I’m Kayla, and last month my small gallery asked me to handle all the wall captions for a two-day show. I said yes, then stared at a blank Google Doc like it was a cat that wanted taxes. But you know what? It turned out great. Some parts flopped. Most landed. I’ll share what I used, what I loved, and the real captions I put on the wall. If you want the blow-by-blow version, I documented the full process in I Wrote Captions For Our Art Gallery Weekend—Here’s What Actually Worked.
First, the setup I used (the boring bits that matter)
- Canva for layout. I used a clean template and set margins so nothing hugged the edges.
- Artwork Archive to pull artist names, titles, sizes, and prices into a neat list. It saved me so much time, but I still had to fix commas and odd capital letters.
- Brother QL-820NWB label printer for tiny price tabs. Fast. Didn’t jam.
- Avery 5392 badge cards (yep, the event ones) for small wall labels. I mounted them on foam board for a sturdy feel.
- Matte white card stock for bigger panels. Gloss looked pretty but gave glare. I ditched it.
- Command Strips and a tiny level. No crooked labels on my watch.
- Bitly for short links and Canva to make simple QR codes for audio clips.
Would I do that combo again? Yes. It was quick. It looked clean. And no one asked me for a magnifying glass.
For deeper dives into exhibition design and labeling, I leaned on the clear guidelines from Metro Arts, which package decades of gallery wisdom into one quick, free reference.
What makes a good art caption? Keep it short. Tell one tiny truth.
Here’s the thing: people stand for maybe 10 seconds. If they want more, they’ll scan a code or ask.
I found a sweet spot:
- Line 1: Title, Artist
- Line 2: Medium, Year
- Line 3–5: A tiny story or clue (40–70 words tops)
- Optional: Price or NFS, plus a short link
Plain words help. One feeling. One fact. One hint. That’s it.
Those three lines align neatly with industry recommendations on essential label content—artist, title, medium, dimensions, and price—summarized in this quick reference.
Real captions I used on the wall
These are real examples from our show. I trimmed names where needed.
1)
Title: Blue House at Dusk
Artist: Lena Ortiz
Medium: Oil on canvas, 2024
Caption: I walked past this house every night last winter. The windows were warm, like tea. The sky was not. I painted it fast, while my hands were cold. You can still see the brush marks where I stopped to breathe.
Price: $850
2)
Title: Signal Loss (No. 3)
Artist: K. Morrow
Medium: Acrylic and graphite on panel, 2023
Caption: This is about static. The kind you hear when the radio can’t find a station. I layered thin paint and scratched it back with a key. It’s messy on purpose, like a thought you don’t catch in time.
Price: $600
3)
Title: Gran’s Apron
Artist: Joy Patel
Medium: Archival inkjet print, 2022
Caption: My grandma cooked by feel. A pinch, a tilt, a laugh. I hung the apron on a line and let the wind tell me what to shoot. The stain in the corner is curry. It never left, and I’m glad.
Price: $300
4)
Title: Tide Pocket
Artist: Aaron Wolfe
Medium: Ceramic, cone 6, 2024
Caption: I kept thinking about how the ocean holds secrets. This cup traps a little wave inside the lip. Thumb fits here. Sip slow. wash by hand. Salt is a memory.
Price: $120
5)
Title: Patchwork City
Artist: Mae Li
Medium: Mixed media on wood (paper, tape, soot), 2023
Caption: I used scraps from bus ads and burned edges for mood. The grid is the streets near my old school. The smudges are from my hands. I didn’t clean them off. Cities don’t either.
Price: $900
6)
Title: Light Study: 7:14 AM
Artist: Theo Dunn
Medium: Video loop with found audio, 2024
Caption: The sun hit the laundromat sign for 93 seconds. I taped my phone to a milk crate and waited. That buzz you hear is the soda fridge. It felt like a song about Monday.
NFS
7)
Title: Sparrow, Window, Bread
Artist: Cam Rivera
Medium: Charcoal on paper, 2023
Caption: I drew fast. The bird didn’t wait. I missed the feet, so I left them out. The crumb is big on purpose. Hunger looks bigger when you’re hungry.
Price: $250
8)
Title: Mama’s Hands
Artist: Sheila Grant
Medium: Oil on linen, 2021
Caption: My mother prayed before she slept. She folded her fingers like this. The blue underpaint still shows through the skin. I kept it soft. She was tired that year.
Price: $1,200
9)
Title: After the Sirens
Artist: D. Sharif
Medium: Gelatin silver print, 2019
Caption: The street was empty but loud. The hose kept hissing. I shot this on a cheap camera and a heavy heart. The lights are not stars.
Price: $350
10)
Title: Sweet Dirt
Artist: Leo Santos
Medium: Soil, glue, twine on canvas, 2024
Caption: I grew up in a farming town. Dirt was normal. I pressed it into the weave and sealed it so it won’t fall off your wall. The smell fades. The memory stays.
Price: $400
11)
Title: Red Line, Breathing
Artist: Nia Brooks
Medium: Acrylic on canvas, 2022
Caption: One line. One breath per pull. I worked left to right, then back. It’s a pulse. Mine, yes. Maybe yours too.
Price: $700
12)
Title: Field Notes (Bodega Flowers)
Artist: Kayla Sox
Medium: Gouache on paper, 2024
Caption: I buy flowers on Fridays when I can. The paper cone makes a soft crunch. I paint before the water clouds up. The white bits are the paper showing through.
Price: $180
What flopped for me (so you can skip the pain)
- Fancy fonts. I tried a lovely script. It looked stylish and, wow, so hard to read on a cream wall. I went back to Source Sans and Georgia. Clean wins.
- Tiny type. 12 pt looked neat in Canva, but folks leaned in too far. 18–24 pt for headers and 14–16 pt for body worked best.
- Glossy stock. Pretty under lights, but glare hid half the words. Matte only.
- Long bios. I wrote a full page for one artist. People skimmed the first line and walked away. I cut it to 60 words. They stayed.
For a quick primer on choosing readable, gallery-friendly fonts and point sizes, check out this practical overview.
A quick formula that saved me
I call it the three-line magic:
- Line A: One clear feeling. (Warm, tense, quiet, hungry.)
- Line B: One process clue. (Scratched with a key, taped the phone, burned edges.)
- Line C: One tiny fact. (93 seconds, curry stain, thumb fits here.)
That mix gives heart, brain, and proof.
Small extras that got smiles
- QR codes for short audio. Artists spoke for 30 seconds. A phone voice feels true. I recorded on my iPhone in a quiet hallway.
- A large-print binder at the front desk. 18 pt text, same captions, no fuss.
- A few Braille labels for the main pieces. Not many, but it mattered.
- Spanish versions for works with long stories. I asked a friend to check my lines. I didn’t trust machine translations alone.
- I opened a group chat for repeat visitors so they could vote on a “crowd favorite.” Turns out, dedicated chat rooms move faster than email lists and feel more casual than comments. Fresh data shows that some niche chat platforms are now overtaking Facebook for sheer engagement numbers—check the analysis over at this deep dive for eye-opening stats and practical tips on meeting your audience where they already hang out.
- For guests asking “what’s next?”—especially if your show is in the U.K.—steer them toward Adult Search Manchester, a tidy, constantly updated guide to Manchester’s late-night art bars, date-night spots, and adults-only experiences that keeps the creative buzz going long after the gallery closes.
- Reading the exuberant recap of [Shot of Art: Chicago—Paint on My