Open Studio Weekend Blog

Well you know most of the time I am pretty optimistic about things and to start with I was pretty excited about having an open studio weekend. I organised the advertising which consisted of creating an event page on Facebook, creating and printing up invitation post cards and texting anyone who I thought might be interested in attending etc. 
As the weekend loomed i started to get knots in my stomach because according to FB i had 9 people saying they were attending and 14 saying they couldn't. Now you have to know I live in the middle of nowhere, 25mins drive from town and my place isn't the easiest to find. So I guess I wasn't too optimistic come Saturday morning. I converted the lounge room into a gallery space (thank god eirik was away this weekend working because if he saw how many holes i have put in the wall he would have divorced me there and then but now when i tell him how successful the weekend has been he might reconsider). 

Below is how I set things out. As you came in the door i had info, cards, fridge magnets, gift certificates and Course Brochures etc (And also when people paid me and while they waited for me to wrap their artworks they had the chance to look at all of this info...smart plan). 
Then I had one wall full of smaller works, masks, plexiglass paintings, an assemblage box and a few medium to larger sized canvases. Along the bottom I just layed more canvases.  On the back wall I had a coffee table, offering both espresso and normal filtered coffee as well as a selection of cupcakes (which i coated with icing as they browsed the artwork- i think it is good to let people enjoy the work by themselves without you hovering over them). 
In the lounge area I had a wooden table where people could sit around with their coffee and cake. In the middle of that table was a bowl full of masks, different shapes and sizes (Some rejects at discounted prices etc). 

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This is the bowl of masks I had sitting on the table. So as they sat their chatting and drinking their coffee and cupcakes they had the chance to look through the bowl of masks. As you can see by the before and after I sold a few faces. The doll face shaped masks proved to be most popular out of this lot. 
Below are 4 of the 7 masks I sold. 

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So Saturday was a busy day considering I had only 9 attending. First came a group of 5 ladies, most of which I knew personally. They were so much fun, laughing chatting, drinking coffee and eating cakes  oh and looking at the art. At that time an Aussie friend showed up and purchased 3 masks. Just as he was leaving another 2 showed up. 
Next minutes I am busy wrapping artworks as everyone purchased more than just one item.For one brief moment i had that feeling what it must be like for super famous artists who turn up to their exhibition and completely sell out in a few hours...it was that feeling I had. I know it doesn't last forever and 99% of the year your back to selling your soul..but what a high it was and one i will hang onto for a few days;). 
So that was Saturday. Sunday was much quieter with only one person coming...BUT he purchased a lot of art (In fact most of what you see below). He works for this Norwegian art society and they have this annual event. He purchased 3 large works on canvas for this event  as well as an assemblage box and small plexiglass artwork for himself. He also wants me to run a workshop later this year teaching some of my techniques. All the items below sold on the Sunday!

But I want to thank the many friends who came and supported me during the weekend with art purchases  and more importantly 'believing in me'.So to sum up the weekend I would have to say it has been fantastic. Has it been worth it? Hell yes! Will I do it again? Hell YES! the only thing I would do differently would be to advertise it more) And i think i will change the venue and find some old empty store or shop to host it...just for something different!!