Towards the end of this semester, I had the great opportunity of showcasing some work at the recently set up student exhibition, Turn on the Tap.
I saw posters around the lowry building and saw some of my peers and friends share some of their Instagram posts. I thought to drop them an email to see if they were interested in showing my work.
This exhibition was initially a wall-mounted show, but after a back-and-forth conversation with the organisers of the event, we suggested showing my work just for the opening night! They were really keen on this idea and loved the idea of my work being displayed, as it would expand their reach alongside showcasing work from all different practices.
When I first spoke with Dan (the organizer), he said it would be a month-long exhibition piece, so I didn't think I would be able to show the project I have been working on this semester. I suggested that my work from the previous year could be shown, and he was happy for me to show whatever I wanted. It wasn't until a bit later that I knew I would only be showing my work on the opening night, so it would be possible to show my side tables from this project.
During the following week, I had a tutorial with Geoff, and he said, Don't rush your work to get it into the exhibition as it won't represent me well! I was still aiming to try and get my piece put together in time for the exhibition, as I was super keen to show people something new. However, However, I knew Geoff was right and putting in a rushed/half-finished piece would look good on my behalf.
During the week commencing the exhibition, I spent a couple of hours behind after uni to figure out what and how I was going to showcase my final project from last year. I knew the piece had gotten rusty over time, as I didn't treat it before my hand-in last semester. I spent about 2 hours polishing up each component of my chair so it showed my design in a clean professional way.
Everyone who was a part of the show met in the space the week before to discuss where people's work would be going and what sort of space we were all working with. This was very exciting, as I had never been in an environment like this before, and to curate my display was getting my brain going through all ideas and possibilities. I loved the corner I was assigned, as it was almost in the centre of the space we had, and it was in direct vision from wherever you would stand in the space. I also asked about the furniture that was already in the room, and they said they were moving it all out for the opening night, so I asked if I could keep this lamp which was already in the space I was assigned.
During this time, Dan and Oskar asked if it would be possible for me to create a metal sign for their logo to promote the exhibition space. I said that it shouldn't be too hard, as I already have a space booked in the engineering room before the exhibition. I just needed them to send me the PNG with their logo on it so I could convert it into a DXF. file to cut on the waterjet cutter. They were super excited and happy about the possibility of having a high-quality sign for their opening of this new exhibition. I asked them what sizes and budgets they were working with so I could give them a quote for material costs. They suggested each letter would be about 300mm x 300mm so it would be bold and stand out against the brick wall they planned to have it on.
Once they sent me the design for the sign, I modelled it in Fusion360 so they could see the extruded look of the text and also so I could get it cut on the OMAX machine. These are the designs from fusion before getting it cut.
