Well, that\u2019s a title I never thought I\u2019d write out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my previous blog [First Solo Exhibition \u2013 click HERE<\/a> to read], I talked about the unexpectedly stressful process of getting my art prepared for my first ever solo exhibition. What I never mentioned, though, was why I was so panicked and eager to get it perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My artwork was set to be shown in July 2023. I was in the midst of getting my artwork ready, when the director of the ArtismUK gallery, Brin, contacted me and asked me if I would be okay with having my art shown on the BBC, for a show called \u2018Weatherman Walking\u2019. He said they were coming to film a section on the gallery itself, and since my exhibition would be displayed anyway, if I was interested in being on the show, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was shocking, and unexpected, to say the least. I agreed, with an odd mix of nerves and excitement. The anticipation of the day was overwhelming, and was the primary reason behind my panic and stress. As the day got closer, the feeling kept getting stronger. I was very nervous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I adore my art. It\u2019s a part of me. That\u2019s probably something every single artist can agree on, regardless of their medium. Whether your art is dance, design, or music; your art becomes an extension of yourself, and it\u2019s incredibly personal. I\u2019m not one to believe in souls, and such, but I once read somewhere that, \u201cto create something is to leave a part of yourself in it forever\u201d. It\u2019s a beautiful way to explain something that can be so scary. I\u2019ve been lucky thus far to have an overwhelming amount of people who both enjoy, and encourage my art, however, because my art feels like an extension of me, it feels like it\u2019s me that is getting scrutinised, rather than my work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Which is exactly why I was becoming more nervous as the days counted down. Before long, my artwork was in the gallery, up on the wall, and being shown in my exhibition, and I only had a few weeks until the day of filming. It didn\u2019t take long for that to dwindle down, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We woke up on the day, and the nerves were at an all-time high. It\u2019s not abnormal for me to get a bit freaked during situations like this, but this was an entirely new level of nerves. I did pretty well at calming myself down, and by the time we arrived at the gallery, I was doing pretty well, considering how scared I\u2019d been only several hours prior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we arrived, we met Brin, and the director outside. She was very friendly and eased my fears a bit further. I\u2019m used to being on camera, so I wasn\u2019t particularly worried about that. She voiced how impressive and beautiful my art was, and after asking Mum and Jacob to go inside, asked me if I could stay outside for a few minutes, so they could get my first reaction to the display on camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s important to mention that this was the first time I\u2019d seen my artwork up. I hadn\u2019t been able to go and see the exhibition in person up until that point. Sure, I had the mixed exhibition several months earlier, but this was an entire wall dedicated my me and my work. Definitely overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I cried. Pretty heavily, too, and every relief-filled tear was caught on camera. Lovely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joking aside, it was an incredible feeling. Seeing them all up on the wall, knowing how much time and energy I\u2019d spent on getting them ready; all the love and parts of myself I\u2019d thrown into each one to make them look and feel the way I wanted them to, was now worth it. Being a digital artist, I rarely get to see my art in person, much less in a professional setting. It was incredibly overwhelming, but not in a bad way. All of my hard work had paid off, and with my reaction on camera, people have the ability to see that connection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After I\u2019d calmed down, the presenter (also a lovely lady), asked me a bunch of questions relating to my art, the gallery itself, and the feeling of having my art up in one. It felt like I was in a daze, so I can\u2019t remember exactly what was asked. I suppose I\u2019ll get the joy of finding out when everyone else does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I showed the presenter parts of my artwork, while she listened to my rambling intently. I can\u2019t remember if it was on camera, or not, but it happened all the same. I told her more about my artwork, focusing on the ones that were up on the wall. She told me that \u2018Discovering the Lost\u2019, was her favourite, pointing out how she enjoyed the depth, and clear scale everything had to one another. I told her that it was also my favourite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After that, filming was pretty much done. I spotted the cameraman looking really closely at my artwork, studying the smaller details with intensity. I walked over to him, and he expressed how cool it was to never run out of things to look at. I pointed out my favourite detail in \u2018Discovering the Lost\u2019 (he was also fascinated with this piece), and he was shocked that he hadn\u2019t even spotted it yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After that, the artist who also had his exhibition showing at the same time as mine came in, and they did the whole process again. His artwork is amazing, and follows a comic-book theme. As a lover of comics, and as a general nerd, they were cool to look at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then it was all done. They got a shot of me and Brin looking intently at my artwork in the background of one shot, while the presenter talked to the camera. That felt a little weird. I wasn\u2019t sure if they wanted it to look like I was talking to Brin about my work, or not, so I just didn\u2019t say anything. So now, there\u2019s an awkward shot of me in the background, staring at one of my pieces, to look out for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the filming was finally done, I got more compliments on my work, followed by more questions and general interest. Two of them thought that my work was done by A.I. which shocked me, to say the least. I assume that I\u2019ll go into more detail about my thoughts on A.I. generated artwork, at some point. For the purpose of this blog though; they were pleasantly surprised when I told them I did them all by hand. No A.I. involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All in all, it was a surreal but lovely day. ArtismUK has given me, and so many artists like me the opportunity to see our art in a professional way, and I cannot properly put into words how amazing that feels. It was incredibly emotional. An entire wall for my work. Thank you Brin, and everyone else at ArtismUK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for the episode, I don\u2019t really know when it will come out. We were told Spring next year, but don\u2019t quote me on that. I\u2019m nervous, but looking forward to seeing it all the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cerys, out!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, that\u2019s a title I never thought I\u2019d write out. In my previous blog [First Solo Exhibition \u2013 click HERE to read], I talked about the unexpectedly stressful process of getting my art prepared for my first ever solo exhibition. What I never mentioned, though, … Continue…My Artwork is Going to be on BBC One!<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1679,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,103],"tags":[456],"class_list":["post-1635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","category-milestones","tag-art"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/20230802_110812-adjusted-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1440&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1635"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1733,"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1635\/revisions\/1733"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerysbailey.co.uk\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}