Setting Up
I attended the venue with my husband Charlie who was also exhibiting his work. On arrival, other members of the class were there preparing their images to go in their space of the location. There were benches available for sitting, alcohol gel due to covid and a table by the front door which had booklets for promoting College Gwent’s Courses. As previously agreed in class, all of us had a section of this venue for our work to be exhibited. I had already had my photographs printed to the size I wanted which was 8” x 8” and bought 10” x 10” frames with a white mount inside to give the photograph depth in the frame. I had put the Photographs in the frames at home prior to coming.
The walls were uneven and I was concerned about whether my frames would stay on the wall for the duration of the exhibition. Together with my husband I measured the section of wall space I had, this was to have four frames across and four frames down producing a square. I believed as the frames were square they would look visually pleasing to the eye. Using the command strips I had purchased from the shop I stuck four on each of the frames then stuck them to the wall.
with assistance from Charlie, I put my work on the wall. This process took over two hours in total to complete. I then made sure there were no health and safety issues in my part of the exhibition, as it was there were nails and screws on the floor and using a broom I swept them up and put them in the bin. I then did more risk assessments with health and safety after which I left ready for the launch.
Launch Night
The launch was on the evening of at 18:00. Unfortunately, my husband could not attend on this occasion due to illness so I had to go on my own.
Although I had sent invitations out prior to this evening I was not sure if anyone would turn up. By the door was alcohol gel for guests to use due to Covid-19 regulations and as per invitation, there were light refreshments for all. At the beginning of the evening our lecturer, Peter Britton, along with one of the other students did a speech explaining what the exhibition was all about and how the third-year students including myself had transformed a project into an exhibition.
The evening lasted around two hours in total. It was very pleasant with guests viewing the work and students including myself there on hand if they had any questions. The work I believe was very well received by the guests I spoke to and during this time I am overjoyed to announce I managed to sell some pieces of work that I produced.
Although I was nervous I do not think I was the only student in that position on the launch evening however everyone was smiling, it could have been the relief of how the class managed to have an exhibition which was solely organised, arranged and funded by them.
Curating
Today along with Charlie and Ron, I helped to curate the exhibition. We opened at 10:00 and closed at 15:00. The keys were available from the security office and had to be returned to them for the next day of opening.
On opening, unfortunately, my work along with the work of the people I was with, had fallen from the wall as I previously thought it might. On the table at the front entrance, there was a pen and guest book supplied for guests to put comments in if they so wished. As before there was alcohol gel due to covid on the same table along with Coleg Gwent booklets for courses that they did there for marketing purposes.
During the day I stood outside the front door and as the public passed I made them aware that if they would like to come in to see a free exhibition they could. Whilst I was doing this Charlie and Ron were on hand if anyone wanted questions answered, and to explain about Coleg Gwent’s courses.
Standing outside the door was very successful as we managed to entice sixty members of the public in to view the exhibition. I explained to each of them what the exhibition was about, that the exhibition was the work of third-year students of Coleg Gwent and Cardiff Metropolitan University. If they had any questions whilst looking around then Charlie, Ron and I were available to help. Most of the guests left comments and were, very happy they came to see the work. There was some negative feedback being that some of the work was too mundane and didn’t flow however I felt it helped with any other exhibitions that I did in the future and what projects would be of interest to the public. I handed out my business cards during the day after I explained my work when asked to promote myself.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with Charlie and Ron, it was not pressured and we worked together very well. After we finished we handed the keys back to security and went home.
