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What a show!
With our 5th Annual Art Exhibition officially done and dusted, its time to reflect, express gratitude, celebrate our wins and also to share what we learned.
Degrees of Realism was an absolutely resounding success – with more than double the amount of sales than any of our previous exhibitions – we can really just be grateful at the wonderful support from our visitors.
When we reflect back we definitely think a few key things contributed to the success:
- Collaborating with the Miniature Art Society of South Africa – this society has been around for over 30 years and has a solid following of collectors in Johannesburg. Many of these collectors also supported us and vice versa. The two shows work together well, creating a diverse art experience.
- The location. Hyde Park Corner is a classy upmarket mall known for its many galleries. The art already within these walls are of a high standard and its a discerning art-lover who visits the mall. This is also our second year in Centre Court and we had many return visitors who remembered us from last year.
- Reducing the maximum artwork size. This year we placed a size limit on the artworks of 50cm x 70cm. As we did not sell any large pieces last year, we decided to see if this would help. The average person can more easily pop a smaller artwork onto the wall – its a very specific client that shops for the larger pieces. Most of our sales were of pieces around 60cm x 40cm and a couple of smaller ones.
- A diverse selection. This year we finally had artworks in various genres – from naive, to abstract, contemporary, classic and realism. We also had art in all our categories – and sold in each – Still Life, Portrait and Figure, Landscape and Botanical as well as Wildlife, Birds, Fish. All our mediums were also represented – oil pastel, pastel, graphite, charcoal and coloured pencil.
As with every exhibition, we always learn a few things too. There are definitely some points we will take forward and be much stricter about in future shows.
- Framing. This is a sore point as it is a subject that is addressed in our instructions. We will be writing a more extensive blogpost on this to attempt to assist our artists going forward. In a space such as this, with the discerning buyer that walks the halls, framing needs to be classy, professionally done and framed in such a manner that it will suit any house. Therefor we look for neutral colours, frames that make the artwork shine and does not distract the eye from the artwork. It is important to remember that when we attempt to hang an exhibition, outlandish or unprofessional frames are very difficult to group with other artworks. A frame is as important as your artwork – a good fitting frame improves the look and perceived value of your work.
- The standard of the photos/scans of submitted works. We would very much like to promote our artworks online as well – and the exhibition will be going up onto our Online Gallery within the next few days – but in order to market your work, the image quality needs to be of a high standard. Going forward we might ask for clear scans once a work is accepted into the show.
- Sold artworks. As we have limited space for this show, and we also have a floor fee to pay, as well as other expenses including marketing, signage, prizes, hardware/paint/stands/easels etc – we will only accept works that are unsold. Artworks sold between being accepted and showed will incur a commission – not only because we choose these artworks above other entries, but also because we cannot afford to present shows without funding.
This year we also bid our farewell to the title of our Exhibition – while ‘Degrees of Realism’ has served us well in the last 5 years, we’d like to move forward with this show simply titled ‘The Drawing Guild Annual Exhibition’ – thereby supporting our vision to include all genres, styles and subjects.
The aim of The Drawing Guild remains to support our artists by creating a platform to show their art completed in the dry media. Above all else we want to educate the public on what can be achieved, focus on the talent of our local artists and create a community to support one another.
Look out for our next blog post with more information on our winners, sponsors and judges.
What a show!
