My very own odyssey
A small step into the art world
At the start of this year, I entered my first open call.
It was for the Odyssey exhibition at Hastings Contemporary.
At the time, I’d been playing around with resin and maps, not really knowing where it was going, just following instinct. It felt like the right material for something about nautical journeys, depth, and hidden dangers. So I made a piece called Cursed.
And then it got selected out of 2600 works.
The Odyssey Exhibition Opening
We had our very own odyssey getting to the opening!
Thick fog, weird light, satnav mystery tour, the kind of journey where everything feels a bit off. Then the car broke down twenty minutes from the gallery.
At that point, it did feel a bit like… alright, maybe naming the piece Cursed wasn’t the best idea!
But we made it in the end. Late, slightly on edge, but there.
Seeing my work in the gallery
It’s strange seeing your work in a gallery setting.
It stops being this thing you’ve been staring at in your studio, or in my case, something that was in the way and kept getting moved in and out of my hallway. It just… existed.
When we found my work in the gallery, I’ll be honest, the placement wasn’t amazing. It was a bit low down, under another piece, not quite where your eye naturally goes.
But that’s part of it, part of the learning. You don’t control any of that.
What I didn’t expect was seeing the notebooks with my work in the shop window. Seeing it turned into something people could pick up, take away, and use practically was a good feeling.
I think the biggest thing wasn’t the exhibition itself. It was taking the step to enter.
Actually putting something forward instead of keeping it to myself or waiting until I felt more “ready” (whatever that means).
Because the truth is, I didn’t feel ready. I just did it anyway.
I recall Rory Sutherland saying ‘doing something when you don't know why is a crucial strategy for uncovering opportunities’
So far, this is working out very well for me.
If you’re hovering over “submit”
If you’ve got something half-finished, or something you’re not sure about, or you keep thinking “maybe next time”.
Just enter the open call. Not because it’ll definitely lead somewhere big, but because it gets you out of your own head and into the world a bit.
Seeing my work next to pieces by other talented artists has only fuelled my enthusiasm to be more ambitious and create more work. I try to look at others’ work objectively without judgment or comparison.
I hope the next instalment will bring more epic experiences along Kate’s Path.
The Open: Odyssey is Hastings Contemporary’s first open exhibition, delivered in partnership with Sussex Contemporary. All works will be available to purchase.
The Open: Odyssey is at Hastings Contemporary from Saturday 28 March to Sunday 31 May 2026.