The launch event for the Halftone exhibition on the 2nd of November was an exciting and surprisingly valuable experience. I had known that the prominent location and great variety of exhibitors would result in a very busy night but I hadn’t anticipated quite the turn out that arrived. The room was packed was people with hardly enough room to turn around, even the street outside was blocked with attendees looking to have a peek inside. The atmosphere was exciting and positive was plenty of smiling faces and busy chatter. There was a drink sponsor on the night and the atmosphere was relaxed and social.

I was immediately struck by how small my print seemed on the wall, some of the photography on display had been produced at a huge scale in comparison. I was also concerned that the colours didn’t have the pop I was hoping they would deliver. I think this is due to the fact the I had to tone the colour back to avoid the pages sticking when being printed. In future I will print on heavier card and be more aware of designing the piece to suit the medium.

That said, I was very pleased with the placement of my work and was very impressed by the great standard of striking and varied pieces on display.

On the night I ran into a few peole I knew from course I have taken in Dublin and another former co-worker. I was suprised by how easy it was to get talking with my fellow exhibitors, our shared experience of contributing to the event turned out to be an excellent, natural conversation starter.

All in all it was a positive experience had has encourage me to continue submitting to open briefs like this again in the future. It was exciting to see a piece of my illustration work on display to a public audience and to be able to guage their reactions in person,  a very different experience than sharing work online as I have done in the past.

“Putting yourself in a position where someone is judging your work requires a statement of confidence in your creations and even in yourself as an artist. Regularly entering competitions is a powerful way to inspire yourself to continuously try and improve. Further, the confidence you build in putting together a worthy entry is invaluable” (Agora, 2017)