Silson Contemporary

This October is particularly exciting for me as it marks the first time I will be showing selected works in an official, commercial, contemporary art gallery. Located within fifteen walking minutes of Harrogate city centre, Silson Contemporary is a new independent art gallery exhibiting the work of emerging and established artists from Yorkshire. With over twenty gallery artists the work on show covers a diverse range of disciplines from painting and printmaking, drawing and textiles and ceramics and sculpture.

This amazing opportunity was a result of hard work and a case of being 'in the right place at the right time'. During my second year at university I spent a lot of time (and money) submitting my paintings to exhibitions and competitions and it proved pretty successful. I had also been working non-stop on my website as part of a university module to get it looking as professional and streamlined as possible with the aim of getting it to  appear high on the search engine results. 

After a bout of exhibition rejections I was finally accepted to display a painting at "Fresh", an exhibition showcasing the work of thirteen emerging artists from the North of England. My painting was exhibited in the two-week show alongside fellow Leeds College of Art students Terry Lister and Mia Allonby. It was because of the show that Silson Contemporary had discovered my work and had then proceeded to contact me about it through my website. 

It's a good job I sent off those applications and put in the hours on my website!

Summer

As summer draws to an end and enrollment day creeps closer I'm left reflecting on what I've achieved over the past three months. Admittedly I've not been the most active on social media recently but that does not mean to say I stopped making things over the summer break; in fact I've got some exciting stuff lined up for the next few months!

This summer has been amazing for me as I've been able to have a little break, earn some extra money and I also managed to fit in some art related stuff too. Here is a little update on what I've been getting up to.

The biggest piece of news is that in October I will be represented by Silson Contemporary, a new independent contemporary art gallery in Harrogate that is showcasing the work of selected emerging and established artists from Yorkshire. This is extremely exciting for me as it's the first time my work will be represented by a gallery and I can't wait to attend the opening night of the first show. I will be writing a separate post later this week that goes into this in a little more detail so look out for that.

I've also had a short feature on the online gallery, Isthisit?, for their 17th weekly exhibition (which you can find here). Curated by siteTitle, Isthisit? is a platform showcasing the work of emerging artists with a new exhibition each week focusing on different themes and concepts. It was amazing to be featured on this online gallery and a somewhat new approach to getting my work out there.

Paint By Number Issue 2 Cover

I am also pleased to announce that in late October I will be featured in the third issue of Paint By Number, a full-colour artist magazine showcasing the work of emerging creatives. I was really happy to find out my painting had been selected for the next issue as it's the first time my work will be published in print. As a huge fan of art magazines such as Parterre de Rois I am eager to be featured in a new independent art publication like Paint By Number.

I've had a couple of paintings selected to be part of the 2016 Art For Youth North exhibition in October. Art For Youth is an exhibition that displays the work of Northern artists where 33% commission of sold artworks is donated to the charity UK Youth in the aims of improving the lives of young people through support, encouragement and new opportunities.

Lastly, I have finally made some small tweaks to my blog and website to give them a more professional image. I'm trying to make my online profile appear as streamlined and polished as possible which meant adjusting my layouts and updating my information. My website is now on one platform (Cargo) and I have bought my own website domain, jakemullins.com. I now also have the necessary information in my CV and Biography and my social media platforms link to one another making it much easier to navigate; let me know what you think!

At the start of September I spent an amazing ten days in Cornwall and managed to fill up two rolls of film. Since returning I've been working full time at the cafe so I haven't had the time to get them developed yet. Now I'm back to my normal shifts I will hopefully be getting them developed very soon so I'll be sharing them in a future post!