Finally Free Range...

Finally the last of the exhibitions as part of the Norwich School of Art and Design is all done. I like to think that I got the hang of the whole exhibition thing by the time Free Range rolled around!

We arrived at the Truman Brewery (just off Brick Lane) on July 16th and began constructing the space, painting and putting our work up. I was lucky this time as I got a great space which was a really big white brick wall which had this cool chunky white painted industrial pipe running up part of the wall, which I think must have been something left over from the buildings days as a Brewery. Yes, so I loved my space and really liked how my work looked against the brick wall.

It took two days to get everything perfect and the Opening Night was Thursday 17th July. We had lots of people visit and it got steadily busier as the night wore on. A few off us left a little bit before closing as we were so tired from all of the early morning commutes we had been making from Norwich! Little did I know that after I would leave someone would go on to pinch two of my scrolled original drawings which were lined up in front of my hanging pieces. How nice of them.

The next morning some of us went in to invigilate after another stay at the Generator (a free room next time perhaps? hehe) That's when I discovered the theft..but on a brighter note I did get to chat to some people about my work which is was interesting. Then it was off home for a whole 2 days, which were apparently super-busy because of all the markets open at the weekend.

I came back on the Monday, this time with the company of my Mum and my Sister who had decided to join me for a day out in London. We did LOTS of walking that day! Then it was off to the Truman Brewery to take my work down and bundle it all back on a train to Norwich.

All in all, I think that out of the three exhibitions this one was my favourite. I liked each one for different reasons and in this case I loved the space that I had and how I was able to present my illustrations. I've decided to create a page on my website (www.dottynoggin.co.uk) for all the comments that I got in my little book-it made me so happy that other people enjoyed looking at my drawings. It really did mean a lot to me, so I think it would be nice to have them on the website.

Speaking of the website I will hopefully be doing lots of updates this week as there are still lots of things that I want to do with it! I would like to have some stuff for sale along with lots of other little ideas that are floating around in my head. Lot's of other things in the pipeline at the moment, so will write about theme if and when they fabricate.

Hopefully more to write very soon...bye for now :)

New Designers and a trip to London!

Have just got back from New Designers in London, which was very exciting! It's all a bit of a blur at the moment because it was such a busy week for us all. The photos above are of the event-most of which were taken before the Business Design Centre opened (which is where New Designers was held).

But first...the Degree Show. It was held at the Norwich School of Art and Design and it went really well! The Private View night was great and the whole school was packed with people coming to see our exhibitions. It was just really nice to see so many people taking interest in our work and looking at pieces that we have all been working hard on for the last year. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take any photos as it was so crowded...so I guess you'll just have to imagine how busy it all was...unless you were there of course :)

Anyways, I invigilated on the Saturday which was almost as busy as the Private View evening. I made some little business cards which I ran out of quite quickly and had a little comment book which was nice to read afterwards. I also had a look round at other course's exhibitions and was completely in awe of the work in Illustration-it was just amazing.

That Tuesday was set-up day for New Designers, (http://www.newdesigners.com/) which was fun but difficult because our Degree show was still up. This meant making some more prints and selecting bits to take to London without compromising the quality of the Norwich exhibition. After a busy Tuesday we all headed back on the train ready for graduation the next morning, which flew by and before we knew it we were back on another train to London to attend the Open Evening.

That's when my stint in London truly began, and I think I managed to visit quite a lot into the 5 days that I was there, and I also learnt how to navigate myself around the city (which I was a little concerned about!) I spent a lot of time at New Designers and spoke to a lot of people, which was very exciting. And when I wasn't there I was visiting places like the RA, Leicester Square, Covent Garden and China Town. I didn't take any photos because I'm a bit rubbish when it comes to being touristy and feel like I miss out on things if I'm always trying to photograph them rather than just look at them!

Most of us stayed over in London seeing as we needed to be at the stand at New Designers as much as we could. I stayed with two friends at the Generator hostel in London, which is just off Russell Square. It was so much fun and contributed greatly towards helping my already visually saturated head become over-full with stuff! It was so interesting looking around at the many different kinds of people staying there-and I don't think it was at all what I expected. I really enjoyed it and was even a little bit sad to be leaving!

So...finally (and well done for getting this far) I came back to Norwich on Sunday night and am now busy preparing for Free Range which opens Friday 18th July (http://www.free-range.org.uk/) on Brick Lane in London (again!). Am looking forward to it, and especially excited about being able to put my work up again and trying out different layouts, which is what I got to do at New Designers.

Will hopefully have some more photos soon!
Bye for a little bit :)