Welcome to week two of Shalloe Gallery Christmas, and time for my second batch of gifts to you (in honour of the Newsletter)
If you’ve missed out on week one, you can find it here
On the Second Week of Christmas Shalloe Gallery Newsletter gave to me…
To start this week off we are celebrating with:
6 Things You Can Do To Improve Your Portfolio
Portfolios are things we can always be updating and improving. Art portfolios in particular can be used to be accepted on courses, get into university, apply for residencies or exhibition opportunities. They are a quick and easy way to show your style, what you are interested in and what you’ve created.
But how can you stand out from the rest? there are ways to spice up your portfolio and even in turn your artist CV.
Join a Taxidermy course! Well no worries for the squeamish, it doesn’t actually have to be taxidermy, but any course of a subject that might interest you, knitting , wax sculpture, glass blowing, anything really that will give you an extra skill/experience.
Gain Life Drawing experience, there are different techniques you can use both traditional and nontraditional. Challenge yourself, practice trying to capture motion, layering your images and time exercises. For those more adventurous you can find suspended models, neon nights, drunk sketching and different events in London and at galleries where there are themes to help you think more creatively.
Practice your Photoshop, not only is proficiency a highly transferable skill, but edit your photos, play and manipulate your images to achieve the best outcome. Put your best leg forward. It’s also a generally useful skill to have if you want to
Make a Book. Being able to select, edit and professionally print a photobook, is an easy way to carry and show your work. But also shows you have the ability to work professionally, it could be a good idea to print off a few as limited edition, that you could sell or give away at your exhibitions. This can be done individually or collaboratively (as long as the group has a running theme).
Think of yourself as a Brand make yourself into a brand, spend time designing your own business cards, leaflets, posters and a website. Make sure you keep similar designs between them all so that people can start to recognize your brand.
Network, look for opportunities to spread your work: open calls, artist residencies and exhibition opportunities. Find your local art society, they might be able to support you and help talk about your work.
5 Reasons To Keep A Journal
For the last 4 years i’ve made a point of keeping a journal and carrying it wherever i go, it started when i joined university and it’s the best habit i could have picked up. But here are main main uses
Sketching ideas, Planning future artworks, considering different formations and materials to use. I even end up designing impossible constructs just for a learning process, to find out what i’d need to change to make it more plausible.
Keeping Quotes as cliche as it is, i write down quotes from movies, books and even people i talk to (or overhear). things that get stuck in my head and i can’t help but think about. I keep it as inspiration.
Getting thoughts in order. Writing down my thoughts and feelings as a way to process them and take time to come to a decision.
Doodles. Just fun little doodles when i don’t want to get stuck into a huge project, but i am still feeling creative.
Keeping track of goals, I tend to keep smaller goals as they are easier to achieve and be motivated enough to do.
As this has turned into quite a lengthy post, to find out what the last surprise of this week follow this link.
If you would like a reminder of what The first week entailed, follow this link.
And so, never miss a moment! Sign up free today to receive monthly newsletter, an easy way to keep up to date with me, while receiving new art, writing and ideas just like these straight into your inbox.