Exhibition Preparation

Earlier this week I did a trail set up of my joint exhibition with my ceramicist friend Cassie Sharman. It was the first time we’d been in the space with the work we’ve been producing for the event taking place this weekend. It was interesting to hold the work in the space and begin to see what it will look like. The work I’ve been making for the past 8 months or so has been both an explorative journey of my own practice, but also (more latterly) a process of ‘production’ towards this event. As I reach the end of this process and with the event this weekend, it’s made me think about how artists can navigate this process in a way that works for both personal creativity and the more ‘business’ side of making, exhibiting, and selling art.

There have been a few challenges getting to this point, mostly practical and logistical – but nonetheless useful for me to learn from and apply to any future exhibitions I may do.

Having an exhibition in a space that’s normal function is a bar has meant the work isn’t going to be put up and then left for a week or two for people to drop in and visit, like in a more conventional space. Due to licensing constraints, we had to limit the opening to two days, over specific hours when trading is allowed for the bar/taproom. Initially I thought this was a setback, but in the end, it felt like an appropriate amount of time for what is my first exhibition of a relatively small collection of work. The prospect of showing what is the result of a new direction for my practice felt quite exposing and so the scale and duration of the exhibition felt appropriate and manageable.

The venue for the exhibition has a lovely range of brick walls painted white that are textural and uneven. The space isn’t ‘clean’ like a conventional white exhibition space but given the collection of work relates to themes of the elements, stone, natural forms, and the earth – it feels like a space that works well.

One thing that struck me when trying out the arrangement for the hanging was a worry that my work wasn’t big enough and looked lost on the wall! It called to mind something that’s been on my ‘to do’ list with my practice (and one of my aims for this MA) which is to experiment with scale and to not shy away from being bold with paint and surface. I’d like to try working on a larger scale and I’m aware that part of the reason I kept things relatively small scale for this collection was that I knew I had to have the work framed at quite a significant cost. As with many artists, I’ve had to balance creative output with the more practical considerations of costs.

Working on a larger scale will be a challenge for me but I think it will be an important part of my continued process (and progress). I think I need to begin as I did for this collection – which is essentially with lots of work on ‘scrap’ paper, sketchbooks and generally working freely, imagining no constraints and that no one is going to see it. I’ve always applied this to writing projects and it really worked for that. In theory, if I can work out my ideas using this process led technique it will allow the journey of refinement to evolve naturally. I’m going to get one of those large rolls of paper to give me the push I need.