My first exhibition
My experience and thoughts on my first ever gallery exhibition
I know…. shock who is this person writing a post only a week after the last one!!
Well whilst the experience is fresh in my mind I thought it best to write about it straight away, but don’t get used to this!
So if you’ve been reading my notes or follow me on instagram you will know that I was lucky enough to be invited to exhibit with Heart Gallery based in Hebden Bridge as part of their latest exhibition themed “Enchanted tales”.
I had contacted them earlier this year to enquire about selling my work. The lovely Alison who runs the gallery responded straight away, she loved my work and thought it would be perfect for their next exhibition! Well of course I was thrilled, but then an immediate panic set in as I quickly realised I would need to get several more paintings together before the exhibition started!
Thankfully I didn’t have much planned for the next few months so was able to squeeze in plenty of painting time over the summer.
In the end I delivered 13 paintings to the gallery, 2 large and the rest small.
Then came the exhibition launch day, I was so nervous, that little bit of doubt just creeping in. What if the paintings aren’t good enough, what if they look rubbish. I’m not ready for this… the usual voices I get before any big event.
I arrived at the gallery, Alison and the team were so welcoming and friendly. I turned the corner into the side room where my paintings were hung, and just like that all those worries and the self doubt disappeared. The paintings looked F%&£ing Awesome!
Like they were made for this room… I couldn’t believe how amazing they looked. On a pink wall too! It surprised me that the warmth of the pink actually brought out some of the colours in the paintings. It really worked well.
Well I was so happy, gushing with pride to be honest and maybe feeling like a bit of a show off… but why not! I created this art, I should be proud of it.
As the rest of the artists started to arrive I introduced myself, all the artists were lovely, some amazing artwork, a mix of painting, sculpture, print, woodwork, embroidery. Such a variety of different things. I had a great time getting to know the artists, learning about their work, their process and inspiration. It never gets boring talking about art. Even as an introvert I could happily talk about it all day. And so I did! to everyone and anyone who came into the gallery.
I got some brilliant feedback on my work, lots of interest and questions about the process, the colours I use, my inspirations. There’s a lot of like minded crow fans out there!
And then when I thought it couldn’t get any better I sold a painting! What a rush! When someone loves what you do enough to buy it, that is the best feeling.
It was a lovely lady who bought it for her daughter. How nice that I got to be there too.
So as the day went on, I spoke to lots of different people, my aunt and a friend visited me which was a lovely surprise!
It was a busy event with lots of people coming and going, the weather was a little unkind though as it did rain a few times! I hoped that would drive people inside but seemed to drive them to the pub instead!… ha ha.
There were a few quiet moments, but I just used that time to take pictures and videos and share on socials.
All in all it was a great event, talking about your art can be difficult but events like this and the art fair I did in March have been great learning experiences. I’m building more confidence around what to say, how to approach people to start a conversation and how to keep that conversation going.
I would definitely recommend doing an exhibition as it’s a great way to try out working with a gallery if you’re new to it. I know it’s expensive and galleries do take a large cut, but for me the exposure you get massively out weighs that. I’ve already seen a huge increase in traffic to my website and instagram off the back of this event.
Social media is great, but it doesn’t beat in person events. People want connection, especially with art. Seeing art in the flesh is hugely important too, it has such a stronger impact on you. Pictures and videos just can’t do a painting justice.
So if you’re in the area, or fancy a trip to the famous happy valley… (IYKYK)… then pop down to Heart Gallery from now until the 2nd of November to see the exhibition, including my current collection. I’d love to know what you think!