Urban Expressionist, Lee Wareing,
Fine Art
Howarth art gallery- 1st group exhibition based on our experiences in south Africa 03/02/2014-17/03/2014
This was my 1st group exhibition, it was between 7 artists and 2 photographers and it was themed on a recent Africa trip we had all been to. There was a core group of three artists (Angela, Michelle and myself) and it was us that met up with the curator to secure the space and measure/view the spaces provided. As a group exhibition it presented its own issues some of which took me completely by surprise. The 1st of which was when the photographers asked for a space allocation. As artists we had all worked on different sized canvases so it was quite a task to measure up all the paintings. Once that was done we could give the photographers their allotted space and they were happy. Another issue was the logistics of getting the paintings to the venue, many of the paintings would fit into the backs and boots of cars and vans but there was one artist that painted a 6 foot painting. We had a lot of issues with this one as she tried numerous 8 seater taxis with no success. In the end she relied on the generosity of our local music shop. Another issue we had on the day the paintings were to be transported was the fact that many artists were either late or didn’t turn up. This meant either me, Michelle or Angela had to take extra and I had to hang up the work at the other end as the others were unsure as to how to hang the work. If I was to do this again I would definatly say that the individual artists are responsible for bringing their own work to the venu but my main concerns at the time was about making sure we put on a good show.
The open day was a huge success partly down to the fact that it coincided with the Howarth’s annual open day. It was a strange day for me as it was the 1st time the open day included people other than my friends and family and I felt like I was under the public’s scrutiny.
Gerson centre exhibition- 2nd solo exhibition 04/02/2014-06/03/2014
This was my second solo exhibition and ran in conjunction with the Howarth art gallery exhibition. This added to the extra stress of having to arrange the Howarth but was a great experience none the less. Although I didn’t receive the support I expected the few that came included friends, family and my tutor Paul Mason. It was also the 1st exhibition where I made a direct sale and will remain a special moment in my life. I spent a good deal of time chatting with the happy customer and ended up signing and writing a message on the art work for him.
Pop up gallery exhibition- group exhibition again based on our experiences in South Africa 21/03/2014-18/04/2014
This exhibition was organised by Safina Sijad, with some help from me, Angela Hoyland and Michelle Whaley. For this exhibition the show from the Howarth art gallery was taken down and taken to a popup gallery in Blackburn town centre. To keep this exhibition fresh we invited three other photographers and another artist, all of which were on one or another of the South African trips through college. The exhibition was a huge success with upwards of 80 people turning up for the show. It was at this exhibition that I realised that it is group exhibitions work better than solo shows. You get the extra exposure of all the other exhibitors friends and families so while you boost your own recognition it also works the other way and you boost your peers exposure. http://blackburnisopen.co.uk/blog/lee-waring-on-africa/
Antwerp mansion (Manchester) - An exhibition for one night only including artists, live graffiti and live music 11/04/2014
This exhibition came about as a direct result of following up on a post that Sonny Barker (our other artist in residence) had posted on Facebook. The curators were after content from Manchester based artists but I thought I would try my luck. They were only too happy to accommodate me and my work. I made sure I finished my Jack Nicholson on plasterboard for this exhibition which went down a storm. I had little involvement in the running for this exhibition other than placing and hanging my work. The exhibition involved artists, live graffiti, live music and a DJ set. It was a great exhibition with a completely different atmosphere than any of the others that I had been involved with.
Sonny’s exhibition On Paper- A group exhibition based on artist’s statements curated by Sonny J Barker 09/05/2014- 28/05/2014
For this exhibition Sonny asked several artists to create an artist’s statement. These would be framed and displayed alongside a photo of our space at college. I had no involvement other than providing the statement in time for the deadline.
Church exhibition- An exhibition of 16 artists based in a church organised and curated by Angela Hoyland, Michelle Whalen, Jodie Webb, Sonny Barker and myself 03/06/2014- 07/07/2014
The idea behind this was to have an end of year exhibition for the 2nd years and it took place two days after the end of the third years degree show. As it turned out not all of the 2nd years were up for this so we had to open up the exhibition to 3rd years and photographers. As the leader of the group I had to delegate rolls for the key players.
Angela was in charge of writing out and posting personal invites to the curators and other influential people within the area.
Our online presence was handled by Sonny Barker and myself. This included all the usual social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) and setting up a WordPress site.
Michelle Whalen took care of creating the poster.
Jodie Web took the lead position in the distribution of the posters.
I took on all the coordination and some of the social media advertising. This included dealing with and organizing the musicians, leasing with Blackburn is open who provided us with the building, organizing peoples rolls, informing and organizing the artists involved in the project, creating a Facebook event to help promote the exhibition, collecting the funds from the artists so we could provide refreshments and curating/hanging the work.
For the open evening we had a time schedule so that everything went smoothly. From 6.30 to 7.30 was the viewing period so people had a chance to see the art work and speak to the artists. We then had live music from 7.30 until 8.30 by one man and his beard who provided us with alternative music which led up to the art auction. From 8.30-9.30 we held a live art auction to help raise funds for our take down exhibition. The auction went really well and we raised £360 to help towards the costs for our final night. We then had a break until 10pm when we had a group of 16 steampunk drummers called drum machine. We intended to leave with a bang and the drummers did not disappoint. The vibe as we finished up the exhibition was that of a party rather than an exhibition. Throughout the exhibition we had a youngster floating around and performing card tricks, he got great reviews and also got some work due to this opportunity. All in all this was the best exhibition that vie taken part in and co-organised and it’s left me itching for more.
Church residency- A group of 6 artists creating sight specific works based on the church
After the opening exhibition at the church a group of 6 artists took over the church for 7 weeks as artists in residence. During this period the church was open to the public and the artists challenge was to create sight specific works based on the church. These works would provide the basis for out takedown exhibition.
Preston Shop- This was a short term take over of a preston shop involving four local artists; Angela, Michelle, Jodie and myself. It was a great area to be in as there were quite a lot of people genuinely interested in the arts. As a result of our descussions with the general public two of the artists including myself made sales.
