For this part I drafted the following basic message which I sent it to the companies below, being the ones I was most interested in working with -
· Super Blue
· Random International
· The Serpentine Gallery
· Studio Above and Below
· The Tate Modern
I also wrote to Gabriel Orozco through his instagram requesting an interview
Sadly, the only response I got was from the Tate Modern which advised -
‘Unfortunately, we are not able to accept speculative applications for internships. Similarly, we are not currently part of the Erasmus Plus programme and are unable to accept any applications via this route.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing situation with COVID-19, our internship programme is paused, and we will not be advertising for internship opportunities until further notice’.
On reflection, I might have done better trying to get a direct contact at each of the companies, and calling each of them personally, but at the time I was having symptoms of my health problems and wasn’t thinking clearly, and I wasn’t really sure whether I could actually go to work anyway, for the three days to fulfil the task.
However, having been a member of a number of groups and Arts Societies for several years prior to and during this term, I already have experience which I believe counts as experience of Professional Practise - in particular with DC & Friends Art– my own exhibiting group (with my husband) which I set out in detail below.
I also have relevant experience of organising and participating in other groups as below, as a founding member of Surrey Contemporaries, as a member and committee member of Guildford Art Society, as a member of Fleet Art Society (not on the committee but I was the website administrator) and as a member of Wokingham Art Society.
DC & Friends Art
My husband and I set up DC & Friends Art (DC = David and Cecilia) as our own exhibiting group four years ago and we run exhibitions commercially on our own account. We organise the exhibitions in entirety: booking and paying for the galleries, selecting the exhibitors, and handling all the financial aspects of the exhibitions.
DC&F exhibitions are always a week or more in duration and we set a limit of 10 to 12 exhibitors for each one. We choose exhibitors based on the quality and variety of their work, to ensure we always have a good balance on show, and also based on their reliability as stewards who we are sure will perform their duties competently and in the best interests of all the exhibitors.
In the past four years we’ve organised 21 weeks of exhibitions, our main venue being Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking, but we’ve also run exhibitions at Cranleigh Arts Centre, Guildford Institute, and in Fleet. We have advance bookings for 23 weeks at Denbies over the next four years, and our exhibitions at Denbies have between 110 and 120 works on the walls, 25 to 35 on table easels, and 60 to 80 in browsers, as well as about 500 cards in card racks.
Main Organisational Elements of DC & Friends Art -
Submission Sheets – are sent to exhibitors by email,returned by email, and used for space planning, label printing, production of the catalogue list, and pre-loading on Zettle for sales recording. Sample –
The Submissions Sheet has evolved to this version to provide all the information we need, and easy for non-technical exhibitors to complete. The completed sheets are consolidated on a master spreadsheet for label printing using the Mail Merge facility in MS word, and for sales recording as below.
Marketing, and publicity - I create a poster for each exhibition which is advertised on our Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, and sent to all exhibitors for circulation on their social media.
I researched and learned how to do a cascade online marketing exhibition for each exhibitor.
I also created posters which are placed around the gallery and other posters (not shown here) which are on display in Denbies common areas and the restaurants to attract visitors to the gallery.
My Favourite Painting - We provide slips inviting our visitors to nominate their favourite painting, which adds interest for the visitors, significantly increasing the time they spend in the gallery, and undoubtedly improves sales. The slips invite visitors to give their email address if they would like to be advised of future exhibitions – which provides us with a valuable mailing list for email marketing and invitations to forthcoming exhibitions using Mailchimp.
The winning exhibitors win a bottle of wine and/or some chocolates, and we analyse all the votes to provide feedback to the exhibitors on which of their paintings were most popular. The interesting thing is that usually almost every artwork on show is someone’s favourite by the end of the exhibitions.
Payment System – Zettle
We use Zettle for sales recording, and I have created a User Guide for the stewards on how to enter Credit Card or Cash sales, how the discounting and other Zettle facilities work, and how to email receipts to purchasers. I upload a list of all the works on sale prior to every exhibition from the Submission Sheets and this not only provides us with an accurate (and continual) record of sales, it also provides the basis for paying exhibitors at the end of each exhibition.
We ensure at least one of the stewards on duty at every session is trained on Zettle and competent to reconcile cash takings at the beginning and end of each session.
Surrey Contemporaries
I was a founding member of the group, with my husband and fifteen others, around seven years ago, and the group has a limit of around 22 members at any one time and is run on a cost-share basis. Surrey Contemporaries have exhibited at Cranleigh Arts Centre and Haslemere Museum, but the main venue is Denbies Wine Estate near Dorking.
The SC exhibitions at Denbies have always been organised by my husband and I – until last year when we decided that other members of the group had to take over as lead organisers to share the load more equitably. We continue as members of SC however, and continue to exhibit at SC Denbies exhibitions, and the processes we established continue in place – and are substantially the same as set out above in DC & Friends.
My husband and I organised 18 weeks of exhibitions for SC at Denbies, and even though others do the lead organising now, we continue to organise elements of the work, such as space allocation, steward scheduling and equipment provision. We are therefore still intimately involved in the running of the group.
