I only got to visit two artists on the first Saturday of Open Up but visited a few more this Saturday. In each case the work was beautifully displayed and the venue well signed. It’s really helpful seeing how other people go about opening their studios and it helps you to discover for yourself what makes people feel welcome and if there’s anything you do which puts people off or makes them feel uncomfortable.I found myself surprisingly busy last Sunday and Monday – I needed lots of help greeting people and seeing them safely up and down our tricky stairs and I lost count how many drinks we produced. So far, we’ve had a much greater turnout than the previous two years and at the busiest times I felt that I couldn’t really give the attention I wanted to each individual. Three at a time was fine, but when I got up to five or six I never really got a chance to build relationships with my visitors.
Many of the people on my mailing list came back again, which was very gratifying, and several who’d bought pictures in the past from Hallam Art Group exhibitions called in to see me. So far, I’ve had seven children accompanying their parents and they were fantastically behaved and enjoyed choosing key-rings, fridge magnets and bookmarks to buy. Their enthusiasm was lovely to see and one little boy just enjoyed making appropriate animal noises as he passed each picture.
So, a tiring but exhilarating couple of days and I look forward to this Sunday.
