SPARK: EMERGING ARTISTS EXHIBIT
This year I had the pleasure of participating in a pilot-project with Kawartha Lakes SPARK Photo Festival called Light the SPARK: Emerging Artists Exhibit.
The purpose of this group exhibit was to encourage, educate and guide new artists to exhibit photographic images in a welcoming public forum. Ultimately, the Festivals’ hope was that this guided introduction would inspire the participating photographers to explore their work in a new way with an eye to public exhibition, become confident in the logistics of mounting an exhibit, and to continue to show work in future years of the SPARK Photo Festival and beyond!
The Emerging Artists Exhibit program required potential participants to complete an online application to be considered for the program. The SPARK Program Committee evaluated all applicants and determined who would be eligible to enter the program. A professional curator and the SPARK Program Committee lead the program and worked with the artists both as a group and on a one-on-one basis to successfully launch the exhibit mounted in the month of April 2023.
Participants worked with the Curator and SPARK Committee to produce print images for a group exhibit shown at the Peterborough Public Library in the month of April 2023.
The SPARK program, helped me learn the basics of how to create a photography exhibit from a concept to finished work hanging on the wall. I worked with a professional curator, Darcie Kennedy, and other photography and exhibit pros, and with fellow-first exhibitors to mount a group exhibit in the 2023 SPARK Photo Festival.
SPARK provided workshops, guidance, marketing support and a venue, and their sponsors provided all of the funding for workshops, printing and framing. All I had to bring was my creativity, images and enthusiasm!
