Journeys Exhibition - Behind the Scenes
Print making is a hands on, physical process as Alistair Gow demonstrates here in his Glasgow Studio.
It's not just hanging some pictures up!
We thought you might be interested to learn more about what goes into creating an exhibition. How does it all start? Who gets involved and how long does it take? It's so easy to walk into a gallery and think all that's involved is putting pictures on walls. If only it was that easy! Here's what happened with Journeys.
The Starting Point
Every exhibition is sparked by an idea from one of the gallery team, artists included. In this case Sonja spotted some work by Jen Orpin in The Guardian Onine in 2023. Her work appealed to the team and a few months later when discussing ideas of new exhibitions we approached Jen. She was very busy with shows in Seoul and London filling her 2024 schedule and was likely not to be able to have enough time to create work until 2025. So, we aimed for that. It's not at all unusual for an idea for an exhibition to take well over 12 months to come to fruition and this is a great example of that.
Jen Orpin at her Manchester Studio working up a new painting
Solo or not solo?
Should an artists have a solo exhibition? It's a big question and can be defined by several things here at Taylor-Jones & Son. In this case, we knew Jen Orpin didn't have the time to create enough pieces for a solo show, so that made the decision for us. But other things that could have determined it are, the physical space we have and how work looks in it, how well known the artists is, whether we have artists that sit well together. In this case though it was simple, it was always going to be group exhibition - we needed other artists whose work would compliment Jen's. The theme of Journeys was easy to come up with - but who could we get to fit?
Nessie Ramm in her shepherds' hut studio in East Sussex, painting flowers in a vase, collected from road sides
Finding Artists
Finding artists is incredibly hard, but with the time frame of the exhibition we had room for manoeuvre. There are an awful lot of artists out there but will they fit with the gallery? Finding two more for Journeys took us 6 months.
We found Alistair Gow not because we were looking for an artist who had a connection with Journeys, but for the simple reason we were after a new print artist. He popped up on a web search and the moment we saw his work - we knew it would fit with Journeys so we dropped him line.
He was onboard - but was getting married around the exhibition dates and couldn't come down from Glasgow with the work. Sending framed pieces was not an option as it would be so expensive. So we agreed to take the risk and pay to have his work framed here in Deal to secure his involvement.
Nessie Ramm was our third find, actually she found us. She had spotted our Chris Packham show and just dropped us a line to say who she was. Its incredibly rare for us to take on artists that approach us, 99% of the time it's a no thank you, usually because they just don't fit with our aesthetic. But Nessie Ramm was a no brainer. No one else is doing what she is doing. She is unique as an artist, you know her work the moment you see it. That counts for an awful lot because originality is so hard to achieve. And painting on road signs, using plants from road side verges? She had to be part of Journeys. We had our three individual, unique and highly recognisable artists.
A vital ingredient of any exhibition launch.
Stickers, Words and Wine
In the immediate build up to an exhibition, the gallery has some of key objectives. Firstly we need to make sure enough people know about the show. That's why you are reading this newsletter. We aim to put out 3 newsletters for each show and we will be busy on Instagram too. There needs to be an e-catalogue put together for pre-show sales which takes time to make sure everything is correct with sizes pricing and so on - plus work is added to the website ready to go live on launch day. We also make sure we speak to people as they come in the door. We are a High Street gallery and footfall is busy and needs to be maximised. We also put out a press release but getting coverage for shows in the print media or tv is not easy. Still, a couple of times we have made it to BBC and ITV news which is a rare feat for an independent gallery.
And then there is the bit you all know we do - hang the pictures! This generally take two days. A day to clear the gallery of its current artworks and repaint the walls, then a day to re-hang, get the individual picture labels up and importantly stickers in the window. Last but not least - we have to order the drinks for the private view. It's normally wine, sometimes sparking and occasionally we do a cocktail. Can you think of cocktail that goes with the theme of the show, let us know and maybe we will give it a whirl?
And so that's it. Doors are open for the private view and we all wait with bated breath to see who will turn up and what they think of the work. Obviously we're delighted if people buy on at the launch, but it's just as important that you come along, enjoy our efforts, mix with fellow art lovers and, most importantly, have fun. Creating a community around what we do is something we're really proud of.
Now that I've given you more of an insight into how this all works, I very much hope you can make it along to the private view at 6pm on Good Friday 18th April. I'm sure it will be be worth the journey. (Sorry, couldn't help myself!)
PS: This is only the gallery story - as the pictures suggest the artists are hard at work too, more of that in our next newsletter.