PUTTING ON A SHOW

 Here Comes The Bride Installation DETAIL
Exhibition at Soapbox Gallery, Brisbane 2003 

PUTTING ON A SHOW
Well, there are many ways putting on a show could be interpreted...having a tantrum, making a spectacle of oneself, producing a play or musical, performing at a concert, being a stand up comic, making a faux pas and so on.

But... I am thinking about an exhibition of paintings as putting on a show. And, as regular readers know, I am about to do this in October [2013] here in Brisbane.

It's COUNT DOWN to COSMIC ADDRESS!

Cosmic Address Oil on linen 90 x 180 cm 2013

COSMIC ADDRESS will be my 23rd [or thereabouts] solo exhibition since 1989. However, I held my first solo exhibition at the end of my senior year at school in 1977, so I've actually lost count of the exhibitions I've had. I sold my first painting at the grand old age of 14! It was at the local Dalby Art Group annual exhibition...yes, a grown up show too. The solo show in 1977 was in Toowoomba after I won a prize and met Queen Elizabeth II. You can read about it HERE

Me meeting Queen Elisabeth 11 at Government House, Brisbane early 1977

READ MORE

A SECRET
But, I'll let you into a secret, Putting on a show ie: having an exhibition of paintings... actually entails performance, production, making a spectacle of oneself and even...sometimes...potentially having a tantrum! Oh and don't forget making the odd faux pas and sometimes needing to be a stand up comic...or feeling like one!

You see...it is really hard work to put on a show of paintings. Especially if an artist represents him/herself, like I do. I hasten to add that if the right dealer came along I'd be very happy for him/her to take over the providoring, production, marketing, sales and more that goes into mounting an exhibition. I am sure we would be a great and awesome team! I know successful art dealers work very, very hard.

Video of my Paradise exhibition at Purgatory Artspace in Melbourne 2011

 

So what does putting on a show of paintings entail?

• Well, I have to paint the paintings. This takes about 12 - 24 months to have around the 15 - 22 new oil on linen and work on paper paintings I am happy to exhibit.
• But, before the painting starts I need to order my stretched linens....I don't order them all at once...that's too costly. Fortunately paintings do sell, often out-of-the-blue! And, then I order some new stretchers...nup no overseas trips with the proceeds!...I get a trip out of smelling, feeling and looking at new blank canvases. What did I say about being a comic?
• The exhibition is normally booked at least 12 months prior to the actual show. In my case, for the last 3 exhibitions in Brisbane, I have exhibited at a rental gallery:
  
  Graydon Gallery,
  29 Merthyr Rd,
  New Farm,
  Brisbane,
  Queensland,
  Australia,
  The Universe [if not the Multiverse].
  
  I've noted the gallery's lengthy cosmic address for you...because my next show is called COSMIC ADDRESS. If an artist is represented by a dealer the same timeframe is normally also applicable.
• Then there's the business insurance, marketing, PR, preparation of and sending press releases, designing invitations and getting hard copies printed, putting them into envelopes and addressing them....keeping the mailing list up to date...also emailing invitations...working out how to send follow-up polite reminders [I am going to use Mailchimp for COSMIC ADDRESS]. The initial email invitation will be sent, individually to the majority of people on my database, with a personalised message. This takes time and I am pleased to say that after three full days of work last week all the email invitations are in my draft folder ready to be sent about 3 weeks before COSMIC ADDRESS
• AND, the social media to augment all of the above. I use a lot!
   

NOW TO THE ACTUAL
PUTTING ON A SHOW

 

Me outside my Distance exhibition in London 2002

Yes, I've put on a shows overseas too. London, Dubai and Abu Dhabi

 

• Labelling, pricing the paintings, wrapping them and stacking them into my trusty 22 yr old Volvo station wagon...yes I provide my own freight service.
• This next part is FUN, FUN, FUN....working out where the paintings will hang. But, not quite so much fun...actually hanging them. Up and down a ladder, sometimes for hours. Then labelling the paintings with already prepared labels. And, compiling a numbered and priced catalogue list to have duplicates for the duration for the exhibition. The show needs to be documented with photographs and videos too. This can be done using a professional photographer, but if cost is an issue....then it's the artist. I normally do my own.
• During my exhibitions I usually have a couple of events apart from the Opening Night eg: artist's talk with morning tea. Yes, that's right, add event organiser to the list of skills! This entails providing alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, ice, glasses, table cloths for trestle tables, sometimes food, wait staff...and most importantly, especially on Opening Night when I often have 60 - 100 people, I need key people armed with red dots to indicate SOLD paintings. Also, on Opening Night I have a friend who notes buyers' details, issues invoices/receipts and pick-up instructions. During the exhibition the latter is my job because I sit with the show each day. My children are roped in for various jobs too.
  
