Successful Opening Night!

A few days ago was the exhibition's opening night and it was a great success! It was such a relief to have everything finished and talk to people about my work. I'd invited quite a few people for the Friday and Saturday but since the opening night was just friends and family it was great to have my family there so they could meet everyone and talk to my tutors. It feels so weird to think this is the final step as I've been so busy this week getting everything done for the shop and exhibition space but I'm so proud of what we've achieved. 

I've been invigilating for the past two days now. Although it has been much quieter than the first night, it's been nice to look around the different degree shows as it was so busy before! I tried to go upstairs where Photography, Fashion, Spatial Design and Animation were exhibiting but couldn't get moved, so it was good to have the space practically to myself to watch the animations and see all of the work on display. On opening night I talked to quite a few people from different courses who I had surprisingly never seen after being in a studio right next to them for three years! Many of them had business cards so it's been good to connect with them on Instagram.

As for the shop, I sold a lot of prints! It was interesting to see how all three designs catered to different people and were liked equally. I've wanted to start an online shop for years so I think this was the push I needed to see that my work will sell and people would want to buy it. I also managed to sell the two children's books I had in the shop and two more people want to buy one so I need to email them about it next week. I only ordered 10 copies so I want to do a reprint and make some adjustments to the colours to make them a bit brighter. 

Meeting Chris Haughton

While planning for the exhibition, me and Mark Hurry, a fellow student with interests in publishing, saw that Chris Haughton was doing a book signing at Seven Stories this Saturday. Mark managed to reach out to him on Twitter and he came on Saturday! Chris is a children's book author and illustrator, with books 'Oh No George' (Haughton, 2013) and 'SHH! We Have a Plan' (Haughton, 2014), winning many awards throughout his career. It was so amazing to meet him and I got to show him my book 'The Woodster's Second Chance' which I think he liked! I'm trying to remember what our conversation was as I didn't know what to say to him, whether to talk about my work or his so it was sort of a blur! He recognised the building as he'd been involved in the Northern Design Festival a few years ago so he was interested to see what the building was like and see everyone's work. 

The exhibition is on until the 2nd June so I'll be in next week invigilating and then taking down my work and the shop when it's done. 

'Shh! We Have a Plan', Chris Haughton, 2014

Meeting Chris Haughton (middle) with Mark Hurry (right)

Mark Hurry's sculpture with my woodster felt doll

Haughton, C., 2014. Shh! We have a plan. Walker Books.

Haughton, C., 2013. Oh no, George!. Walker Books.