Writing Challenges: Labels -"Following our Path: Regis College through its Art Collection”

Kerry Pintabona, Undergraduate Student

Labels seem like one of the easier and more trivial pieces of building and creating a museum exhibit. This initial impression could not be further from the truth. If you write a label that does not give enough information you will leave the exhibit viewer frustrated and unsatisfied. On the other hand, if you write too much in a label then you will bore the average exhibit viewer. The trick with labels, as with most things, is to find the right balance. We have been working on our labels recently and are learning exactly how difficult writing a label actually is. We have the advantage and are lucky enough to have a whole class to share this writing experience with. We were able to write our labels on our own and then share them in class. Through the guidance and criticisms of our peers I think that each of us were able to take our labels, and edit and craft them into labels that are more well written and better suited to not only our exhibit, but also to the audience. As we continue to work on our labels, hopefully they will continue to get better and our label writing skills will improve.

The other aspect to the labels is how many should be included in the exhibit. We could have longer introduction panels at the start of each section and then just have tombstone labels for the individual pieces. However, based upon previous class discussions, I think that we are leaning more towards individual labels for each piece that contain the information for that corresponding piece and leaving out the introduction panels. I am excited to see how the labels will be written, arranged, and eventually work within the exhibit as a whole.