My first solo exhibition at Milton Keynes just finished and now I have time to reflect on whether it was sucessful and what I got out of the whole process.
The experience of setting up was difficult. This was because I brought a lot of work in the van and wasn’t sure what I would exhibit until I got into the space. If I had already graduated and gone through the experience of the degree show I would have been in a better position to make choices. As it was I had to guess without a second opinion. I think it looked alright but slightly overcrowded.
The preview was attendend by a few people but not as many as I had hoped or had invited. I think this was due to two reasons. First because it is August and everyone is on holiday and second because Milton Keynes is a long way for most people to come. I got some good feed back, with people especially liking the different textures of the materials, those being roofing felt, steel, paper, gloss paint and ceramic tiles. I also had two offers to buy a couple of the drawings that were based on cones.
I now have to take the work forward into the final year. The process of doing the exhibition has been useful in resolving the main question of which direction to take in the next few months and I was able to have some discussion about this. It seems that the drawing element was what favoured my proposal ( I submitted two) along with the more unusual theme of materials and structures that dispel water. Drawing is very central to how I think about inventing new objects. I like drawing because the outcome is often surprising and it is these surprises that inspire three dimensional experiments.
The problem is that although I am about to go into the final year I still feel that I need to experiment. I do not yet have a vision for a final work. All I can do is keep working as I normally do and hope that some good stuff will emerge.