  And, after the events there's the cleaning and dismantling trestle tables etc...etc The children are not so keen on this part!
• At the end of the exhibition paintings that have been bought need to be bubble wrapped ready for their buyers to collect or I deliver...yes I offer a delivery service too [only local though]! Unsold paintings also need to be wrapped and stacked into my trusty old Volvo. The gallery must be cleaned and left pristine for the next artist to occupy.
• Once home, there's the unpacking of the car, storage of paintings, following up buyers or people who expressed an interest.
  
  EMOTIONS
• And...exhaustion settles in! It's not only physical, but also emotional and mental. For an artist, an exhibition is a rare opportunity for people to see their work in the flesh. We are, in fact, putting on a spectacle for public review and consumption, a unique and special event, where we reveal a lot about ourselves, our thoughts and beliefs. Whilst fulfilling, it can also be a raw experience where issues of  artistic integrity and revelation are placed beside very real worries about financial and critical success.    
  
  We don't have a permanent shop front and the virtual 'shop front' of a website is not the same as a gallery exhibition. We want people to see our work....if they buy, well and good...but we want people to enjoy, discuss and talk about our work too. You just never know who you may inspire to come and have a look...and then they buy because a painting has made their heart sing...and that's the best reason to buy!
  PSST TANTRUMS
• Have I had a tantrum when putting on a show? Well, whilst there have been a few hurdles over the years, I've not succumbed to tantrums. The show must go on and tantrums don't get the work done! I will admit to sleepless nights though!

Braid Oil on board 2007

[Self portrait]

 

 

__________________________________________________

 

 

COSMIC ADDRESS

Is my next solo exhibition

in Brisbane

15-27 October

Please check out  my

COSMIC ADDRESS PAGE

for all the details!

I have added some more images in the last week.

_______________________________________________

TATTERSALL'S LANDSCAPE ART AWARD 2013

The finalists can be seen by clicking HERE

 

Congratulations to Jun Chen for his winning work Brisbane River

 

and Highly Commended to the collaborative work by

Imants Tillers and Michael Nelson Jaggamara

 

and commended to both

Mostyn Bramley-Moore and Rachel Ellis

 

The exhibition of finalists will be on public view at

Waterfront Place, 1 Eagle St, Brisbane

9 - 20 September

Open weekdays 7 am - 6 pm

Enquiry and Sales Desk open 11 am - 3 pm

 

_____________________________________________________

ADDED MAY 2014
My next solo exhibition is 2 - 14 September 2014
At Graydon Gallery again
Have not give it a title yet!
BUT
Countdown has begun! 

 

Cheers,

Kathryn

www.kathrynbrimblecombe-fox.com

1977: HER MAJESTY, QUEEN ELIZABETH 11, SILVER JUBILEE

                                                    

                                      

SILVER JUBILEE ART AWARD: Me receiving my award from Queen Elizabeth 11 in 1977 at Queensland Government House. The Silber Jubilee Art Award was for school-aged children in Queensland. There were about 4-5 sections, and I won the senior section.

The man with his back to the photographer is the then Director General for Education [don't know his name]. My painting Family Conversation is top left. 

CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS 1976-77
During the Christmas school holidays of 1976-77 I decided to enter an art competition which was being held to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. I was home from boarding school and painted a couple of paintings inspired by the theme of the competition, the family. This theme had been chosen by the Queen herself.

I painted a few images of my family; Mum, Dad, and my two younger brothers. With my Mum's help I chose the painting below as the one to enter the competition. My Mum did not wear glasses a lot back then, but she was studying a Masters Degree [research thesis] remotely from the University of Queensland, and the glasses must have made an impact on me. I posted [snail mail kind back then] the painting and it won the Senior Section prize! This was long before digital image art prize pre-selection processes!

By the time the award was announced I had returned to boarding school for my senior year. I remember I was sitting in a class when I received a request from the principal's office to immediately see her. A sudden thought pounced into my mind...I had won the art competition! And no..... I did not think I was in trouble...as my school friends, even over 30 years later say...I was a bit of a boring studious goodie goodie. 

