland Art Museum (UQ Art Museum), her exhibitions included Peter Hennessey: Making it Real (2015), and Second Sight: Witchcraft, Ritual, Power (2019), the outcome of a partnership between UQ Art Museum and UQ’s Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH).


Acknowledgements

Museums & Galleries Queensland logo
Public Galleries Queensland logo
Australian Museums and Galleries Association (Queensland) logo
Logan City Council logo

Presented by AMaGA Queensland, Public Galleries Queensland and Museums & Galleries Queensland with the support of Logan Art Gallery.

This event was a satellite masterclass to the Museums & Galleries Queensland Conference, Opening Doors.

Enquiries

Training & Professional Development team

Museums & Galleries Queensland

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