Neilson Park – BLACK & WHITE Exhibition

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I’m glad you are back to see what new is going on here.

I have entered into the Black & White Art exhibition which is hosted by Neilson Park.

As the title suggest the art work has to be black & white only. this is first exhibition out of 3 prepared for this summer and hopefully I will participate in all of them.

I have decided to compose something different than I used to.

On this painting (reading from the top) you can see an average, cloudy sky, well blend with realistic shapes. This is representing the ever changing part of our lives but at the same time is a very clear aspiration of Heaven.

black&white 3On the left side we can see irregular lines, ugly, overlapping, some of them flat, some with texture – this is where we live and how unimportant it is, unclear and messy. Also it represents the passing of time and how little of it we actually have.

black&white 5On the right side you can see the perfected shape of a place of worship. it is ideally white and clean, and formed, and stable against the rest of the painting. It is like an anchor of our life and stepping in it will let us see this cloudy sky.

black&white 2On the bottom of the painting towards the building you can see the shapes of people. since we have only black and white colors to use I have used different shades of grey to illustrate the different characters of people. Some shapes are dark or black – thses are bad people among us who are hypocrites and the are still blending in and going to pray. Then you can notice shapes of people in the crowd with printed words on them. Words represent all the values I’m identifying my religion with and which I’m trying to communicate to the world.

black&white 1The painting is full of meaning and I’m planning to show it at the Muslim Fest 2014 which is coming up in the first weekend of August.

black&white 4Let me know what you think about it.

Take Care! 🙂

Neilson Park Art Fair 2014

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The day finally came.
Neilson Park Art Fest 2014
Neilson Park Art Fair 2014  started at 10 am and we could feel a high interest starting from the beginning.
Since I had never done this before I really didn’t know what to expect. It turned out that the average age of visitors was about 50, and many of them were artists themselves. They mostly hunted for ideas or cheap pieces which they could use for gifts. I did get  very good feedback which was exactly what I was looking for. The majority of visitors liked the colours and style of my art. I did get suggestions to have more clothess in a variety of sizes and have them better displayed. I have also decided that for this kind of fair I should prepare small formats of art on canvas, and prints and maybe postcards? This would make my brand to better distributed among people, however, I did get some e-mail addresses and handed out some business cards.
I found all the event very successful and I have better ideas about different ways of presenting and making additional lines of items to bring more people to the booth.
I have also decided to put all my paintings, as they are still packed and secured, to the basement because – you’ll never guess – the empty nails on my walls will definitely motivate me to spend more time on painting!
The next Art Fair will be in November but before that we will participate in the Muslim Fest 2014 which is going to happen at the beginning of August.
Talk to you again next week!
Kate

How To Set Up Art Fair Booth For In Door Show

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Hi all!

Taking the opportunity of the upcoming Spring Art Fair in Neilson Park I have decided to list some tips which you may find useful while working on setting up your own future booth.
I did some research on the net obviously and then created my own extended list of points which could be considered.
1.       Find out if the Fair organizer provides table, chair, easels or outlet hanger. It is very likely the Fair will not allow you to use walls so you have to make sure all necessary equipment is provided or you will have to arrange it yourself.
2.       If the Fair is going to last longer than 1 day I strongly recommend to use foam panels for floor coverage (like those which you would buy for your kids in the big puzzle shape). This will make it easier to stand for several hours and your knees and back will not ache so much in the evening.
3.       Make sure all your artwork is labeled. You should put up title, name of the author, medium, size and price.
4.       Make good use of your booth space. I’m going to have only 1 table and allow customers to access artwork and have a close look but many artists would prefer to have a full table across and show only those pieces which potential customers are interested in. All depends where are you in your development cycle. If you are a beginner artist like me, you may like to think more about collecting feedback from potential customers or other artist more than selling itself.
5.       Going in this direction I have decided to prepare a survey. Very short, so nobody will feel pressured because of it. I have it in paper format and on the iPad. I used QuickTapSurvey to design it.
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6.       I have also an e-mailing list with short terms and conditions on top. This way I will not miss out on potential e-mail addresses from people who don’t want to do the survey but still would like to be included on my distribution list.
7.       In order to reward people who will spend those couple of minutes to fill out the survey I have prepared book marks. Own design and handmade, hopefully this is will be sufficient.
book mark 1book mark 3
8.       Another thing which you need is business cards and flyers! Both home designed and homemade. There are a lot of services out there but why would you spend money on it if you have the tools available at home? I used the Microsoft Word cards template. Various shops with office and school supplies provide business card white paper. Then you only need a printer with color ink and your business cards are ready in minutes. I printed on A4 paper and used a special paper knife to cut it but sharp scissors will do as well.
9.       My flyer was designed in Photoshop. It took a bit more of my time but it was worth it! I must stress that I didn’t do any course for Photoshop users. However, the options are straight forward and it took only a few attempts to make it happen. I used photo paper 6×4 inches which we can get in any printing store and my lovely printer did the rest of the work. The biggest advantage of homemade things is that you can print extra copies or make changes in the design any time you want and you don’t pay a penny for it.
10.   Now you need to display all those lovely items we made, so I have invested in the stands.
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11.   Also I will have a table cloth as we don’t know the quality of equipment provided and in addition we will gain some covered storage space underneath, and flowers on the table just to draw more attention.
12.   A bowl with sweets will bring kids closer and obviously their parents!
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13. I have also registered for Square which will allow me to accept card payments on my iPhone. This is such a great invention!
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14.   Additional items which are very important too: packing paper and/or paper bags, scissors, sticky tape, napkins, water bottle, snack or sandwiches (as you may get hungry), you need plasters for paper cuts and headache pills. Please remember to bring garbage bags too.
art fair show 5
15.   You may like to add some other features which will bring viewers’ attention like posters or even balloons.
I think it is going to be a very successful Art Fair and I will tell you all about it in my next post. Take care for now.

Neilson Park Creative Centre – Spring ArtFest 2014

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Dear All,

I have some great news to share. I have been accepted for Spring ArtFest 2014 which is organized by Neilson Park Creative Centre in Toronto.

Spring ArtFest 2014

It has been set up for 3rd of May and I’m so happy to present my art and sewing on this Art Show.

Neilson Park

Please follow news as I will have few updates to come up in regards to it.

Whish me luck!