To Do 08.06.20

INSTALL: a Gallery Wall

The concept is simple: take whatever wall art you have and place it on that big, empty wall in your space. There is a strategic way of doing this. Frame all your art, then trace the outlines on a big roll of paper – construction or butcher paper works great. Then cut the outlines of your art and arrange them on the empty wall using an easy peel-off tape, like blue painter tape, to get a sense for what goes where. Usually, it’s best to start with the largest pieces and then arrange the smaller pieces around them. Then hang the real works where there placeholders are using proper picture hooks. The result: your very own gallery. Short on wall art or prints? Try Lilify in Monterey, Somos Gallery in Salinas or see if your favorite local artist sells artwork online. Short on cash? Society6.com has a plethora of affordable prints and photos from various artists. Or to support local artists, wait for fundraisers from galleries and museums like Monterey Museum of Art or Pacific Grove Art Center – they usually auction off miniature works toward the end of the year.

CANONIZE: Your Books

No, we don’t mean to make saints out of your books – that’s probably impossible. A literary canon comprises works of literature that some authority (not you) has deemed the most important works of that time, genre or language. Think Shakespeare, Paradise Lost or The Great Gatsby. In other words, it’s curated. Clean out the shelves of books that don’t serve you now, like the requirements for your Lit 101 class that you never read, and donate to them to Monterey County Free Libraries or your local thrift shop. Then stock up on books that have significance to you. Maybe it’s a collection of books written by Black authors or people of color, which that college English cannon is lacking. Or perhaps you really want a section dedicated to graphic novels, so you’ll gravitate to authors like Joe Socco and Inverna Lockpez. The idea is to have books that have shaped your life and your perspective on the shelf.

NOTE: TED Talks

Everyone needs a little focused inspiration from time to time. The famous TED Talks – that’s short for Technology, Education and Design – have a section on their website called “Dedicated to Playlists” (ted.com/playlists). Therein lies curation gold. They have a series of playlists tailored to specific topics, and there’s one for everything. There’s a TED Starter Pack and a playlist of their most popular talks. There’s a playlist dedicated to the wonders of the ocean, irrational thinking, and one on the power of film. They’re usually several hours long and the lectures are from some of the smartest people around, including reporter Eve Pearlman on “dialogue journalism;” Özelm Cekic, the first Muslim woman elected to the Danish Parliament, on why she has coffee with her haters; and producer Franklin Leonard on how Hollywood chooses which stories are told (talk about curation, right?). There’s something there for everybody, in whatever stage of life, career or relationship.