Dear 'Twelves',
I have Dianes 'permission' ( she would say encouragement!) to throw this out to you for your views.
Chris Howell at Midsomer Quilting ( which is half an hour away from Bath in the UK) has seen our blog and has emailed to say that he is interested in exhibiting our work. They do regularly hold exhibitions both on their premises and currently at a local museum) and I would have every confidence in his organisation. He has capacity to show about 150 quilts our size. He mentioned that he will have another exhibition already booked for November 2008 which he saw as the only 'problem'.
My own view is that it would be good to aim for an exhibition of our first years work - ie. six quilts each. He does have capacity for 12 each but that's a two year committment and seems a long time off! If we aimed for early 2009 that gives us the planned 6 quilts in that time and also the abilty to post the quilts seamail to keep the cost down if people have that as a concern. I thought that having the prospect of a show in 2009 was just enough added excitement to motivate us on the quilts without being too long term a committment. I am sure that he will take the second years too ( and third and fourth.....!!)
For those of us doing journals I think it would be good to exhibit those too, either the actual thing or photos from the pages - I saw an exhibition of embroidery recently where they had done that and seeing the design process was the best bit!
What do you think? Would you rather not commit to a show at all? Would you rather wait for two years worth - so we are 12 x 12 x 12 ( a neat title - thanks, Brenda for suggesting it!
If we are up for the show I can also see if I can make it a little touring production here with another venue or two.
Let me know your views.
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6 comments:
Hi Helen,
My feeling is that commiting to an exhibition this soon in the process would be a mistake. I think it's good to know there are venues out there willing to show our work, but we haven't even seen our work so I think we should wait a while, see how this group "gels", and see the level of our commitment before we move to the next level.
If we're as good as we think we are, we should have no trouble finding places to exhibit. I love this enthusiasm and hope it continues.
It is good to have this as a possibility, but I think we need a some work finished - perhaps several challenges, before we book any exhibitions. But, great connection, Helen!!
My first thought was "wow, they haven't even seen any of our work yet!" So I'm glad that Karen and Gerrie chimed in with waiting a bit to see how things progress. I'm up for keeping this contact but not commiting to anything until we have some work to show (it's nice to be able to edit sometimes too).
Wow Helen! How exciting! Having never had any art in any type of exhibition before, this sounds so exciting. I do want to say, though, that it does seem strange to me that someone would want to arrange to show our work without having seen a thing. I do agree too, with what the other gals are saying about "let's see how this goes". So, in the meantime I will create quilts for our challenges and in the end if we are wanted for exhibition, then YAY!
On the other hand . . .
Having a plan for an exhibit could be good incentive for moving forward, doing our best work, etc.
As to why she would be interested in our work, sight unseen, for an exhibit--if she has looked at this blog she has had the opportunity to look at our personal blogs and work as well. I think we're a pretty impressive group on that basis alone!
I'm fine with waiting until we complete this first challenge, but then I think we should revisit the idea and decide if we want to move forward and plan for an exhibit. Really, there is nothing like having a goal to motivate one, in my opinion.
Further to my e-mail, I still have reservations about committing to an exhibition before we've even completed our first challenge. Whether we create a cohesive body of work suitable for exhibition remains to be seen. If we do, that's great. In the meantime,the creative exploration process as part of a group is a beneficial end in itself.
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