So, I went to the office and people were smiling broadly. I was told my Dad wanted to speak to me on the phone. Oh! I picked up the phone and he told me that my painting Family Conversation [below] had won, and that the award would be presented by the Queen at a reception at Queensland Government House. Mum and Dad were allowed to attend too. We would be given various protocols prior to the event. I was very excited! Whether a you are a monarchist or not, at age 16 the prospect of meeting the Queen was pretty damn exciting.

 Family Conversation Acrylic on Paper 37 x 53 cm  1976-77

Family Conversation Acrylic on paper 37 x 53 cm

So, as you know from reading above, the painting is my family, inspired by the theme of the family, which was chosen by the Queen. I am in profile against my Dad's face, then there is Mum, with glasses. My youngest brother, Douglas, is on the far right beside Mum, and my other brother, Wilfred, is on the left behind me. I used a palette knife and brush to create Family Conversation. It was painted at the kitchen table.

OFF TO BRISBANE AND GOVERNMENT HOUSE
Some short time later learning I had won the art prize , my parents and my two younger brothers picked me up from school in Toowoomba and we drove to Brisbane, where we stayed is a swish hotel...well it was back then. My brothers were to stay in the hotel room while my parents and I attended the function at Government House. A bit boring for them... but no! They found a wad of money hidden behind the curtain rod. Very exciting for two teenage boys [goodness knows what they had been doing when they found the money]. We reported it to the hotel management, who made attempts to find the owner. Luckily for my brothers, they did not trace the owner, and the money was given to them. It must not have been a large enough amount of money to warrant further investigation...and who knows how long it had been there?

RECEPTION
The reception at Government House was reasonably informal. Although we had received various edicts about what to wear ie: hat, gloves etc, at the last minute we were told we did not have to wear either. I defiantly did not wear my school uniform, which my school's headmistress had wanted me to wear. I decided that because I had been on school holidays when I painted the painting, plus I had found the entry forms etc on my own, I would wear my own dress. I was also pretty disappointed with the art education I was receiving at my school and felt the school did not deserve any accolades! I had gone to boarding school for the last two years of my secondary schooling after previously attending the local state high school in Dalby where the art education was fantastic. I did love boarding school though, and the other subjects were taught well [Biology particularly well with a wonderful teacher].

At Government House we were ushered into a smallish reception room. The 4-5 age group winning paintings, plus runners' up, were displayed on screens. Each of the winners had to stand with their painting. The disconcerting thing was that a huge number of journalists and photographers were also in the room, grouped in front of us. They nudged and jostled each other, and flash lights flashed. When the Queen entered the room the flash lights went into overdrive, like a strobe! She spoke for a few minutes to each of the winners, presenting us with our awards. I shook her hand, which felt like a fleeting butterfly. I had been told she does this to protect her hand from being constantly squeezed or squashed. You can imagine the kind of repetitive strain that shaking hundreds to thousands of hands might cause! 

PARENTS: The winners' parents were not supposed to meet Queen Elizabeth, but because so many journalists and photographers packed into the room, as the Queen turned from the last winner, the line of parents was very close to her. All the parents met her. My parents are the two on the far end of the line, near the doorway. 

THE ART OF SHAKING HANDS AND THE CORONATION
Shaking hands is an art! I imagine if one was a Queen, or some other major dignitary, that you would have to think about protecting your fingers and hand from constant squeezing. But, there is another problem for those of us who shake hands off and on, and that is, having your fingers squashed, so much so that you feel a lot of pain. 

I was taught how to shake hands without having my fingers squashed by my Mum. She'd been shown a trick by my paternal grandfather, Wilfred J Brimblecombe CBE, who apart from being  a successful farmer, had also been a federal member of the Australian  Parliament...and had to shake the odd hand or two. He was the member 1951-1966 representing Maranoa, the largest electorate in Queensland straddling approx 731,297 sq km. He and my grandmother had also attended the Queen's coronation in June 1953, as one of Australia's official representatives. As a child I remember my grandmother telling me what it was like in Westminster Abbey. They had to arrive very early, but they also had a view of the entire coronation ceremony. My grandmother also had to get ball gowns made for the trip. As a young child I loved seeing these gowns. I remember she showed me a dark blue silk fitted one. All hazy memories now.

BACK TO GOVERNMENT HOUSE
As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, I wore my own dress - a bright red one. I also wore high heeled sandals that made me even taller than my normal 180cm. The Queen is quite short and I felt gargantuan beside her, but I seem quite happy in this photo! We spoke for a few minutes about my painting and my inspiration before she moved on to the very excited young boy next to me. The whole experience was great and certainly very memorable.

Cheers,

Kathryn