I spent my Christmas holidays taking pictures. That sounds quite relaxing, doesn't it? I can assure you – it wasn't. I was on a race against the clock to get 4 pictures for my university portfolio. And not just any pictures. No, each of these had highly specific briefs of my own devising – and I didn't make them easy.
Apply Thomas Kellner's concept of visual analytical synthesis to the natural world
Create a light painting in the style of Pablo Picasso
Represent an environmental concern using a human model
Demonstrate my own style using a fungus as my subject
Despite this, the process of getting these images together proved to be extremely fun and I got some really great results. I also had the pleasure of travelling to loads of great sites around the country, and catch up with a number of old friends.
Once I'd captured all my images, the next step was to make an exhibition. I got my frames and some paper and ran some tests at home. Seeing these initial prints was amazing – I couldn't believe how professional they looked! Obviously my home printer wasn't going to provide good enough quality prints for the exhibition so the first day I was back in Carlisle I paid a visit to reprographics, where the staff set me up with some gorgeous lustre paper prints.
The next day saw the whole cohort setting up the gallery space. We got our frames up onto the wall and got our biographies and statements prepped (I did a lot of writing that day). I spent the rest of the day acquiring and setting up my mannequin and other assorted extras, which gave an extra dimension to my work – definitely worth the extra effort! A coursemate and I spent Wednesday morning getting all the written work printed and mounted. And with that final touch the exhibition was complete. I was absolutely delighted with the final exhibit – I think you'll agree it looks great!
My artist statements had a special twist to make my exhibit just that little more interactive. I included QR codes that would link to hidden pages on my website to provide viewers extra information about the concepts, methods and processes behind my images. On reflection I probably could have cut down the amount I wrote on these pages, but the idea was sound and it was a great talking point between students and visitors alike!
As the exhibition is now closed, and because I'm nice, you can now access those pages by clicking the links below.
Thursday evening was the opening night. The gallery was open late for our friends and family to come and take a look and there were refreshments. This was a great success. Everyone really enjoyed themselves and all the work looked amazing.
The excitement didn't stop there! I decided to promote the exhibition on Facebook and Twitter to try and encourage some more footfall. I scheduled a tweet to go live on Monday morning and completely forgot about it over the weekend. I never expected to be contacted by BBC Wildlife who were interested in the exhibition and wanted to promote it in their January listings. This was just incredible and a fantastic opportunity to get our names out there.
I didn't expect to enjoy putting this exhibition together as much as I did. It was absolutely brilliant to be a part of, and I'm looking forward to the next one!
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