I’ve exhibited my work in a variety of different contexts over the years, and following exhibiting my largest piece of work at fountain arts for the last month, I’m feeling quite reflective.

Generally, I’ve found exhibitions tend to be catered more towards artists using traditional techniques like painting and sculpture, as so as a digital illustrator, applying to exhibitions and gallery opportunities isn’t at the top of my agenda. Despite this, I recognise them as a greatly beneficial way of marketing myself especially if there’s an opening night or an opportunity to engage with other artists, curators or potential clients!

During my studio opportunity and mentorship programme at Scunthorpe Studio School, we visited different galleries and engaged in conversation with quite a few curators to learn more about how different opportunities can be beneficial for artists outside of just marketing, and so going forward, I’d love to find gallery opportunities that can work for me, ideally working directly with curators on a paid solo opportunity!

Despite seeming pretty extroverted, and recognising how beneficial these kind of networking opportunities can be for my artistic career, I actually find socialising at artist talks unfortunately quite exhausting and I generally have to take a few days of rest after busy interactive days. As I’ve learnt more about my ADHD and masking, I’m slowly coming to understand how to best approach these kind of situations in a less damaging way, and hopefully it will only become something I get stronger and stronger at as grow my creative connections.