I had also developed Surrey Contemporary website in Wix https://www.surreycontemporaries.co.uk and trained a member to update the website.
Guildford Art Society
My husband and I joined GAS two years ago and were invited onto the committee in February 2021 to do the monthly newsletter - GAS Pipeline - which we developed ourselves and do on Mailchimp.
https://www.guildfordartsociety.co.uk/single-post/gas-pipeline-february-2022
GAS Pipeline is distributed electronically to members each month advising forthcoming events – Exhibitions, Demonstrations, Workshops, and other items of interest. A very popular element of Pipeline is the Monthly Challenge – a competition which sets a theme each month and invites members to submit an image of one of their artworks (painting, sculpture, photograph) relevant to the theme. Images are sent to me electronically and after the deadline – normally the 20th of each month - I compile all the images for loading onto the GAS Instagram account.
Normally I receive 15 to 20 entries - though I’ve have had as many as 28 – and I anonymise them, allocating a letter to each, inviting GAS Instagram followers to vote (give a like) for their favourites, and the ten with the most likes are submitted, still anonymised, to an eleven-member panel for a second round of voting - to ensure that it’s not always won by the artist with the most Instagram followers. The winner is announced in GAS Pipeline, and on the GAS website, Instagram, and Facebook.
In addition to my work on GAS Pipeline and the Monthly Challenge, for which I learned the use of Canva and Mailchimp as campaign tools, I am intimately involved in GAS exhibitions and the running of the Society.
Fleet Art Society
I have been a member of FAS for seven years and though I’m not on the committee – as I really don’t have time – I have been closely involved with the organisation - my husband is the Treasurer. Though very pressed for time I agreed to take over the Wix webpage when the committee member in charge left eight months ago, and happily I was able to hand over responsibility for it to a new committee member last week.
https://www.fleetart.co.uk
The work on the FAS webpage required me to keep it up to date with past and future Demonstrations and Workshops and any administrative information, whilst keeping the design unchanged pending the handover.
I’ve also been closely involved in the organisation of FAS exhibitions, which recently has been limited to Pop-up exhibitions because of Covid.
Black Box Project
I applied for the Black Box Project, I was selected, with the role of 'Organise Artist talks', unfortunately due to my health I had to withdrew.
Reflections and ideas from my practise
For the exhibitions indicated, I self-trained on Canva, Mailchimp, WIX and other systems which are all valuable, transferable skills that can be used in commercial contemporary art exhibitions, and since CEP I’ve been thinking about using one of our future DC & Friends bookings at Denbies to do a Group Contemporary Art Exhibition when my health improves sufficiently.
This would require some adjustments if I was to use the gallery as it has been designed primarily for hanging 2D work. There are however other rooms there which are probably more suitable – some adjacent to the gallery, so I’m considering how best to carry the plan forward, possibly in combination with a DC & Friends Art exhibition. And combining my work alongside a DC & F exhibition would be one way of reaching a different, more traditional audience to experience Contemporary Art
Contemporary Art Festival,
With experience and the knowledge gained on CEP I also would like to organise an outdoor Contemporary Art Festival, maybe over a weekend in a park. I’m really interested see the area where I live becoming a Contemporary Cultural Hub.
I’m also interested in curatorial work in an alternative setting, to spread the message of contemporary art to a general audience. Gaining acceptance from a different kind of audience might of necessity be a slow process but it would be rewarding to see the audience contemplating the art and the implications of the message(s).
Depending on the size of the area, the format, approval, insurance implications, budget and other factors, this would probably need a few months to organise and advertise, but I already have a potential site in mind where I’d would love to do an exhibition, subject to the requirements of the council and property management.
My initial idea would be to invite local artists and UCA Students, either individually or in groups - perhaps initially 8 to 10 in total - to put forward ideas for their exhibitions, and to work with local institutions such as the Rotary Club, the Lions, and local art societies and commercial institutions who might be willing to sponsor or help with the organising. To make it more appealing to the audience I’d like to introduce an element of art charity fund-raising, which leads on to another idea I had.
Online Contemporary Art Activities for vulnerable children in developing countries.
As a member of the Rotary Club of Fleet for eight years I was for three years the International Coordinator, and I led a Rotary project to support a UK charity which runs a Children’s Refuge in Peru – called Project Peru. The refuge takes care of about 50 children – 2 to 16 years old – who are at risk of abuse.
I thought I might be able to form group of artists, including myself, willing to give a maybe couple of hours every month to run online workshops for these children, and I believe this could grow and be extended as I believe there are many Refuges of this type in Peru and indeed, around the world.
If an element fundraising could be incorporated to buy equipment and supplies in territory for the children attending the workshops that would help the Refuge finances, and focussing initially on Latin America with Spanish speaking artists or commentators would solve some of the practical challenges involved. The idea could be transferable to other regions with support from organisations such as Rotary International based on the same format.
Hopefully in Year 3 I will out of my health issues and I will be able to work on these projects.