Spiraling Out in 2018

A frank view of my first major exhibition as a textile artist.

In 2017 I applied for and was selected to be a textile artist in the galleries of the Knitting & Stitching Show. I applied on a whim, not quite believing that knitting could be displayed in an exhibition as art. I had initially only applied for Harrogate because it was closest to my home in Yorkshire, but I was also asked to do the London show in October 2018, which was the first of the two. That gave me about a year to prepare. A year to finish knitting four large pieces (I had only completed two at the time) and a further thirty plus smaller pieces.

The issue was that at first I didn't know how much space I was being given, thinking it would be only one wall of less than 6 feet wide, but it turned out to be a bigger space than my fairly spacious kitchen at the time. So three internal walls and a fourth wall that was outside of the booth on one of the two main sides of the exhibition. I had a fairly prime position to fill with work that I hadn't yet produced. This would be my first major exhibition, before this I had sent my pieces to local craft/art exhibitions but only one at a time, and they were not displayed completely open on a wall, rather they were usually folded up on a table next to some pottery.

So I knitted, and knitted and everyone must have become completely annoyed with me for knitting on the bus, knitting at dinnertime, knitting whilst waiting for the bus, even knitting in the cinema if I had enough light. And I finished them all, with a few additional pieces that I had been working on as experiments; two hats, one circular rug and an earlier piece that wasn't as good as the rest, but it showed my developing process. Each piece, from small to large was given a place name close to my heart.

We got to London on Tuesday before the show started to prepare for an exclusive viewing on Wednesday night, going straight to Alexandra Palace fresh from the coach down from Yorkshire. It was late afternoon in October and very warm for the time of year. Ally Pally is on a big hill and we hadn’t worked out transport routes so ended up getting off a train at the wrong end, having to climb up the hill with two very full and heavy wheeled suitcases full of artworks, T pins, and not much else besides a pair of boots, a posh dress and suit, plus some toiletries. We hadn’t brought anything else, such as a drill, food, or much money.

The booths were still being erected and the place was full of organisers, builders and carpenters, hardly any artists had arrived as most were attending the next day to set up.

I am so grateful that Michael made friends easily and managed to borrow a drill.

I had already worked out where the pieces were going to go, but because the booth was so big, that I was initially overwhelmed and felt out of my depth immediately.

‘You tell me where to put them, and I’ll start drilling holes.’ he said, so I did. The six designs (including one that was still a work in progress), were laid out on the floor in front of the makeshift walls where they were going to hang. In the many hours that followed, we managed to drill and pin the pieces up before the opening show on Wednesday evening.

We survived on bacon sandwiches and coffee that we bought with proceedings from the sales of cards I had had printed with my artwork on them. We stayed each night in a B&B with no breakfast that was the haunt of many builders, which actually caught fire early one morning. With alarms going off and smoke filling the corridors, I was afraid that the building would be condemned before we returned that evening to sleep. Luckily it wasn’t, and our things were safe when we returned via several buses.

As my husband was a budding photographer at the time, he took photos of everything and we were ready for the Wednesday champagne private showing on time. We even had a little time to go around the other exhibition booths before the main event, meeting various people from all over the country, some closer to home than others.

And one of the lovely artists that day was so impressed with my work that she did an 11 minute film and interview of my work. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAw0tCsG7D8

On Thursday morning, everything that wasn’t part of the display had to be hidden away beneath tables so that the floor was clear. I had my knitting out ready to do a demonstration and greetings card and business cards were laid out on top, the suitcases hidden underneath. And of course, I brought some of my knitting with me to demonstrate.

The first people came through the main doors and spread out in all directions. Some headed straight to the other halls of supplies to catch some bargains, but many of them started with the art galleries, and it didn’t take long for them to start saying the same thing.

‘Wow!’

From the first people on Thursday morning, to the last ones on late Sunday afternoon, it hardly stopped. Everyone was very impressed and I met a lot of notable people from royal institutions to company managers and all the rest of society in-between. On Saturday there were even more people; many young textile students and school pupils alike. I felt fearful of leaving the booth in case someone wanted to come and ask me things, which they did.

'How do you make your mandalas?’

‘Is this knitting or crochet?’

‘Can you come and do a talk for our group?’

‘Can I take some photos?’

In the lows between the rush, I had a little time to sneak off to check out the rest of the exhibition and buy a few little woolly treats for me later.

At the end of the week, everything was packed up into a huge cardboard box and shipped off to storage, before being delivered to the next venue. Some of the artists were going to Dublin, but my work wouldn’t reappear until Harrogate the month after.

Harrogate was even more fun than London, as I had done it once so could do it all again. I had a similar sized space, I created a different layout because I had sold some of the smaller pieces in London.

Back on more familiar ground (I’d been to the Knitting & Stitching Show here, but never in London), everything seemed to run more smoothly and my local friends were there to help out. By the end of the show, my Michael declared that he was going to learn to knit (and that I was going to teach him). He dashed off and came back with three bags of different yarns (he's as good at finding bargains as I am), and a set of the most expensive 'manly' looking KnitPro Interchangeable Karbonz circular knitting needles with a black cord.

The whole experience was amazing! The staff looked after us from our arrival to the end of each show, and the other artists were wonderful to a newbie like me. Working through my first exhibition mini-tour encouraged me to keep creating in the hope that one day I could display new work to a new audience in future.

If you’re a new artist, whatever it is that you create, why not apply for an exhibition or enter that art competition. You never know, you might be chosen to display your artwork, and believe me, it will change your life.