back to blogI have had lots going on in October with running workshops, getting work ready for exhibitions and attending courses that Art& kind of crept up on me this year. Thankfully I had been organised enough to get all the paintings off to the framers well in advance - although that in itself confused matters as I'd forgotten which paintings were with them.
So it was a bit of a surprise when they all came back and I then tried to work out whether I had enough space for them all! Always best to have more work than not enough though.
Planning my space on the living room floor isn't easy when the space you are working with is larger than your floor space!
Art& is a really well organised event so when I arrived at my stand it just needed me to get myself organised. It runs over 3 days with an additional day for set-up so it can be a pretty exhausting exhibition to be involved in. It is located in a great venue at York Racecourse and is really well advertise and attracts people from all over the country.
Lovely new wrist band this year for Artists.
This year I used a hanging system (the one I couldn't work out how to use last year) and it worked a treat especially as I had so many smaller paintings this year that needed to go up.
I've posted a little video of my stand when I'd finally finished setting up and had stopped faffing.
2019-10-25 111210 from Paula Dunn on Vimeo.
I also went for a bigger stand this year so that it was easier for people to get into the stand and look at the work. Last year's felt a little bit like a prison cell... a 2m x 2m one and was hard to do anything in there if there was more than two of you in it!
The event itself was very busy with lots of people visiting and wanting to chat about my work and workshops. I was super grateful for the hanging system when paintings sold as it made it easier to get new work on the walls. Saying that I probably won't use it next year though as it was a real job getting it off the boards at the end of the show... it wasn't very forgiving to those boards.
I really love this show as it has a really good standard of work.... it's a bit dangerous though as you can easily end up spending a lot of money! Need to walk around with blinkers on!!
A big thank you to those of you who bobbed by and said hello. It was a long three days but definitely worth it.
For any artists out there thinking of apply to Art& next year I would definitely recommend it. Applications are now open... yes already!
