A virtual catalogue

Our exhibition had drawn to a close. We got to chat to some amazing visitors 
and had a lot fun. The next few post will be dedicated to a virtual catalogue of the exhibition. 
Enjoy. 

Finding the space

As eager as I am to share my feeling about the work, I am also very keen to publish my experience of the process we went through from the very first stages of the exhibition to the final show. In doing this I hope that our show is a transparent experience that does something to demystify art and the art world.

As part of this catalogue I am going to publish my minutes from each meeting alongside our correspondence with those who have been involved with the process. I have shared the build up to the exhibition in this blog but I would like to go into more detail about the logistics of putting on a show.

Tuesday 24^th January, Our First Meeting

Our first thoughts were that we should brand ourselves as a group. We felt that this would help in our marketing campaign and when dealing with contacts outside the university.

We decided to call ourselves the Young Leeds Artists as a pastiche of the YBA’s.

At this point we also thought it would be effective to work with a common theme as our styles are so different.

We were keen to find a public space away from our canvas.

At this meeting it was agreed:

-We would contact the Merrion Centre with a proposal for using a unit in the market

- Contact with the design school might be useful in designing a brand image (later on we decided that this should come from within the group)

- A group email would help the brand and avoid confusion.

Here is our proposal to David Woolman at the Merrion Centre.

Dear Mr Woolman,

I am writing to enquire about the use of the units in the Merrion Market. I am part of an artist’s collective, The Young Leeds Artists, and we would like to propose an exhibition we that believe will be beneficial for both our group and yourselves.

We are keen to advertise the show as widely as possible and will put a strong emphasis on celebrating the market and Leeds. As students at The University of Leeds we are keen to build stronger links between the city and the University. By advertising our show as extensively and professionally as possible we hope that this will help to raise more interest to the Merrion Centre, the coming refurbishment and the huge potential urban spaces have for changing uses.

Ideally we would like to use a unit for 7 days at the end of April or the beginning of May. We are able to be flexible about the dates. As students we are restricted in our budget but we hope that this is something we can reach a compromise on and further discuss. We will of course provide insurance.

We are aware that the Merion Market is going to be refurbished in 2013 and we feel that we can make use of the space in a way that can be a positive ending to its current use and a celebration of what is to come.

The Young Leeds Artists work it a variety of mediums and we wish to create a show that groups us together through our reaction to the space. We are also very community based and wish to create something entertaining for the families of Leeds to enjoy.

We hope to hear from you soon.

Many thanks for you time.

Yours sincerely

Laura Feltham

The Young Leeds Artists.