A proposal to utilise my recent endeavours as a small business to raise funds for the North East Blind Society, Guide Dogs Association and other relevant charities. Having a pop up fundraiser stall allows there to be an acknowledgment of images related to the nature of various ailments, whilst still appearing visually sound and intuitively symbolic given the surreal nature of each print. Within the gallery I have included a selection of my prints which now adorn the walls of a few customers of mine, alongside a time I had an art stall in Richmond (though I have digitally edited the original image to relate to the theme of this years undertakings.) Try to excuse the poor photoshop job I performed over the stall image, I wanted to create a quick mock up of the fundraiser display and what it could look like.
Arranging a fundraising pop up stall allows there to be a chance of recognition and travel of word of mouth. Connecting to the mission statement of the charity is imperative, there needs to be a consideration to helping charities whose missions are aligned with your own, alongside the nature of your work.
Rather than opting for a typical white cube space or gallery, I want to create work and have pop up stalls in community spaces, programs installed by hospitals, infirmaries, societies etc. Hence my reaching out to Sunderlands eye infirmary and the RNIB charity, I have addressed a brief statement proving my support of the mission statement, an area of research to show my interest within the subject, and lastly a description of the works I make, how they cater to and simulate various ailments, and what I propose could be done, alongside a link to my digital portfolio.
As an artists just now embarking into the world of sales, collaborating with charities can be beneficial to establish a recognition to my work. Though I would love nothing more than to have every penny donated to the proceeds, I would most probably offer 40% revenue collated from the art sales to the charity. The other 60% will most probably be split into a small percentage of profit and cover of manufacturing. Inviting special guests from the organisation can help with the promotion of the cause, alongside fellow advocates for making art more accessible; perhaps a person from the charity, an art critic/curator or arts council member and a series of blind and visually impaired individuals offering insight to their experiences, or lack of within the art industry.
Another idea would be to propose an auction of original art works to further heighten the money made for the cause, a raffle could be another element donation. This could be an opportuneness event that other artists and friends could be a part of. It might also be a great way to launch a relationship with the organisation that could lead to a more permanent ongoing relationship. Advocating inclusion means there must be an element of collaboration to the public, a series of workshops proposed earlier in the year could be acted out. Offering inspired and creative ideas to help the charity build their brand and mission could prove to be beneficial to both parties, earning equal establishment. Offering to paint a collaborative mural with visually impaired members of the society could prove to be an amazing event, or more mundanely, I could ask if my work may be hung in their space.
The email I had sent to both Sunderlands eye infirmary and the Royal National Institute for the Blind has been included in the gallery below, though I will provide a pasted copy here:
Email: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello,
I hope you are having a great day and stay safe during these uncertain times. I am emailing you to propose a fundraiser art stall for the RNIB within the Northeast. I am a student fine artist, this year was self-directed, which as the name suggests means I choose and direct my project. I started looking into the ignorance and evident discrimination employed by art galleries and found I wanted to do all that I could to hinder, and in time abolish this.
It appalled me to find numerous contradictory assurances proposed by galleries and exhibitions, followed by an absence of tactility and accessibility within said environments. Blind and visually impaired individuals have fallen victim to an unspoken autocracy within the industry. Though I can understand the potential abundance of insurance policies regarding the physical interaction of works, such policies can be combatted by alternative methods such as those employed by a select number of galleries that aid the blind and visually impaired, and of course have worked with RNIB. It has been statistically proven that 4% of those who are blind or visually impaired are entirely “blackout” blind, a percentile derived from a total of 360,000 individuals registered as blind or partially sighted within the UK; hundreds of thousands of people encumbered by such an ailment, only to have a handful of galleries constitute in creating an accessible platform.
A great deal of my work imitates an artistic portrayal of the characteristics inhabited by the lens of a visually impaired individual. Examples of this can be seen through most of my relief prints, exhibiting the nature of binocular diplopia - doubled vision and the cataracts, alongside the withering nature of macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. I create juxtapositions using surreal and somewhat ambiguous imagery to conjure a metaphysical response toward my secondary collated research. I employ an automatism manner of working, allowing my work to be genuine within its lucidity and palette. My work bares a synchronic attitude to the use of colour, allowing vivid imagery to protrude from the surface, systemic interactions with no predetermined thought. A provocation toward the viewer, permitting them to establish their own narrative using equivocal compositional elements, I find this to be particularly important for my work to inspire a seminar and stir interest amongst the audience. The equivocation of the works orchestrated encourage the subconscious to deviate and the body to be immersed within synergistic activity. Ultimately warranting a response, within the present, the viewers perceptions become skewed using surreal imagery. There is a dismissal of preconceived narratives, instead the audience are engulfed within a body of conspicuous work and multisensory platforms.
To be blatant, my drive is to create multisensory platforms, fundraise money for the charity to assist the blind and visually impaired, create works which cater to different visual impairments and simulate the lens of those various ailments for the sighted to empathise (on a small scale)
So, I ask if I may work with you to arrange a fundraiser selling my surreal prints to the public to raise funds for the blind and visually impaired.
Here is a link to my blog below, a digital portfolio if you will.
Best Wishes,
Caitlin
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