The exhibition at the Ballroom Arts Courtyard Gallery in Aldeburgh is a joint exhibition between my self and my partner Linda Mayoux who has just finished her OCA degree in Visual Communications and is now awaiting the results from her final assessment.
Linda has been studying the range of graphic processes that are included in the Vis-Com degree but has decided that for this exhibition she will be concentrating on her photography. For me this is a great benefit as it provides a contextual basis for my more abstract paintings. It has also been very useful as, although I’m reasonably happy working in Photoshop, she has access to other design programs such as InDesign and Illustrator. This means that If I develop any flyers etc. in Photoshop she is able to convert these to print-ready output. I have also now increased my own knowledge about such concepts as ‘bleed’, ‘crop marks’ ‘CMYK’ and other dark arts.
There are several types of publicity material that we need to create for the exhibition, the Gallery has asked for material to be sent to them a month before the exhibition opens as they will be including it in their publicity. They promote their exhibitions in a wide variety of local and national publications as well as their on-line outlets.
As we were going to be staying at the Coastguard cottage in Shingle Street for a week in March we felt that creating a printed flyer that might be used for creating some local interest. I got in touch with the gallery and they were able to send me their logos to be included in publicity material and I have put together an A6 flyer. We decided that we would get a double-sided flyer with each of us taking one side. Enquiries to a local printer meant that we could upload the PDF file on-line and collect 100 flyers the next working day for £30.
The design for ‘my’ side of the flyer – the actual result was slightly different due to non-availability of all the Apple fonts in the PC version of In Design.
We will be working on a poster image for the exhibition that combines both our work in a single image for distribution to various outlets.
Update:
Having just returned from our stay at Shingle Street I can report that having the flyers with us proved very useful. I managed to make several very useful contacts within the local art scene and being able to hand out the flyers with the exhibition details on them was a plus.
I first visited the Artspace Gallery in Woodbridge which is like the Courtyard gallery at Ballroom Arts in that it can be hired by the week for exhibitions. The current exhibition is being staged by a collector and art dealer Julia Gooch and features a collection of paintings by East Anglian artists.
https://www.artw.co.uk/new-events/2023/3/16/julia-gooch
I picked a time when the gallery was empty of visitors and had a chat with Julia about the exhibition and was able to talk about my own work and leave a flyer and she seemed very keen to get along to our exhibition.
A second gallery in Woodbridge that I visited was Gallery East.
This gallery is run by Susie Turner and her partner Cathy Doll and represents many of the local and national artists. Chatting to Susie it turns out that they actually live in Shingle Street just a few doors away from where we were staying. Again, having the flyer meant that she said that she would definitely try and get to the exhibition.
The following day was if anything more successful as I had just received an invitation to a private view for the opening of the Spring Show at Caroline Wiseman’s Beach Lookout Art House.
https://www.aldeburghbeachlookout.com
Caroline is a well-known art dealer and author working both in this country and in New York and the invitation was a golden opportunity to meet her and also have a good look around her collection which ranges from Andrew Marr to Matisse.
On the way to Aldeburgh I also took the opportunity to call in at Snape Maltings and visit the Maltings Gallery.
The gallery always has several Maggi Hambling works for sale and I was able to talk to the person overseeing the gallery to clarify a copyright query that Linda had regarding one of Hambling’s works. I also happened to mention our upcoming exhibition and it turned out that the woman I was talking to was taking part in a group show at the Courtyard Gallery the week before our booking so she will definitely be visiting our show.
When I arrived at the Art House Caroline was very welcoming (the fact that I’d RSVP’d to the invite definitely helped) and was keen to hear about my work and the exhibition. She also invited me to join their ‘Art Club’ which organises all sorts of events for artists and also promotes exhibitions etc. for its members (for example in the RA’s magazine listings). Present members include Peter Blake RA, Maggi Hambling, Anthony Horowitz and lots of other artists and writers.
On the way back to Shingle Street I also took the opportunity to call in at White House Farm in Glemham which for many years has staged the Alde Valley arts festival and is the home of Galloper-Sands fine art dealers.
https://www.galloper-sands.co.uk
Again I was made to feel very welcome and they were interested in our upcoming exhibition (another flyer usefully handed out!).
All-in-all the week spent at Shingle Street has been very useful and lots of contacts made.