How To Get Your Work In A Gallery

Danl,

How much does this cost?

(the daring question)

Dave

If I have to register or give money or other info - I'm not in.

I think there are several sites which can guide you through the basics for free. Check out the type of work they carry and see if your work fits in. Most galleries have info onto whether they are accepting submissions or not. If they are accepting submissions they also will have their guidelines.

"How much does this cost?"

Zero, zip, nada

"If I have to register or give money or other info - I'm not in."

You only have to give up your name and email address, quite common for things like this, it's a tactic to build their email list, what do you expect for free?

DK,

Par for the course.

Ron,

Going over the Armory materials I was able to do all that for myself with ease. No YouTube videos were necessary.

Does not mean I am in, but that never stopped me.

Dave

David...

I went through the entire log-in and didn't see anything about price...of course I would never recommend spending a penny for this....but free info doesn't hurt if it is helpful.

I registered and got the booklet.

Thing is, the process is very subjective. Every gallery is different, every show is different, every curator is different. In my rather successful experience it boils down to:

Know that it will cost you money before it makes you money
Know how galleries operate in general
Know the gallery you're approaching specifically; style, staff, philosophy, other artists, geographic area, sales, town/city info, etc.
Have the right work
In the right format
Get it in front of the right person
With the right presentation
At the right time
Be prepared to provide whatever they need; art, fulfillment, informational materials, personal interaction.


If you think you can just cold email a gallery and get in, you're wasting your time. They put effort and money into the art and artists they represent. Show up ready to reciprocate. It's not a passive endeavor.

I have had luck sort of cold E mailing a gallery. First checking their work out.?then sending a brief note with one or two works attached asking them what their submission procedures are. Most of the time they will send these to you or tell you they are not accepting submissions but I have been given representation and or exhibitions just based on that. Oh I also attach a brief bit of information and statement.

There are about as many different ways to approach a gallery as there are galleries. Of all the gallery owners I have known they have all had a different set of criteria that had to met to get into their gallery. Some very relaxed and some very rigid.

I have known gallery owners that take the attitude that good art does not walk in the front door so anyone that approaches them, they are automatically not interested. Their thinking is if the artist was any good, they would already be in enough galleries that they could not give him enough good work. They feel that the have to go out and find the artist they want themselves.

Others I have known have said they don't need to go looking to find new artist because they come looking for him.

I used to have them walk in the front door and I would go looking. I went to all of the local art shows and looked at art. I would ask the art associations that had traveling shows and gallery shows two or three times years who the best selling artists were and then I would go look at their art and if I liked what I saw, I would call them.

I am showing in four co-op galleries right now and I am having a ball and actually making some sales. I love the idea of pay as I go because there is no commitment. I have been asked by two private galleries to consider submitting art to their screening process. Probably not going to do that. But it may be something you want to consider. Joint coops to get seen by private gallery owners.

If I was serious about getting into a gallery I would go chek out the gallery and see if I thought I was a good fit. I would look for art in there by someone I knew and then ask them about possibilities. I would keep looking until I found a gallery that I would be comfortable with and then just call the owner or manager and find out what the process was to submit your art.

This pretty much only addresses gallery on the local or regional scene.

/

/