untamedartists

Hey all, over the past weekend I've just done another art show as a demonstrator and an exhibitor. The show was my local one and to help out the organizers and help get some more recognition locally I offered to do a demonstration for the opening night and to run a silent auction on the work to raise money for them.

The idea of a demonstrator at this show took a little getting used to as the organizers are old school. They didn't want someone to steal the thunder of the works hanging in the show. In the end they decided it may be a worthwhile exercise and allowed me to do my thing. I'd promoted the show in the art forums and was very pleased to see a record number of works in the show. The standard was also very high, with many of my favourite artists pulling out all the stops.

The demonstration went off without a hitch and had many people talking, including the local councillors who were debating whether to purchase the work for our shire. I got a chance to show my wares in the way I love best - from centre stage - and also received many inquiries regarding classes.

The award ceremony saw me collect a highly commended which I was happy to accept considering the esteemed competition I was up against.
Over the weekend we received a bid on the demonstration piece which made the gamble of running the auction worthwhile and I went home at the end of the show with the people's choice award.

My aim this year was to get myself into the public eye, put myself out there and prove to people just what I could do. I've taken many ideas that I don't know of anyone else attempting and gave them a go. I held my solo show at Melbourne Zoo and had my work exposed to 5500 people over 4 nights. I got corporate sponsorship to tie in with that project, opening up doors which may have stayed shut had I not been cheeky enough to approach them.
I've donated work to charity auctions which has led to bidding wars and now I've collected my first people's choice award. I feel it's been a great start to the year and fully intend to keep the ball rolling throughout 2008.

Don't be afraid to put yourself out there. Trust in your abilities and show people just what you can do. Most artists are happy to sit back and have their work grace a gallery wall. For me I find it so important to talk to the public and show them my persona, show them my passion and share that with them through my work. Having a hands on approach gives me a greater insight as to the needs of my clients and a better understanding of the task at hand for the galleries I deal with.

That's brilliant to read. Well done on all counts, and thanks for the encouragement!!

Glad you enjoyed my diatribe mate! I've spent all day working on my koala commission and doing some web design projects I've been meaning to get done. I've just uploaded a new animation to my youtube page. Let me know what you think.

Ha, that's pretty darn cool!!

I'm about to embark on a project to redesign their website and this was an important element I wanted to build into it. Nothing's official but I'm looking to play around with things over the next month and see what happens.