First solo exhibition

A post event summary….

It was amazing and deeply satisfying to set up my own show. I had a sequence of 23 paintings that followed willow herb through 3 seasons. It was almost an installation. I appreciated the body of work being shown together like that. It was stronger as a group. See for yourself in my short video. Fireweed exhibition by Helen Feilden at Saltspace Gallery in Glasgow, April 2024 (youtube.com).

I loved talking to people about my work and about art and creativity all weekend. I’m amazed how much and how I never ran out of chat. I’m an introvert and I was exhausted afterwards. 

The event was easier to physically set up and take down than I expected, but I wasn’t super fussy about perfectly lining up all the paintings - only 1 person commented on that. It was fine in the space I had which was quite industrial. 

People liked the titles. They were drawn from the experience of the summer love affair that happened whilst I was making the paintings and were personal and a bit vulnerable for me to put out there.

People asked why I hadn’t signed the front. I don’t think my signature looks good on the front and I sign the back instead.

My venue was not easy to find, but my signage was good. Next time I’ll check out how to get there on foot as well as where to park, as it was a street with no street sign. I didn’t realise that until a couple of people let me know. 

I could have set up on Friday and tidied up Sunday night or Monday. The hire was a week. That was the only option. I don’t think being open for another day would have got me many more visitors. 

I bought too much food and drink for the opening and refreshments for my visitors. That was OK though because I can use them for the next time.

There were places I could have advertised my event but I didn’t, so I’ll try those next time.

People usually liked best what I thought were the strongest pieces, but somebody liked almost every one of them best. People have varied tastes! 

I loved working on the bigger pieces in the lead up to the exhibition, and people loved them too. I sold 6 out of 9 big paintings during the event. However as I work from my home and they are too big for my car the logistics were challenging. I’m going to have to decide whether in future I want to go a bit smaller again so it’s more manageable or whether I should reassess space for storage, and perhaps even studio space. 

I was tired post event and that meant I found the post event admin a bit of a chore to finish properly. I did get it done though.

I went on holiday soon after the event and thoroughly enjoyed some relaxation and have returned ready to go!