Launch Day

Event Overview

It's Saturday, 26th April, and today marks the launch of Art By Naima, featuring an exhibition table at a Family Fun Day at Sheffield Grand Mosque.

Preparations for the Event

In the week leading up to the event, I dedicated my time to creating various household decor items, which include:

• Vases

• A chopping board

• A ceramic heart-shaped wall decoration

• A dot mandala greetings card

  
  

Canvas Displays

Additionally, I prepared an A4 and A5 canvas for display, along with several other canvas paintings that I had created over the previous 18 months.

On the day of the event, I brought my exhibits to the Mosque, along with price labels, an order book, and a tablecloth. I had enlisted a friend's help to manage the display and record any orders we might receive during the event. She assisted me in setting up by arranging the canvases on one side of the table and the decor on the other.

Toy stalls, a bouncy castle, and henna tattoo and face painting booths surrounded us. Food and refreshment stalls, along with clothing and jewelry booths, were positioned around the rest of the room. Our table was the only one that stood uniquely alone with its exhibits.

12pm: The event has officially started. Women of all ages are gathering, some arriving solo or with friends, while others are accompanied by their families and children. The noise level began to rise, and after about an hour or two since the event kicked off, attendees finally began approaching the table to take a closer look at our displays.

It became clear that the canvases attracted the children and younger adults, while the home decor appealed more to the mothers and families. I explained everything they saw before them and how I created them, detailing the various techniques that made it all possible. Due to the room's noise level, speaking in a normal voice was impossible. Complicating matters, I had lost my voice earlier that week and was still struggling to reach my usual tone. Trying to raise your voice when you have almost no voice presents some challenges, but I managed to convey my explanations well enough.

Eventually, a young woman approached the table and expressed her desire to gift a canvas to her mother featuring the dot mandala print of the flower of Srebrenica, a city in Bosnia where she was from. This became my first commission. To capitalize on potential sales, I had implemented a 50% deposit option for the event day, allowing me to buy the necessary materials for each order. I had already applied for a Business Account and set up PayPal and Zettle Pay by Card accounts to facilitate payments at the event. The customer made her 50% deposit by card, enabling me to purchase the materials needed to fulfill the commission.

As the event unfolded, we garnered significant interest, though no additional sales were made. I had anticipated this outcome, understanding that the most successful businesses often don't secure many sales in their initial months, sometimes up to a year. Therefore, I didn't have high expectations for receiving even a single order that day. It was primarily an opportunity to introduce myself to the community and demonstrate my capabilities for potential future commissions.

The event finally concluded, and we began to pack up, ready to depart. Many tables had already packed up and left before the event ended, but I noticed that many people were still drawn to my display even five minutes before the conclusion, so I chose to continue until the very end. It was an incredible event, and I felt it had been a tremendous success, surpassing my expectations by securing my first commission. For the next event, it will be crucial to finalize my website, design and print business cards, and perhaps start creating new pieces, such as dot mandala canvases and painted coffee tables, to truly showcase the variety of my work at future events.