What kind of an artist do I wish to be?
A Gallery In 3-4 years time, I aim to have set-up my own gallery to display my artworks and others. The gallery should be located in [Aswan]. Aswan is a tourist destination city in southern Egypt; it has a character of its own and is known for being a home for ancient Egyptian monuments and temples and is on the River Nile. Being a destination for cultural tourists, it suits the gallery idea, and the kind of audience I am seeking is the kind who visits Aswan. The gallery will have to match the character and the building theme of the city. The image below is a preliminary idea of where my gallery should be located.​
Examples of similar galleries
- The Approach, which was set-up by a group of emerging artists who displayed own artworks and others. The program has later achieved international presence and is now working established artists as well as emerging artists
- Charlie Smith London, specialising in emerging to mid-career artists, the gallery’s approach is collaborative and curatorial. Also, recognised as a contemporary art gallery that discovers and develops vital artists, and actively seeks to evolve a global synergy for like-minded and progressive artists, collectors, galleries and curators.
- Chisenhale Gallery commissions and produces contemporary art supporting artists to pursue new directions and make their most ambitious work to date.
The Gallery
- The president of Egypt announced intention for Aswan to become a cultural hub for Africa, which comes in line with my plans. Although not announced, but I assume there will be some encouragement for projects like mine, that will materialise in the form of tax relief, deduction of rental prices, etc....
- Type of works in display: International, artworks from Egypt, Britain, Africa, India and China.
- Will capitalise on the network I already formed with my current colleagues
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Challenges
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I will have to secure a steady income, therefore I am considering becoming a university staff in Egypt.
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Will have to get representation in order to attract public attention.
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Find funding opportunities
Commissions
Currently, work towards commissions and will continue to do so.
Aswan
What have I done so far?
- Continuously apply for opportunities, such as "MiMentor", "Xibit", CASS ART, SkyArts Landscape and Bold Tendencies.
- Have considered The Mead Fellowship and Bloomberg New Contemporaries, but looking at previous results I am not the candidate they are looking for, so I declined the idea.
- Became an outreach ambassador for UAL to teach art to the less represented groups, should render some academic experience and establish some presence within the UAL realm.
- Have set-up my own professional website www.daliaatteya.com
- Have set-up own social media pages (Instagram, Facebook and Twitter) to act as a window for the website
- Currently, write monthly essays for 2 magazines in the United Arab Emirates (in Arabic), the essays tackle self-development and organizational excellence. Although not about art, it should add another dimension to my career.
- In August 2017, Women of Egypt magazine featured my story, where they also talked about the degree show.
Chelsea College of Art Student Show Case - March 2017
A Sharp Intake of Breath
Interim show at the Lewisham Art House - June 2017
Exhibitions
... and so it all begins
Solo show at the Egyptian Cultural Bureau in London - July 2017
Useful Resources and Visits
- Have been to a CV and Job Hunting workshop in Central Saint Martines. The workshop was led by Ismail Wells
- Hanna Breslin presentation on how to write a proper CV and land on a good opportunity
- Professional practice seminar with Geraint Evans, discussions around how to set-up your own business, apply for funding and gain residencies
- Interdisciplinary and professional practice seminar with Simon Callory, which was very useful, providing an example of an artist who engages with experts from other disciplines (e.g. scientists), gains some funding and is also an active artist
- A visit to Mark Fairnington studio gave an idea of the feel and look of an active artist studio. Fairnington, also has experience in applying for funding and have engaged with collections and institutions such as the Wellcome Trust, Natural History Museum, the Horniman and Imperial War Museum
- A seminar with Jasmir Creed at Delta House Studios, Jasmir is a recent UAL MFA student in 2015, her seminar as well as her current exhibition were a live example of an artist practice post graduation, who also had recently won a residency.
- Rosalind Davis seminar on professional practice, which included useful info, do's and don't and recommendations on how to shape oneself as a professional artist. Rosalind also talked about how to establish presence and get noticed using social media
- Hanna Breslin and Karren Flat workshop for international students on finding job opportunities in the UK, and post studies VISA options (15 Feb,17).
- Hanna Maybank seminar discussing methods and materials, which encouraged me to start using latex in my process.
- A professional practice seminar with Rosalind Davis in Collyer Bristow gallery.
The gallery was an office space and meeting rooms as well, and there were paintings hanging inside the offices and meeting rooms. Some interesting and useful lessons from this visit:
- It was interesting to see how she as an artist could weave her painting career with the curation career.
- The way she gathered all those artists around a loose theme.
- How she managed the office space to embrace the paintings and still feel as if the paintings belonged to the place.
- A field visit with Simon Callory to various galleries so that we would learn about the various ways of installing a show. This field visit was at the time of installing my show and helped me installing my show in a more professional manner. For example
- I was planning to hang as many paintings as I can. but after those gallery visits, I changed my mind and installed fewer paintings than I was planning to do, which was important. Stacking the show with paintings would have harmed the show.
- I installed fewer paintings than I was planning to do, which was important. Stacking the show with paintings would have harmed the show.
- I was in two minds, whether to label the paintings or prepare a list-of-works. It turned out that neither was necessary, either would have taken time from that people were meant to spend looking at the work.
Challenges
The exhibition space was meant and prepared for exhibitions, however, due to the fact that it was a Victorian building, there were some limitations
- I was not allowed to nail the walls, and therefore I had to be creative.
- The Bureau provided chains hanging from the ceiling so that I would hang my paintings. But I had some large heavy paintings;
- So I had to make wooden stands to carry the large paintings.
- The walls were not entirely clean and the Bureau was not going to re-paint the walls, but there were different light options (spot lights, dimmed lights, etc...) so I manipulated the lights to focus on the paintings.
- Later people told me that they did not see the scratches on the walls because they were busy looking at the paintings.
- I had some 3D objects, and there was no place to put them. But I had already made plinth long time ago and I used these.
Lessons Learnt
- Do everything early, do not wait until the last moment, especially the arrangements regarding transporting your art.
- Visit the exhibition space more than once so you would get a feel of where everything will go. This will make the installation a lot easier.
- Understand and confirm with the space admin fairly early on what kind of assistance and facilities they will provide so you would source the rest.
- Try to ask whether the exhibition administration will provide you assistance installing the show, or will have to source that? In my case, there was some help from the place.
- Confirm whether they will provide catering or will you have to source that. In my case, they provided that.
- I did not have enough time to prepare the list of works, but I prepared a blurb. It turned out that the list of works is not essential as people tend to spend more time looking at the works, having a list of works distracts people and takes away from the time they are meant to spend in front of the painting.
- Prepare the posters/invites fairly early, people have other engagements, they cannot free themselves for you at the last moment. Also, send reminders.
- If you are a young artist, people will come for you not for your works, because no one saw your work before. So be there for your guests, and be hospitable.
- Seek advice from your tutors about installing the show, ask for tips, dos and don't. Those little pieces of advice are always useful.
- Be prepared with enough paintings to hang and get extra paintings in case there is some extra space. Also be prepared to compromise and let go of some paintings in case there is not enough space.
- Over hanging the show will do you more harm than good, so don't be tempted with space.
- Last, but not the least, have some works ready, do not start painting especially for the show. It is good to make new works for the show, but not all of them.
- Have some business cards prepared.
Upcoming exhibitions
- Wimbledon College of Arts Degree Show (7-14 September 2017)
- Unframed - an exhibition that will run alongside the degree show in response to the visit we made to the British Museum.