Free Range

For the end of the course we had the opportunity to show our work at an exhibition that involved multiple universities and had a multitude of industry professionals as well as the general public coming through to see all the work on show. In the lead up to the show we had to raise money to pay for the show. Unfortunately we didn't start this till after the Print Auction which put us on a strict deadline. I tried to put on a fundraising event but it ended up falling through on the day and it ultimately failed. After that I insisted on more people helping out for the fundraising events. The next plan was to have a few bake sales to raise as much money as we could. We made over £100 for the first bake sale so we carried on having bake sales as often as we could before the deadline for the exhibition.

Fig 1: Jeffries, L., (2019). Bake Sale. Photograph. Photographer's own collection

As it turns out there were only a handful of us showing at Free Range we each had plenty of space to show so we needed to print big so we would use the space wisely. We had to consider what we needed to set up at the Truman Brewery to display our work. In the build up to the event we had to decide what we were showing as well as the sizes of the prints and how many. I decided to print twelve prints so that I could decide which ones I would hang when I was there. With the help of Martina Rooney, I chose four of my abstracts to hang back to back for people to view.

Fig 2: Jeffries, L., (2019). Free Range Show. Photograph. Photographer's own collection

We were also given the option to have prints and books to show and sell on a table that we constructed for people to walk around and have a look at what was on it. We also had business cards for people to take, my business cards had one of my best Dartmoor images on it to remind people of what I do.It took us a couple of days to set everything up before the opening night. For the opening night the show was open till ten and each university was offering drinks to encourage people to come into our area and hopefully see our work.We each had to work shifts on the bar and supervising the show during the open days. 

Fig 3: Jeffries, L., (2019). Free Range Table. Photograph. Photographer's own collection

This meant that if there were any problems with the installation pieces that there would be someone there to remedy the problem. Having people there also meant that if any of the prints or books sold then there would be someone there to take the payment and record the sale. There were several industry professionals walking around and I had a couple give me a business card to pass on to people who were showing their work but weren't in London. At the end of the show, when we had everything packed away, they announced the people who won prizes for their work. The first place won an exhibition at the Truman Brewery on another occasion.