The Morning After The Night Before...

The Signature Art Prize 2012 (international award), Exhibition organised by DegreeArt.com. 

25th September 2012 6-9pm.

My profile on DegreeArt.com

So I was very nervous when it came to 6pm and me and my Aunt were sitting in Spitalfields Market in London's stylish Mile End having a light dinner before we went into the exhibition.
Eggs on toast devoured by a young woman with a nervous stomach is probably not the best combination but it was better than fainting in the middle of it all from lack of food!!
It got to 6:15pm and I felt it was an appropriate time (not too early, not too late) to head in, we reached the entrance of the exhibition and nervousness was replaced by excitement as they checked my name on their list and gave me a name badge. I crossed the threshold and was immediately given a glass of wine by a waiter in a suit and bow tie, I felt very...over my head, out of my depth, but at the same time...exhilarated.

We immediately spotted my photograph, it was placed next to a very large painting of a woman's legs and vagina by Seung Ah Paik, but hey I quite liked it (the same painting won in the painting category) and to be honest I was just happy to see that my work had arrived safely!

Me and my piece

The evening continued with me wandering around the exhibition looking at all the work by the 40 finalists, a fantastic mixture of photography, sculpture, painting and mixed media. I was amazed at the high standard of work and pretty much all the artists on display were graduates and as an international award they came from all over the place, so I must have been the youngest there and one of the only ones who was still a student. I have to say I have held onto that fact as much as possible to motivate me and I was told by my aunt that I have done so well for someone so young, so that left me with a happy smile on my face.

I met lots of artists like Jamie Green who did a mixed media piece, which was a metal sign with a rust effect and a face emerging from it. (See below)

Street Sign #1

Also in the mixed media category was a huge sketched canvas by Hyunjeong Lim, which I would have loved to buy if I could afford it! (it was £2000) The photo below is just a small part of it and doesn't do it justice, it's got so much detail and is something you have to see in front of you, in the flesh. 

Somewhere

I also spoke to William Darrell who had a very original and strange sculpture that made music through a kids keyboard, pipes and balloons with a sound reminiscent of bagpipes! I played it a bit and it is very noisy but love how interactive it is and it makes people laugh. It is also something I have never seen before, he showed us some pictures of his other inventions like the Deathstar which was a black tent thing raised off the ground by aluminium pipes/poles, which he was going to live in but unfortunately it leaked!  

Ballodica

There was also other art I loved and would happily have in my own house! The whole night was going great and there was a constant flow of wine and canapes being offered by well dressed waiters!

Here are some pics of the night:

Harumi Foster, Mule

People looking at my photograph

William Darrell blowing up his balloons!

So finally it gets to about 7:40pm and the founders of DegreeArt thank us all for coming and announce the winners (1 from each category, so 4 in total). Unfortunately I did not win, but I am happy to have lost to a photographer whose piece was socially relevant and beautifully done. You can see the winners work here http://www.degreeart.com/blog/announcing-signature-art-prize-2012-winners.

I was disappointed not to have won but who wouldn't be, and all the winners had previously won many awards and were all graduates, so maybe I'll win another year when I have a bit more experience behind me.  But hey it was a great night, great exposure for my work and lots of people liked my piece too. It has also given me the motivation to enter more competitions and maybe do my own exhibition back in Plymouth. I have learnt a lot more about the business side of photography and how to host an exhibition, which will come in handy for the future. 

I am so honoured to have been chosen as one of 40 finalists out of 500 entrants and the 9 other photographers there had some inspiring work, so it was great to be seen amongst them at such a prestigious international award exhibition in London.

Photos on the company website

So my photograph was picked up by the courier today from work, he was a very nice man who said he would take good care of it, so I am trusting him fully with the safe delivery of my photograph to the gallery!

In other news, the corporate photographs I was commissioned for are finally on the company website. You can see them on the Meet The Team page and on the Behind the Scenes tab on the left of the page.

http://www.broadley-speaking.com/meet-the-team/page/2/

Really happy with the photographs and it will be an ongoing 'job' as I will be taking photos of any new additions to the team, our work with our clients, the work christmas party, special events etc. The pictures will then be added to the website when and where needed.

The day has finally come...

A picture of my photograph framed and then a picture of it packaged and ready to go (in other words a before and after shot)...



Apologies for the reflection of my mum in the glass!



London here I come!

Have just got a sudden wave of nerves after packing my photograph, there are a hundred crazy thoughts going through my head, like 'will the courier pick it up on time', 'what if he gets lost', 'what if the glass breaks', 'what if no one is at the gallery to receive it' and a million other things!! But there is nothing I can do, I just have to cross my fingers and maybe pray to god that it all goes smoothly.
The next update will probably be on Wednesday morning when I will update you on whether I am one of the lucky few who gets selected to have their work on display in London until November. Until then....farewell.

My own little corner...

Was told by a friend that they read about me in the Herald the other day and so my mum instantly bought one! And here it is, my very own little corner on page 21....

Oh and update on my photograph: I picked it up from The Leading Edge Gallery on Monday, was a bit annoyed because even though they have had it for a week it wasnt even done when I arrived! The woman said that if I came back in 45mins it would be done, but she said it would be ready on monday so was a bit peeved to wait around. But it does look good in its white mount and black frame and it doesnt detract from the image, so very happy with the end result :). Also found a box to send it in and was given a few tips on how to package it too. Cant wait to see it up in the exhibition, with the frame the piece is now about A1 size, so larger than I first planned but the bigger the better right?!

Stressful times!

So organising for my work to be ready for the exhibition in London is much more stressful than I first thought it would be! I sent my photo to be printed 2 weeks ago to Focal Point Photographic in Exeter and they were absolutely fabulous. Only took a few days to do and I picked it up from Exeter on the following Monday. I decided on a 12"x18" print (the bigger the better right?!) on exhibition quality rag paper and it didnt cost as much as I thought it would, and the quality is really top notch! Definately using them again.

I then had the challenge of finding a framers and Tony Cobley recommended The Leading Edge Gallery in Ivybridge, so I popped by there yesterday with my print and spoke to Liz who was fantastic at giving advice to a newbie like me! We decided on a 3 inch white mount with a thin black frame to make it look more contemporary, I also had to sign it, date it and mark it as limited edition 1/25. Price was great here too and it will be ready to be picked up on Monday 17th, excited to see how it looks.
But the main thing that was stressing me out and making me pull my hair out was the delivery of my piece to the gallery, every courier I looked at online had bad reviews! It was a nightmare! But then I heard from my mum that my uncle has a courier business up in London and so I emailed him to ask if he could recommend or help me out at all. He replied saying to call his company, Scream Couriers, and say I was his niece and it would all be sorted for me. Called today and 20mins later it was all sorted, package due to be picked up next thursday and delivered safely to London. I guess it really is who you know in this business!

This has definately been an experience in the business side of photography, having to sign contracts and decide how many limited editions prints to do, booking the courier etc. I was crossing my fingers and toes the whole time!
Now all I have to worry about is packaging it well and making sure I get to the exhibiton on time...oh and what the hell to wear of course!

Got my invite in the post a few weeks ago too:


Signature Art Prize 2012 Finalist invite to the Opening Gala on 25th September 6-9pm