What makes a “real” exhibition?

One of my favorite art professors was a guy named Richard Harned. He was a glass blower, trained by Chihuly at RISD, but by the time I had him my last year in school he primarily focused on mixed media sculpture and installations. He was charming and funny and smart. He had an outfit for each day of the week. He had his Monday outfit, Tuesday outfit, and so on. When I saw him in class once a week, it seemed like he wore the same thing everyday. It took me a couple of months and seeing him on different days to realize he had a ritualistic seven day wardrobe.

Like all graduates close to earning their BFA, I needed to take Richard's “seminar” to graduate. It was a one day a week class that was the closest thing to practical advice for artists I'd get, and included a touch of marketing, photographing your work, galleries and building your resume. I absolutely loved it, and consider it to be one of the best classes I've ever taken.

While I was in this seminar, Richard was at the Headlands Center in CA for a couple of weeks. Before he left, he told us to mail a small work to him while he as at the Headlands. He took all of our small works, and made an installation on the Headlands grounds, and told us to promptly include the “exhibition” on our resumes. At the time, I thought this was crazy… that this didn't “count” or wasn't “real”. When he returned, I shared how I felt about it, and he told me, “This is as real as it gets”.

What do you think? What makes a “real” exhibition in your mind? Have you ever run into a similar situation, unsure if you should include it on your resume?

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