What is a sightline?

Above is a photo of Hudson artist Gisèle Lapalme, whose four mixed-media pieces will hang in the waiting room of the Hudson Medi-Centre until September 14. We are very lucky to have Gisèle's lively work to brighten this space.

The four pieces are in three different sizes, so to hang the show I used a technique I learned from Pat Pauly when I attended her workshop "Installing Your show" in Santa Fe this April. Pat travels all around the world as an exhibition designer, and I learned many practical things from her.

Pat explained that an imaginary, horizontal "sightline" must be established, usually 58" - 60" from floor level. All work, whether horizontal or vertical in orientation, should be centred vertically on this sightline.

At the Medi-centre, the sightline is a little higher than it would be otherwise, because chairs are positioned underneath the art, and sometimes tall people sit on those chairs.

In the past, I might have hung all the pieces so that their lower edges or upper edges were level, so this was a new approach for me. I think it works well, and I will use this method again in the future.