Sometimes galleries will post their submission guidelines on their websites. If I can picture my artwork there, I'll then look for any submission guidelines. If so, I'll visit the website and look at the work of the artists that the gallery represents. I started at the beginning (they're listed alphabetically by state and city) - I read the description and if it sounds like they exhibit contemporary art, I'll check to see if they have a website.
It's also a great resource for finding galleries. I mentioned in my post on calls for proposals that I use the Art in America museum and gallery guide issue to find university galleries and art centers to which I send proposals. So what do I do with them? First of all, I give them to practically everyone I meet. In hindsight, I probably should have only done 1,000, but I think they're general enough to last for another year or so. I had 2,000 copies professionally printed a little over a year ago. On the back, I included an exceprt from my resume that includes my education and a few exhibitions. Inside, I included images of five more paintings, an exceprt from my artist's statement, my email address and website. I included my name on the front, over a detail from one of my paintings. My work is mostly square, so I wanted to carry the square format through to the brochure. I didn't want my slides to be damaged or lost or buried under a pile on someone's desk for 6 months. The main reason, though is that slides are expensive to duplicate and often galleries will hold your information for months before reviewing and returning it. I was attracted to this approach because I have a background in graphic design and creating a brochure myself was fairly easy. You send this brochure, along with a cover letter, to galleries that you think your work fits into. She suggests creating a brochure that includes information about you and some images of your work. They would review your slides and then contact you to either say, "No, thanks," or to get more information and possibly represent you. Traditionally, you would visit a gallery, talk to the owner or director, and then send them slides of your work later. One of the main things that I got out of this book was the way she suggests approaching galleries.
She goes into detail about a lot of really important topics - starting a career, pricing your work, creating presentation packets, dealing with galleries, working another job to support your art, etc. I read it from cover to cover and still reference it often. When I graduated, a friend gave me a copy of How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist by Caroll Michels.
0 kommentar(er)
