Today our class had a gallery visit to Jerwood Space on Union Street. It was an informative meetup regarding how to present your work at an open call for artists. Denise talked us through some of the artists statements that led to them being shortlisted and brought in for display in the gallery. As we collectively read through the different proposals, they all struck me as sounding fairly vague and open ended in terms of what the final product/piece would look like. The proposals were frequently drawing attention to sociopolitical issues, and suggested how their work would comment on such issues, but still in the frame of the theme of the call. When we just after this introductory session went to view the five works that were narrowed down from a total of 500 applications, my fear of being let down by the execution of the pieces and their relation to the theme of the exhibition (which was that of a forest, with the artists themselves choosing which medium they wanted to work within, and how to display the work) was shockingly insufficient. None of the works struck me as closely related to ‘the forest’, and even after reevaluating the works and simultaneously reading their infomative texts I could not see their relation to the theme and, in two of the cases, even to their original proposal. This session definitely taught me the importance of having a clear idea of the work that you are proposing, and making sure you stick through with those ideas all the way in the process. I will not create a big worded description of the work I intend to do, that then falls short of that description. A good piece of art should, to me, get increasingly interesting as you learn more about the thought process behind it. This process should not be needed in order for the work to be enjoyed in the first place.