Hello everyone,

First of all - an announcement. I’ll be in Perth/Fremantle in July and have workshops for WA folks already up on my website. If you want to learn book binding, come for a book masterclass or book in some one-on-one time please do so here. Thanks to CURRENT gallery for hosting me.

Last weekend I had my first solo exhibition in Melbourne in a few years open and, from my perspective, it was a great success.

Exhibiting costs a lot of money, and takes a lot of time, so it’s always worth having a few aims, goals or reasons to put on a show. For me, I had three.

Artistically, I wanted to fill the room more than I had in previous exhibitions. I deeply admire maximalism in exhibiting and love when I go to an exhibition and there’s just TONS to discover. There’s a difficulty in maximalism in that just adding things doesn’t work - there needs to be balance, intention, design - just throwing shit on the wall until the walls are full often looks awful.

My current show is closer to where I want to be. It’s not there yet, I’m not there yet, but it’s closer :)

Event wise, I wanted a good turn out. Over the three days that the exhibition has been on, each day has had a distinct feel. The opening night was somewhat quiet - with family and friends coming. I actually loved that as I’m often a nervous wreck before exhibitions open. So seeing aunts, uncles, family, old friends - it was perfect. Having my daughter there most of the night was a delight.

Saturday was the quietest day - but the people who came REALLY cared and wanted to have long chats about Dingoes and the work, it was lovely having that space.

Sunday was a riot of a day with talks, Dingoes in the gallery, a large audience and lots of energy. I often think of my art as facilitating thinking, learning and if someone comes, learns something, and leaves with a new idea in their head I’m prouder of that than if they leave with a photo I made swirling around.

Finally, my third aim was to facilitate sales. Over the three days I moved 35 books - and I’m really happy with that.

If you haven’t made the exhibition yet there are three days to go:

Thursday May 7 11-3

Friday May 8 11-3

Saturday May 9 11-3

I also wanted to share another big thing I’m working on: data analysis. One of the complications I’ve often had when discussing Tall Poppy Press with my partner is the lack of clarity I have had about basic questions ‘how much money did I make this year?’ and things like that. I often was tracking things like book sales, total income - simple, big figures - but was sloppy with the details. After a long chat with my partner, then a long phone call with a friend where we really got into the weeds on arts business data, I was excited to start pulling apart as much information as I could over the last five years of publishing.

Each day I’ve been adding more data from different places into a single spread sheet with the intention of learning a bit more about how the business has grown, where the growth is, and what a dollar invested turns into. I am both frustrated and fond of my previous self, especially from 2021-2023, where key figures just weren’t recorded. For example, how many books did I sell at Melbourne Art Book Fair in 2023? I just don’t know. If I ever recorded that (and I did at the time) that information wasn’t saved anywhere I can find it.

This data analysis is very important. As we approach the time where my parental leave ends, as does my partner’s maternity leave, considering our finances, who works (and who looks after the baby), is made significantly easier by looking at how the business is going because what the business is NOT doing is providing is a consistent, reliable stream of income IN SURPLUS to my business and personal needs. Looking at finances with a child and getting close to 40 means I want to be having a savings account that isn’t dipped into to pay for printing, or travel for fairs. The goal, really the only measure of success, is if the business makes enough that I am building a bit of savings.

By looking at all the information I have, on sales, savings, etc, I’m hoping to get to a point where I can forecast the growth the business is making (and it CERTAINLY has grown, that is evident already) and how that will either lead to my financial goal, or not.

I’m aiming to have all that data analysis complete by the end of June and I’m looking forward to sharing what I learn.

Finally, if you’re in Melbourne next weekend, please come to the Melbourne Art Book Fair at the National Gallery of Victoria. It’s open 11-5 Friday, Saturday and Sunday and I’ll be there almost the entire time (Friday lunch it’s my daughter’s 100 day party and there will be a 2 hour window where I’m there, not at the table, but my friend Madi will be there looking after the books :) )

Much love,

Matt