as a class, we produced a small zine to showcase our work and also to give a short bio about ourselves, we each designed our own page for the zine and then afterwards put them together in one file,
The production of the zine was a simples process one we had collected all the pages together we printed them on to normal paper and folded stapled and cut them down to size.
At the beginning stages of the exhibition project, the finance team (myself, Christian, Morgan and Chiara) were told that there would be a small budget which we will be given by the university in order to purchase certain materials and equipment such as paint and also this would contribute to the payment of food and drink on the opening night.
There would also have to be some fundraising involved which would have to be organised by the class in order to raise a few more funds. We had a list of ideas including the usual, cake sales and second-hand clothing sale that would have definitely secured us all the financial aid we needed in order to make the opening night successful.
As the exhibition drew closer there was no word on whether or not we would be getting a budget from university and it seemed like many small items such as screws, nails and paint were to be provided for free by the university. It seemed the financial team’s obligations will be quite small.
Just before Christmas break it was decided that Sunpier House would be our venue, and with a café attached to the exhibition space it seemed like the right step to ask them if they would provide drinks (with a fee, of course) but they wouldn’t discuss the options with us but rather our tutor Jason and yet again the role was taken out of our hands.
During installation week it became pretty clear that we wouldn’t be needing any funds as each student was in charge of paying for their own printing, and a majority of equipment was being provided and with the sudden change of opening night times the need to pay a waiting staff (fee of £80) would be impractical as the bar would still be open from 3-5pm and guests could buy their own drinks.
This exhibition was a practice round for our final major exhibition next year, this helped us recognise that early planning on all sectors is necessary in order for everything is go smoothly and stress free. In terms of finance for next year, I personally believe that fundraising should begin as early as possible so we can distribute money fairly across to anyone who needs it.
The idea of cake sales has been used consistently for years but it also costs money to bake the goods. A way to gain a big profit is to begin embracing technology and websites like GoFundMe which will allow our family and friends to contribute and the site can be shared on each of our social media platforms helping to spread the message further than just the university campus; there are a multitude of benefits to using these sites. It ensures that money doesn’t go missing or gets lost as every donation is recorded.
Sun Pier House is an award winning gallery, tearoom and venue where we will be holding our Medway Festival Exhibition to which we have named Kaleidoscope. This name was chosen as we feel it represents the multiple and various ideas we each have as artists and photographers looking at the ideas of surface, time and archive.
The space itself is very open and bright due to the large windows which look over onto the River Medway. By visiting the gallery, myself and Penny took many pictures and measurements to allow us to reflect on the space once we had left.
With the combination of photos and measurements I then created a 3D model of the gallery space using SketchUp.
By signing up for a free trial I had to figure out how to use the software from scratch. Once I familiarised myself with all the tools I could use I started by using the line tool to sketch the floorplan.
I then created the ceiling heights as there are almost two separate spaces to the gallery and added in the measurements of the space.
By experimenting with the software I was also able to add in the floor and sofas as well as all the windows and doors of the gallery showing exactly where they are allowing us to figure out where everyone’s pieces of work could fit.
Written By Kira Haines.
On Monday 14th, we went down the gallery space, arranging it with the owner, so that everyone could come down and choose where they wanted to go. We marked out the walls with sticky notes saying how big each space was, so it was easier for people to decide and work out what they wanted. Due to some peoples work being so large, we had to allocate spaces to them as there was not many places that they could go, for example one girl is doing four A0 prints, so there was only one place for her to go.
People came down to the space, or told us on facebook the places that they wanted, so we managed to get a place for everyone, and that everyone is happy with. We put another sticky note up on each wall saying who’s work is there, and also wrote it down in a note book.
We were worried about there not being enough space, but as people were coming in we realised that there was plenty, even though many peoples work is very large.
Written and done by Caitlin, Riley and Penny
The first thing we did was go down to the exhibition space in Sun Pier House, to be able to measure every wall and see the available space. We did this by using a tape measure and measuring each area before it had a break in the wall, e.g a plug socket or a pillar. This gave us all the measurements that we then needed for the sketch up of the space. We drew out both the plans for the rooms and wrote down their measurements, breaking them into individual spaces big enough for work to be hung or placed. We marked out where each obstruction was on the walls, like pipes and poles, places that would get in the way of work. Each plug socket as marked down, so we knew where it would be best for videos to go.
When we got back we decided to write down the measurements of A0, A1, A2, A3, so we could figure out if certain prints would fit in certain places, ready for when we have everyone come down to the space to decide where they want to go.
Written and done by Caitlin and Riley.
exposure unit team blog 