Exhibition IN BATH
I am extremely pleased to have had two works selected to hang alongside the Bath Society of Artists at their 120th Annual Open Exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath.
The selected works are ‘The Marvellous Dream’ and ‘Just Before Mushroom Season’, both are stippled ink on paper drawings and the latter is coloured with pencils. They are good representations of my core work so I am delighted to be able to exhibit to them to a new audience, the first time I’ve shown in the West of England since Covid.
For some reason (maybe due to having a stupid common cold) I was pretty certain that neither work would be selected by the selectors in-person but I’m so glad to be proven wrong.
The ROAD TO exhibiting
With shows like this it is quite an undertaking really. For those of you who haven’t tried to enter something similar before I thought it might be useful to understand what’s involved. Here’s the process:
Cost of entry: There’s the initial cost of entry into the online pre-selection, which is usually minimal (side-glance at the Royal Academy though for not being minimal). Sometimes one cost per work, other times a cost that covers multiple works. This show cost £30 for two works.
Choosing work: Then of course you do need to make sure the work will be available if it is selected. That means no overlapping applications involving the same work at other venues, and probably needing to take it off-sale as well. I chose my best two available works.
Can you afford the whole process? When I applied I believed that I had four potential return trips to Bath to pay for: 1) Hand in for in-person judgement. 2) If I had been unsuccessful with one of the works but successful with the other then I would have to go back to Bath to collect it on the 20th October [this turned out to be incorrect, after online selection notification the website pointed out that in this situation artists can pick up one unselected work when the show closes] 3) Pick-up of unsold work at the end of the show 4) Actually seeing the show when it’s open! This could even, in an outrageously unlikely scenario, include going to the opening night private view.
Price the art: Take into account the commission the organisers take, and pay attention to VAT. Some shows, like this one have a helpful calculator on the application screen so you can see what you would take home if the work sold. Usually you just have to do the sums yourself.
Before pressing submit: Make sure the photography of both was as good as possible and within the accepted file sizes, file types, and filename conventions. I submitted applications for them on 12th August.
You’ve passed the first stage: Notification of successful selection for in-person judgment came on 16th September so I started planning how to deliver the artwork to Bath. There are almost always specific instructions for the attachment of labels, style of framing, style of hanging attachements (string or mirror plates), so you have to be extra careful to get that right. I already had an A1 padded art storage envelope and a smaller bubble one to safely transport both artworks.
Getting there: It turned out that there were rail replacement buses all weekend of the hand-in (11th October) so I chose to drive instead of wrestling artwork onto buses.
Accommodation? Due to being inexperienced at drives over that distance (from Rye) I thought it safer to stay overnight out west and booked accommodation in Frome. Arrived Friday and delivered to Bath the next day.
On the day of hand-in: A long queue reached around the Victoria Art Gallery just after 10:30 on Saturday morning, when the doors opened. Too long a queue to occupy the loading car park bays without offence, so Caoimhe drove off to park elsewhere. Loads of shiny padded envelopes, bubblewrap, and an exciteable but nervy air wafting around all the artists. Friendly professional faces at the hand-in desks inside. I handed over and waved off the artworks for judgement. Being unwell made me a bit pesimistic about my chances but I was still glad to have at least tried.
The anxious gap: The next day the judgement started and it looked from social media like quite a lot of fun. From personal experience it can be quite a long day being part of a selection panel but it’s exciting to (sort of) curate what’s coming through.
Remember to check for results: Put a note in your calendar to check for results of the selection process. Tuesday evening, 14th October, I checked online and found the lovely green ticks of success - both works selected and will be hanging, not just the online gallery. Excellent news indeed!
Expenses: Remember that any legitimate costs of the business of being an artist can be legitimately be claimed as expenses on a tax return. So you’ll reduce tax liability by reducing your reportable profits. That includes entry fees, framing, photography of work, packaging, driving as-per the HMRC calculators, overnight accommodation and meals if needed. I wouldn’t have gone to Frome or Bath if I hadn’t needed to so it is a legitimate expense for the working days involved. Don’t claim expenses for extra leisure days added on to the trip, is what I’m getting at.
Keep a record: Obtain photographs of the work in-situ. I have a friend visiting Bath next weekend and they’re likely to get photos for me before I can do so myself. Update your CV or list of exhibitions / shows.
Tell everyone: Spam all your social media channels or newsletters with information on how to see your work in the wild.
PICK UP YOUR WORK: So many people forget to do this. It’s mad. If you leave it too long the gallery will have included terms in the submission agreement that allow them to dispose of your work after a certain date, or will charge you for storage, or will give the art to charity.
That was even longer than I expected. Hope it’s useful to someone.
What’s Occurring?
In other ‘news’ I’m working on a whole load of drawings and paintings at the moment. Hoping to build a small body of painted works themed around the England Coast Path. Those will likely appear next year en masse. For now I’m keeping it all a little quiet until I see what comes out…