A Creative Quarantine
Kathryn is a fine art gallery owner in Montclair, NJ. She and a group of local artists wanted to give people a way to continue enjoying art galleries during the COVID lockdown.
The idea was that they’d pair local businesses with local artists to create art exhibits in storefront windows. This turned downtown Montclair into a walkable outdoor art gallery — supporting the community and local businesses all at once.
They came to me wanting to…
- Make all of the art available both in person and online.
- Create a website that would catalogue the initiative
- Provide an easy way for people to purchase the art
A Pathway for Every Experience
For Kathryn, it was important that whatever I built be EASY for her team to manage, as they would need to add, remove, and edit exhibitions as they changed over time.
For her audience, it was important to easily find the art – so we integrated with Google maps. This way, people could click and get directions to the nearest exhibit, and keep it handy on their phones as they walked around.
And last but not least, for folks who stumbled on the exhibits accidentally, they’d need context – so we made sure the website welcomed them warmly with clear CTA’s to participate.
How We Did It
First, I had to play around to figure out how to encapsulate each exhibit – the art, the artist’s info, the location and links to purchase – all in a single digital listing.
We added a “Find This Exhibit” button to people could switch from digital to in-person viewing easily.
And to support the reverse, Kathryn was able to share each exhibition’s unique URL so it could be easily looked up.
This project involved a lot of collaboration, curating content, and playing with versions until we got it juuust right. The final result was an walkable art experience that empowered their community and could be enjoyed from anywhere.
