The Story of our Exhibition
The Build
We broke with tradition this year and moved the timing of our exhibition from its usual June date to October. We had already decided pre-Covid that we would try a different venue where we would be an “added attraction” to an established activity. We chose Marston Forest Centre because it had a suitable size room and an established weekend footfall.
Planning began in February by a small Exhibition Committee which dealt with advertising, layout planning and a host of other small, but important, tasks. The judging of entries took place in mid-September and then came the critical task of deciding which prints should go on which panel. This takes time to try and ensure that from such a diverse range of images, those on each panel work in harmony.
It takes about two hours to set up the room from scratch with a dozen or so members working in small teams to put the prints on their pre-selected panels.
The Exhibition
Over the weekend of 8th and 9th October, we held our 13th exhibition at the Marston Forest Centre. After two years of Covid enforced virtual exhibitions, it was great to hold a physical exhibition of both prints and projected digital images once again.
We are a small club, but 25 members showcased the best of their work in an exhibition of 169 prints and 86 projected images. This is the first time we have held an exhibition at a venue where there are other non-related activities. Our aim was to promote the Club to a wider audience than in the past. I am pleased to say that we succeeded with over 200 visitors and over half of these having no connection to the Club. In addition, over 20 people requested more information about the Club and membership.
We asked visitors to select a favourite image with a chance of winning their chosen print. Evidencing the diversity of preferences, 87 individual images received votes with the winning image receiving 10 votes, hotly pursued by the second and third placed receiving 9 votes each. The lucky winner has been contacted!
My thanks go to all our members who summitted entries and those who helped both before and at the event making it such a huge success. Thanks also to our independent judge, Alison Jenkins ARPS DPAGB BPE1* who selected the award winning and commended images.
