display

display, originally uploaded by Tim Noonan.

Queenwest Artcrawl Reflections

My gratitude and thanks to my cousin Dwight Hodge who rented a vehicle and drove from Ottawa to assist in transporting the works and support my display. Thanks to Claude Breeze for his table. Much thanks to friends who stopped by: Eugene Knapik dropped off a handy packing bin(thanks), Sheila Gregory, John McCartney, Anne Devitt, Owen, Bruce Parsons, Dan Sneider, John Ens, my brother Dave Noonan and others. It was good to see all of them. It was nice to meet new friends and exhibitors: Julie Himel and Melanie Macdonald; their paintings are great and can be found on the internet.

My first thought is that the experience provided me with a needed exhibitor's learning curve.
Display:
I need to display my work within a tent to maintain a professional appearance, fortunately I lucked out weatherise and saved a few dollars by not renting. 99 percent of the exhibitors had a tent display. I was bothered with wind blowing over my pieces, the view of my work flat on the ground was not great and many people walked on past. It is important to have the work at eye level. Some of my pieces were soiled by damp ground.
The tent offers a variety of hanging options such as the use of chains. Doors painted white and hinged to be free standing would also provide walls.
Media:
I printed 5 sheets of business cards, all were given out and I was short to a potential client by 1 card. If one studio visit appointment is arranged from this the odds will be worth it. Probably 10 sheets would have been better, perhaps a box of 500 from a printer is the best move.
My Work:
Less is more? I displayed a variety of styles, which attracted attention individually. Some people preferred the subtle washes and looseness of watercolors interpreting the landscape. Steve thought they reminded him of Dave Gordon's watercolours. The boldly coloured acrylic landscapes and oils caught the attention of many children and their parents also a few painters browsing around mentioning that they had good energy. The small layered abstracts, of which one sold were popular among young ladies and many people gave them a good viewing. The digital prints were highly regarded by Bruce and I sold one framed piece to another fellow. The medium sized abstracts were noted for their bright colour. Dwight took one(Indian Summer) which contained pieces of burlap collaged into the composition home with him. Possibly it might be more advantageous to have only one style represented. That said my future body of work will attempt to fuse some of my mentioned ideas into one body of work.
Sales:
Slow and perhaps my prices are too modest as well. It’s a challenging scenario to judge, but most exhibitor's works were priced twice mine and then some. However I didn’t witness very many sales overall and looking at mine I can say that I covered costs, including a parking ticket. So I broke even for the exhibit and I’m going to paint anyway, can’t help that! Ha, ha!
Conclusion:
The crowd seemed pretty dense at times and the exposure was phenomenaI, with many, many people complimenting my work. I estimate that at least 100 people stopped to view and chat. The weather held out nicely and I enjoyed meeting and talking to people over my work. I rate the experience for myself as 3 stars and look forward to the next time around.
Cheers!