My blog has been a little quiet lately, but I have been very busy getting ready for my art show. At first there was some confusion regarding how many pieces I could hang and how to hang them. I thought I was only allowed seven pieces plus my biography, but it turns out I can hang eight pieces. I had my main seven collages picked out for a long time. They were the better ones, I thought, so the eighth one was like a freebie. A lot of my collages that were not included in the show had inappropriate things on them, so I thought why not toss one of those in? Contrary to what it looks like, I do take this art show seriously.
In case you can't see why this would be worrisome, there's a pamphlet for The Chesley Sexual Health Clinic (I've got to represent my hometown) and a guy wearing tassels and a thong. You know? Art.
I'm curious to see what sells and what doesn't. I did another art show before, but the items in the show were things I wanted to keep and I also wasn't there to see the display or people's reactions. There is definitely more pressure for this show, but I am excited to be in the same program as my friend, Keith Brown! Going to Keith's shows is what got me interested in London Fringe in the first place. While waiting to get into his shows, I saw all this art on the wall and I thought, "I could do that!" The Fringe artists seem to get away with a little bit more than what I've seen in other art shows. By that, I mean there seemed to be a lot of nudity and profanity, so maybe my tassel guy will fit right in.
This was awkward because I thought they wanted a picture of the artist and it turned out everybody else submitted a photo of their work. I'm new.
If you plan on attending, the opening night is May 30 from 7-9 PM at TAP (formerly known as The Arts Project) at 203 Dundas St. London.
This is scary for me because they think up to 300 people might come during that time. I'm not sure what to say if someone approaches me. I just like putting things together. I'm also not sure how the opening night works. Do we have to introduce ourselves to the crowd or do people come up to us one on one? I am nervous about the reaction to my art but also to me. Usually when I meet new people, they talk to me like I'm five and I can already hear people asking in a high pitched voice, "Did you do this all by yourself? Aww! Good for you! It's nice that you can be out and about for tonight!"
"Yes, thank you."
Earlier I mentioned that there may be trouble with hanging things. The people running the festival strongly suggested adding wires and rubber bumpers to each piece. I bought the bumpers (they are supposed to weigh the frame down) and almost all of them came off and stuck to other things so I didn't want to do anything with the wires, which I also bought. So I went into TAP and one of their staff members tried to hang some of my stuff without all the fancy things. Guess what? It worked! However, if I don't add the wires the Fringe people could still refuse to hang my work, So that is stressful since I know the wires are unnecessary.
My work inside the gallery! I know, being on a bench is not exciting as being on the wall, but that day will come. May 28 is the hang up day, so I will find out then if things are going to Hell or not.
Assuming all goes well, I have two other opportunities to sell things. June 1 and June 3, I will be in the gallery for a few hours and that's when I can try to sell my smaller/other work. Rumour has it that Connor Morand and the River Town Saints might come-- friends in high places! I really hope to see people I know because I think that will make the experience more fun and less nerve-wracking. You can RSVP on my Facebook event page.
Here is some incentive for RTS to come. They can take this home haha.
Chris Labelle drew on our faces....
I have put together several collages to sell. Some were on the wall and some were made just for this. Here are some of the new things:
Wes Mack liked this one on Instagram. Fun fact: I make Wes Mack a postcard every time he comes to London.
So far, Wes tolerates these things haha. It is probably on his fridge right now. That is my dream, anyway.
I also made this piece for the show. It's a collage on wood which I haven't done before. I used old family history documents and made a portrait of somebody (they're not real) in PhotoShop. Mosty, the papers I used talked about people dying, but I found a family newsletter about a family reunion, which apparently was a "rockin' time". It's all about balance.
Hopefully somebody likes my morbid and non-morbid art. Keep an eye on my blog over the next few weeks to see how everything goes. I will be posting lots of stuff soon!
Annette
