The Procession West project that my friend and collaborator Rob Michiel and I have put together has been successful beyond our wildest expectations. This started out as an exhibition of 40 prints that we presented to various galleries through submissions, about four years ago. That initial volley of submissions resulted in three shows through the latter half of 2013 and into early 2014. This included an exhibition of 36 prints at the Art Gallery of Regina in June of 2013, which was followed by an exhibition of 22 prints at the McMullen Gallery here in Edmonton from August to October of 2013. In early 2014 we presented 12 prints at the Spruce Grove Art Gallery. After that I got a little lazy and didn't get around to sending out any further submission packages for the better part of a year.
Then, starting in early 2015 I got serious and sent out over 50 submission packages to galleries throughout western Canada. The submission of these packages was staggered over a period of nearly a year to coincide with the submission deadlines of all the various galleries. This has led to numerous acceptances and opportunities. So much so that we have had to spin off a second exhibition in order to handle some of the conflicts.
Over time our Procession West exhibition has grown to a selection of 50 prints. Most galleries don't have the space to present this many pieces. Something in the range of 25 to 35 prints seems to be about the norm. So, we spun off the excess pieces, and added some new work to come up with a second show that we call Ag2. I have outlined this exhibition and posted the artist statement in previous blog posts. Between the two packages we have acceptances at nine galleries over the course of the next year or so. Considering the original three shows, this now brings us to a total of a dozen gallery exhibitions for this selection of work. We are quite pleased with the success of our efforts. Once this project has run it's course I will continue with a couple of solo projects that I have in the works and hopefully be able to match this level of success. Here is a list of the shows that we have completed and have upcoming for the Procession West and the Ag2 projects...
Procession West - Art Gallery of Regina - Regina, Saskatchewan - June 19 to August 23 2013
Procession West - McMullen Gallery - Edmonton, Alberta - August 17 to October 20 2013
Procession West - Spruce Grove Art Gallery - Spruce Grove, Alberta - February 25 to March 15 2014
Ag2 - Leighton Art Centre - Calgary, Alberta - January 30 to March 5 2016
Procession West - Okotoks Art Gallery - Okotoks, Alberta - March 5 to April 30 2016
Ag2 - Lebel Mansion Gallery - Pincher Creek, Alberta - April 9 to May 21 2016
Procession West - Spallumcheen Art Gallery - Armstrong, BC - May 2016
Procession West - Summerland Art Gallery - Summerland, BC - August 11 to September 24 2016
Ag2 - Pyne Logs Gallery - Invermere, BC - September 6 to 18 2016
Procession West - Saskatchewan Craft Council - Saskatoon, SK - January 2017
Procession West - Port Moody Art Gallery - Port Moody, BC - April 2017
Procession West - McDonald Island Gallery - Fort McMurray, AB - June 2017
There are still a few more submission packages out there being considered by the juries of various art councils and galleries. Potentially we could be accepted at one or two more, though it could be a challenge to squeeze in any more. I know that it is getting to be a challenge to deliver these prints to the various galleries in advance of the shows, attend the openings, pick up the prints when the shows end, and move them on to the next venue.
My objectives for taking pictures and making prints are very personal. I enjoy getting outdoors and exploring, finding interesting places and capturing records of my experiences on film. I also enjoy spending my evenings and the off-season down in my darkroom as a technician, mixing chemistry and fine tuning the development and processing of my film. The final step in the process is the printing of those negatives onto paper, and presenting my interpretation of my experiences. This is all done for very personal reasons, and not with the intention of garnering any fame or fortune. But, when all is said and done I feel it a shame to just file those finished prints away. To that end I enjoy presenting my work to the public, to see what sort of response it generates, and to experience the feedback that others provide when viewing my work. That is the purpose of this process of submitting to galleries and looking for opportunities to exhibit my work. Although some galleries pay an exhibition fee, and others might subsidize transportation costs and there is always the possibility of the sale of a few prints, the cost of producing the exhibition prints, framing and presenting them, and delivering them to the various venues exceeds the monetary return that I get from this process. But the personal satisfaction is something that I value, and this is the reason that I pursue this. I hope those that follow my blog have an opportunity to get out and see one or more of these exhibitions. The scans that I present here on my blog don't do justice to the quality of the exhibition prints. This is entirely the reason that I continue to work with film, rather than to use modern digital techniques... but that is entirely another topic for another discussion.....
Procession West - Okotoks Art Gallery - Okotoks, Alberta - March 5 to April 30 2016
Ag2 - Lebel Mansion Gallery - Pincher Creek, Alberta - April 9 to May 21 2016
Procession West - Spallumcheen Art Gallery - Armstrong, BC - May 2016
Procession West - Summerland Art Gallery - Summerland, BC - August 11 to September 24 2016
Ag2 - Pyne Logs Gallery - Invermere, BC - September 6 to 18 2016
Procession West - Saskatchewan Craft Council - Saskatoon, SK - January 2017
Procession West - Port Moody Art Gallery - Port Moody, BC - April 2017
Procession West - McDonald Island Gallery - Fort McMurray, AB - June 2017
There are still a few more submission packages out there being considered by the juries of various art councils and galleries. Potentially we could be accepted at one or two more, though it could be a challenge to squeeze in any more. I know that it is getting to be a challenge to deliver these prints to the various galleries in advance of the shows, attend the openings, pick up the prints when the shows end, and move them on to the next venue.
My objectives for taking pictures and making prints are very personal. I enjoy getting outdoors and exploring, finding interesting places and capturing records of my experiences on film. I also enjoy spending my evenings and the off-season down in my darkroom as a technician, mixing chemistry and fine tuning the development and processing of my film. The final step in the process is the printing of those negatives onto paper, and presenting my interpretation of my experiences. This is all done for very personal reasons, and not with the intention of garnering any fame or fortune. But, when all is said and done I feel it a shame to just file those finished prints away. To that end I enjoy presenting my work to the public, to see what sort of response it generates, and to experience the feedback that others provide when viewing my work. That is the purpose of this process of submitting to galleries and looking for opportunities to exhibit my work. Although some galleries pay an exhibition fee, and others might subsidize transportation costs and there is always the possibility of the sale of a few prints, the cost of producing the exhibition prints, framing and presenting them, and delivering them to the various venues exceeds the monetary return that I get from this process. But the personal satisfaction is something that I value, and this is the reason that I pursue this. I hope those that follow my blog have an opportunity to get out and see one or more of these exhibitions. The scans that I present here on my blog don't do justice to the quality of the exhibition prints. This is entirely the reason that I continue to work with film, rather than to use modern digital techniques... but that is entirely another topic for another discussion.....
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