Photographs from the opening

Exhibition opening 04/05/13

The day finally arrived  it was the 4th May and nerves of excitement had kicked in. Myself, Jenny, Jess and Samantha arrived at the apothecaries hall at 10:45 am to set up. As the drawing and book binding materials for the workshops needing to be put out and also the refreshments needed o be ready for the opening at 12. With us all working together setting up was a doddle. Al we had to do know was to wait for the public. With the drawing workshop we drew a few things on the paper ourselves, as we didn't want a big sheet of blank paper immediate the public and deter them away from taking part. With a steady flow of people coming in, we got people of all ages to join in. he most rewarding to see was young kids just going for it, not being afraid and just expressing themselves an having fun. I am still taken aback by one 6 year old girls drawing of a flower. It was by far the best drawings of the entire day. Just getting people to have fun and adding a mark of their own to our opening day made it all worthwhile, as it was the public that were paying to come to view our work. I myself wasn't at the bookmaking workshop that much as i was manning the drawing workshop. But from what I heard off the other group members it was just as successful if not more so than the drawing workshop. As the day went on, and as it slowly died down it was time to pack up and do a bit of tidying.
Starting with the materials from the workshops. Tidying up an mess left over from the workshops, bits of charcoal etc. Then clearing up any mess from the refreshments table. Then it was time for the hard graft when we had to remove the tables and chairs and put them into storage. The last thing on our list was to decide whether or not to leave the drawing workshop outcomes on the walls or whether to take them down. As a collective we decided they should stay. Mainly because it added a sense of playfulness to the room and brought a more personal feel, as the public had a joint part in the making of the exhibition. In addition it actually complimented the first year prints that were hanging. They incorporated the same colours and source material, and they just seemed to fit together really nicely. So with that it was time to leave. The opening was thankfully a great success and all the build up to it, the hard work we put in was all worth it in the end. This was most certainly a steep learning curve and has given me a great deal of experience for when i leave  my degree and try and make a living for myself. With future exhibitions i hope they go as well as this one has. Until next time..

Day 2 constructing exhibition 03/05/13

Today was merely a day of tidying and finishing off last minute tasks. This consisted of fixing the spot lights to the walls and positioning them correctly to get the maximum shadow being cast on the walls. I then took one of the ladders and was able to cut all the excess thread off to make the installation look more polished. Some of the other girls went around the Gardens and put out posters to promote the opening. Then within the cabinets we placed name tags and the titles of the works beside the pieces, also a list of names of all the people that were involved in the 1st year print work. Ad all the people involved in submitting a label toward the installation. When this was all completed we all pitched in, to help take the scaffolding down and to load it into the trailer. Also we cleared out all the tools and equipment to then hoover all the excess bits of thread. And what do you know we were finished everything. To be honest it was hard work and stressful at times but very much worth it all to see it at the end of today with a weight being lifted off our shoulders. It has all been a major learning curve but tomorrow is definitely going to be a fun and exciting experience, here's hoping the weather holds out for us.

Day 1 constructing exhibition 02/05/13

First day of constructing our exhibition. We had a full day of piecing together all our work and it was a greater challenge to what i had imagined. Putting the work into the cabinets, took the most of 5 hours to look aesthetically pleasing and to a high standard. So with everything, flowing and placed in the correct position, myself and Samantha started taking designated objects from the apothecary (bottles, boxes etc) to also set on the shelves to compliment the work. When we finally got everything to fit it was well worth it as the final look of the entire middle room came into place and looked really well. The installation as well being a big task especially as Cath our tutor was basically one of three who were only allowed up on the scaffolding. So with her the only one being able to attach the labels to the rack on the ceiling the rest of the group helped as much as they could with cutting the fishing wire to differing lengths, attaching them to the labels and from the ground help give directions to Cath of where to attach them. As a team they worked incredibly well. Other tasks that were carried  out today included blacking out the windows with sheets of paper, so we can get the full effects of the spot lighting to cast shadows on the walls from the installation. As well as myself and Samantha getting our pictures taken by a photographer for the Carmarthen journal to promote the exhibition and the Medicines in May event. All in all at the the end of day 1 everything has gone very smoothly and it's back to work tomorrow for the final push. 

Finishing Ads for cabinets 30/04/13

So with pretty much all the prep work work done to do with the installation and the posters and refreshments  bought i finally got time to finish off my work for the cabinets. I obtained some fine textured ivory card to be the the material for my ads to go onto. So with all the text printed off and my illustrations drawn up, it was time to piece them all together. With the much needed assistant of carbon paper. As i wanted to have the style of the text but not to have to print them using a laser jet, carbon paper was he perfect resolution as the outcome is that it looks hand printed. I created 5 but unfortunately i didn't notice a spelling mistake in one of them, so i will be exhibiting 4 in total.  

Poster 29/04/13

As its not far off to the exhibition we thought we ought to better get the posters created, printed and put up around the uni. So myself, Jess and Samantha took most of the information from the invite and placed in in a word document, added a photograph of our labels and experimented on Photoshop with Tony then giving us a hand. We printed it out to see what it was like and to be honest it wasn't great the information was all there but aesthetically it just didn't look to be of a high standard. With a much needed help from Joe and Liz, who tweaked the colour, made the text more noticeable and hey presto we had a far better to print off and place around the uni.

Decals day 2 26/04/13

Yesterday I was approached by my tutor Cath who asked me whether i wanted to help put decals on old medicinal objects to be put towards our exhibition. I happily took the task on as yesterday was so interesting and i wanted to find out more about decals and how they worked. To have more work that i helped to create being put on display was an added bonus. You would think that being given the task of cutting around lots of pictures of plants fro approximately an hour or two, would be boring. But oddly i found it quite therapeutic. When that was done i thought the easy part was to come. As yesterday was pretty much a doddle putting the decals onto the flat enameled labels but how wrong i was. With all the objects being curved it was a far harder task pushing o all he air bubbles before being fired in the kiln. Though with patience even after the decals ripping in half and not sticking properly, a few hours later we got all the objects covered to a really high standard. They turned out a lot better than we had hoped. Another thing ticked off the list. Only 8 days to go.