Solo Show Thoughts & Ideas
Lighthearted - a February Show
I just had a Solo Show Art Reception Friday night and whew I am still in recovery. There is so much to think about with regards to a show, you have to be an organized planner. At the end of it all I realized that in the future I would like to do more small group shows (maybe with 5-7 artist friends). Independence is great, but it is a lot of work. How did my friend Barb do Fifty One Woman Shows?
I thought framing all of the art and getting all to the venue would be the hardest part...wrong! The hardest part was hanging the show by myself. The hanging system at the venue was pliers based -- so for every artwork, I had to use pliers to adjust the hanging piece up and down--with 40 artworks it took me 5 hours to hang. Wow! I had used other hanging systems before, and I must confess they were easier to use, definitely I could have used some assistance, ah hindsight and lessons learned.
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| #1 People's Choice -the small "Summer House" landscape |
The great part about the venue was the music, the atmosphere, the coffee & lemonade and the good food! I wish I had thought to get a picture of the food I brought. I bought a gorgeous box of valentine chocolates, a fruit platter, valentine Hershey kisses, cheese and crackers, salted popcorn, macaroons and other goodies. I went with a Salty and Sweet treat theme.
One of my ideas for the show was to have all attendees write down their favorite artwork in the show--this turned out to be a fantastic and valuable idea. I had pens and paper at the treat table and asked the guests to each write the title of their favorite work and then place it in the jar before they left the show. Once I got home that night (with the jar), I tabulated the results and I was SURPRISED! The People's Choice was a small 8x10 landscape painting, one which I almost did not put into the show. And, I loved going through and seeing which artworks people chose, that was delightful. My next step is to ask my art friends why this painting (#1) was chosen as I need to produce more like it to get more positive responses and sales! Only one person chose my favorite artwork as their favorite, so that really puts my thoughts of my work into perspective. What about the #1 painting was so successful? I personally think the light and the composition but more to come on that...
Pictured below are the other People's Choice Artworks:
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| Top- You Gotta Be, #2 Favorite |
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| Left: Love to Infinity, voted #3 (TIE) favorite (my fave is the one on right) |
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| Blooming Rose -far left TIE for # 3 |
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| Becoming, TIE for # 3 |
Lighthearted - a February Show 
