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This month I entered three pieces into the North West’s largest open art exhibition, Milnthorpe Art Exhibition. This was the first time that I had entered and as it is a juried exhibition I had no idea whether any of my entries would be selected.
Preparation for the exhibition should have been straight forward; fill out the online application, select my entries, get them framed and labelled, hand in on receiving. Job done!
However, things went wrong when I decided to reuse some frames and just upgrade what was originally acrylic glazing to Art glass. I ordered over the phone with an online company, being a perfectionist I carefully triple checked my measurements before ordering and made sure that the glass would arrive in time. All seemed well, the glass was scheduled to arrive on the morning of receiving day which would give me just enough time to get my artwork framed for the afternoon drop off. Everything was set out ready and the glass arrived on time, but when I placed it into the frame – to my horror- that the glass was the wrong size!
I couldn’t believe. Panic set in, it was three hours until handing in was starting and I had no framed pieces.
I quickly found the contact details of a couple of local framing shops and call to explain my predicament, to my relief both offered to help me out. I grabbed my work and the Art glass and rushed to the closest framers shop, within a couple of hours I had three beautifully framed artworks ready to hang. The lesson for the day; don’t try and do everything myself, instead make the most of local professional services!
After what had been a hectic morning, I got my art handed in on time and then became the waiting game to see if they were selected. There was no notification to come with the results, it was a case of attending the exhibition to find out if your work had been hung. It was only a few days between handing in and the exhibition opening but it seemed longer.
I was really pleased to find that two of pieces had made it through the selection process, and I found them hung in the upstairs room of the Church. There were approximately 350 pieces displayed at the exhibition and the work was of a high standard, all works were for sale and it was good opportunity to see how my pricing measured up to other works.
There was a large range in prices which mostly reflected the size, materials and experience of the artists. Many artworks sold during the exhibition and I was a little disappointed that my pieces didn’t sell on this occassion. However, it was a good learning experience that I will be able to use to help me refine the selection and pricing of my artwork in the future.
