Reflections on My First Solo Art Show

Wild Tales was my first solo art show at Slice of Life Art Gallery. It was a very short run, but a big milestone for me. Ten years ago, I put my logo “LEMONNI” on a label and sewed it to a tea towel I made. I decided then that I wanted to create patterns that bring beauty and joy to people’s homes. My creative career has evolved so much since then, from selling my handmade products at local craft fairs, to licensing my designs to companies around the world for various products, to painting murals on giant walls, and to holding a solo show for the first time. 

 

 

The Motivation

The seed was planted during our trip to Santa Fe in early 2023. I was amazed by the abundance of art there, and I became so inspired by the art scene that I decided to start painting. My first attempt was a collection of mini paintings, with sizes ranging from 3 by 4 to 8 by 8 inches. I put them on my website without thinking too much about it. Painting them gave me so much joy. Around the same time, I was chatting with an art consultant. She encouraged me to apply to some galleries to show my work. Slice of Life Art Gallery was the first one I applied to, and around July 2023, I was informed that I got in. I got to pick the show date and chose June, thinking the nice weather would encourage people to go out and perhaps visit a gallery. And that turned out to be the right decision! The weather was so nice during the show that I had lots of street traffic. As you can see, I didn’t think twice about doing a show even though I had just started painting. I liked that it gave me a clear goal, and there was no backing out. 

 

 

The process of prepping the show

There wasn’t a clear starting point because I had been thinking about the show since the day I decided to do it. I didn't begin painting until I had a general idea of the show's theme and direction. While I started sketching my ideas in February, I had been brainstorming long before that. When I finally laid down my first brushstroke, I didn't have the entire picture mapped out yet. I let my rough ideas guide me through the process, making creative decisions as I went.

My initial goal was to have at least 10 new big pieces, even though I ended up with 8. By mid-March, I was about halfway through. My art consultant suggested that I also included my first series of paintings in the show, even though they were not “new.” That turned out to be the right move, as I sold a few paintings from that collection. 

I set the end of April as my deadline for completing all my paintings because I knew I would be spending the month before the show promoting it. I made a “media kit” on my website, which is a page with all the info about the show, my bio, and image files available for download. The page was only accessible with a private link that I sent out to all my media contacts. I think it’s a better way than sending media kits through emails because I didn’t have to worry about the file size and quality being compromised by the email limitations. Also, it’s just a better presentation overall.

For the installation, I visited the gallery a few times before my show date and measured the dimensions of all the walls. With the measurements, I created a 2-D map of the space in Adobe Illustrator, which helped me plan where my pieces would go.

 

A learning experience

Showing your work can be so intimidating because of the fear of being judged and criticized. I still have this feeling from time to time. I acknowledge my fear, but I try not to let it stop me from doing what I love. Because of the show, I created a body of work that allowed me to apply for the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Art Rental & Sales Program. Even though I didn’t make it to the final round, I was shortlisted as one of the 23 out of over 200 applications. It was a tremendous honour for me and a stamp of approval. When I received the email, all the doubts about myself suddenly disappeared. I’m glad that I didn’t wait until I was “ready” before applying to the program, or doing the solo show, because there’s no such thing as being 100% ready. 

So, what have I learned from this experience? Show your work. Art is subjective. Your work is never going to please everybody, so might as well show it. The only person you need to please is yourself!