First day of show

The show went off as well as I could really have expected.

Darren and I travelled down by public transport.   As we left Gallions Reach, we put up posters and direction arrows from the station to the venue, mostly on street furniture.  I suspect other exhibitors had done this before us, because we could see the previous sellotape marks.

Our friends Bob and Marion were first to arrive, spot on midday when the venue opened (they were going on holiday later that day) and found the posters useful to find the venue. Jim arrived with my Aunt Doreen and cousin Allison, then my friend Liz from art class, and we all started with lunch in the cafe downstairs.

View from top of stairs (later adjusted to hang straight)

Katie, the venue administrator/cafe operator, came upstairs and had a look at the work and was complimentary about the layout.  This was somewhat a relief. When I've worked so continually at something, I get to the stage where I don't know whether it's any good or not.

It got to 2pm and no-one else had arrived and I was getting a little worried about when more people would arrive  Then I saw people coming up the stairs ...  and it was friends I had not seen for 30 years - who I knew when I went to church!  I welcomed them, and then it seemed like a constant stream of people I knew, from church, Girls Brigade, university, former tutors, City Lit, poetry class, friends and family.  I clocked the assessor arrive, when I was talking to a group, so I did not go to greet him then, as it felt rude to leave my friends, but by the time I could disengage, he was obviously engrossed.  I felt it was rude not to engage with him (I definitely treated him differently to everyone else!) but my instructions were not to engage with him, and he was clearly assessing the work. Every piece of work was inspected really closely. So I left him to get on with it.

Some artists/academics who I REALLY respect were present. Caroline Bartlett, Linden Reilly and Vanda.  OH-MY-WORD.  The look on their faces said it all.  I've finally got the staging right (!!!) and my work is carrying its message.  It was so fantastic to see these brilliant people and the look on their faces.  They were all taken with the last sampler, Manual Worker Woman, with the quality of the stitching, particularly the colour blending and very fine running stitch and industrial marks.  I found this surprising as I was not particularly struck with it, and thought I had over-worked it.  But Vanda said it was simpler than the others, and thus worked better.  Lots of people are amazed at the detail - yet I find it easy because I am working with magnifiers.

Darren spent a lot of time with Linden, in academic discussion.  Linden looked well, and we discussed how her departure from London Met was a cloud with a silver lining.  About 6 months after she left, her Mum died, and she had been able to spend a lot more time caring for her Mum in the last weeks than she could have done if working full time.

It was interesting to see how different people engaged with the work.  Some people engaged with the formats and were interested in the use of the sketchbook - large, small, unique shapes, contrast between bold shape and easily overlooked detailing that indicated skill.  Others liked the narrative of the cleaning bottle drawings.  Women liked the representation of ordinary women, and the profiling of the value of what specific women do.

Visitors interacted well with the message board.  This resulted with some very interesting descriptors of women who were respected.

What went less well: 1.  I forgot to get a box of business cards out.

2. I'd prepared a welcome speech, but once there were enough people to do an introductory speech, everyone was interacting with the work, and the assessor was concentrating on the work.  I felt anxious about whether or not to call people to attention, but a lack of confidence made me be silent.

3. At about 6pm (once most of the visitors had gone), Katie told me that there was an exercise class starting at 7pm in my gallery space. At the time, I was exhausted, nodded, and decided that as everyone seemed to have left, and the dockside area was devoid of people, this would be ok.  Yet, this means there is a double booking. On reflection, I had a conversation with one of the administrators (there was a change in staffing half way through my relationship with RAWLabs) that there was a yoga class, but that it could take place downstairs, which was what I asked them to do.  But none of it was confirmed in writing.  And I can't remember who I spoke to - Katie or the previous girl.  This is where my limited exhibiting experience  shows.   Then she said there is a film viewing at 7pm on Saturday night, again in my gallery space, and they need a section of white wall to work on, and again I just nodded.  This morning Darren said the viewing is at 8, which is when I've advertised the show to close, so no need to worry.

Going home I realised this is a problem.  I've advertised the show until 8pm each night.   If I'd known they needed to use the gallery space in the evening, I'd have restricted my opening times, and this would have reduced the amount of time I'd need to work the show.  But I don't know who's planned to come in the evening to the show.  So, the learning point is to be really clear with the gallery what opening times need to be advertised, before the advertising is published.  Not sure what the solution is for tonight.

3. As everyone had left, I decided to go home early, as the venue said most exhibitors only staged and struck their shows - other exhibitors did not steward their shows.  This was a poor quality decision.  During our journey home, my cousin Elizabeth put a photo of my samplers on facebook.  I'd missed her!  And one of my samplers had fallen forward off the wall.  The top fixings had given way.  I felt awful having missed her.  She'd made all the effort to go there, presumably after work and I'd missed her.

I've not managed the relationship with the gallery, with written expectations.  I've gone home when I'm tired. Not good enough!

Ann, Liz, Vanda, Naomi and me

Lindsey and Sharon, friends since age 7

George, from poetry class

Allison, filling in card for message board

Migrant Worker Woman, and Manual Worker Woman

Darren here! Cathy has asked me to share some reflections on the first day.

I feel that the day was a resounding success and Cathy's tireless preparation paid off. In terms of footfall, the gallery space was occupied throughout the day and people really utilised the entire space in a positive way. The exhibition space was on a mezzanine and beneath it was a coffee shop. This allowed people to view the work and discuss it later, below (often resulting in people returning to the mezzanine floor to re-examine the work post-discussion).

People were apprehensive in their approach to the work, and I feel that the sketchbooks in particular would have benefited from being "played with" or handled more. Even with encouragement the viewers were not coming forward in touching the work. However, the notice board was received well and several individuals added their 'valuable woman' cards to the board showing a willingness to engage in some interactivity.

Between 14:00 and 16:00 the space was the busiest. This was time advertised for the private view, but the private view did not allow time for any introductions or speeches as when people entered the space they immediately engaged with the work. Cathy did well to read the room during this time and realised quickly that any speeches or more formal proceedings would have caused disruptions in people's viewing experience.