Final Critique before our Year End Show

Yesterday we (Year 1 & 2) had our final critique of the year. We presented our body of work that we wished to exhibit and/or asked for advice and input on what should be the focus, or explained what we thought we needed to mount the art, etc.

It was wonderful to see what everyone's been up to and will be presenting at our show on June 15-17th, in room 108, Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth. Hours are: June 15th Opening is 5-7 pm, and Friday & Saturday 11 am to 5 pm.

My approach to this critique was to get everyone's input on which works I should feature. I knew I only wanted to put maybe a dozen or so prints in - examples of my best work to this point. I was thinking to have two sets - one that featured works that evoked a mood and another that showcased my use of botanical materials in the printing processes.

I put up what I brought, clipping them to long strings I'd put on the wall. I had examples of single prints, a few series (multiple of the same plate, but not necessarily the full series - basically my favourites,) including Helen's top picks from the studio.

I only brought in a small selection of what I've produced, but as I was putting it up, I was editing it down... so there was a stack left in my case that I decided weren't up to the standard I wanted to present.

I explained how I got into monoprinting in December and how I've been working in the studio, experimenting and producing a large amount of work. I pointed out the different materials and methods I used on the various prints. I then said that I had hoped to go with two groups of prints to exhibit, one of moods/emotions and one of botanical/material use.

I asked everyone to have a look and let me know which works they felt I should exhibit.

It went way differently than I'd though it would! But it was awesome,

Everyone went up and started taking off the prints they liked then they all started grouping them up, with people moving from table to table shifting things around, asking me questions about specific prints and how it was made, etc.

There was discussion on how to mount them (as there is no way I can manage to frame them). Anya and I had previously discussed mounting on string or using magnets. But as you can see the string was a bit, um, unprofessional looking.

Pins were the consensus - as they are prints, any holes would not be visible once mounted and framed at a later point.

I had brought several of one series to show - Mark and Anya felt the whole series could be shown, in a stacked/layered format. We talked about how that could be done and I remembered we have a wooden plate rack that we are emptying of glass that would be perfect as the posts in it are tall enough to support the A4 paper.

This will demonstrate how the printing process works with monoprinting. Turns out this is the print that has 10 (ten) pulls - the largest series I've done to-date! Which is a pretty good one to show off actually.

I had brought along a huge selection of coloured Post-It flags to mark the chosen prints, which was lucky, as I then went around and coloured coded the groupings. 

THANK YOU everyone for your input into this - I was quite excited by the enthusiasm shown to get into curating my work this way. 

There was one A3 print that was determined to be a standalone, so I think I will try to find a frame for that one as it will be separate from the rest of them.

I now have to unpack my portfolio and sort everything back into their sets, and sign all the prints, making sure to number the series' correctly in the process.

We begin installation on June 8th.