i didn’t write any posts in november. i really wanted to but i was a bit busy being involved in a group exhibition. there was quite a bit of work involved in the weeks preceding the show – getting flyers and posters printed, posting and emailing to promote the exhibition, establishing an online presence by setting up a facebook page, designing and printing a pamphlet/exhibition programme, finally getting some business cards designed and printed, ordering frames for my artwork and i was adding finishing touches to one of the pieces of artwork the day before installing the exhibition!
i was really looking forward to the first day when we would be hanging the exhibition and it was a great experience all-round. it was an exciting day as it was the first time i had seen some of the other artist’s work other than in photographs, and i enjoyed working with artists shaun morris and andrew smith to arrange the work. there were common themes and ideas across the work by the 5 artists, but there was still a lot to consider and it was a great experience planning this and making connections between the work without those connections being too obvious or over-stated.
this exhibition was the first event by ‘indigo octagon’ – a core group of artists consisting of shaun, andy and myself – with the intention of showcasing and raising the profile of our own work by working in collaboration, but to also include a more diverse range of artists, designers and creative people in the different projects (not just exhbitions), we might work on. i worked with the other artists to produce a publication that would accompany the exhibition – it collected together visual references from each of us, all of which would have contributed to the development of the work in the exhibition. these images were placed together with a poem written by andrew smith. these were sold at the exhibition for a nominal cost, but we also published it online (here!). i really enjoyed working on this too – it was a completely different project to that of my own illustration work and it too is intended to be the first in a series of publications that we’re involved in producing.
i’ll post more about the exhibition and the private view, but for now here’s some photos of the installation and the work, and some links to the artist’s websites.
shaun morris – hugh marwood – craig underhill – and mine
chris cowdrill's blog 