Who needs help?

[Martin Garcia]

Hey this is a place top open up as artists and discuss these times; what we are doing to overcome them and support each other. Lets use this group to "Take it to the Next Level" let us know if you need answers, lets talk about social media, marketing, showing and working, I know some stuff and I am sure I can learn a ton from all of you.

Is it okay to write follow up emails to galleries, once you have submitted work for showing, or is that just being a pest? It seems like, in the business world you call and ask if they got your resume, but in the Galleries, they tend to not want to be bothered. Any comments?

[D'Ann Blair]

I need help. Know nothing of marketing. Starting my serious painting rather late as i am 53 years old in May. I am fit, but I know that art festivals are hard work. Nontheless, I am going to undertake that, and hope somebody notices me. D'Ann

[Amber Palecek]

I have "the business of being an artist" by daniel grant and "art marketing 101" by constance smith. Both are good references on the business aspect of being an artist.

[Slone Fries]

At the moment I am just trying to work on enough different type of oil paintings to see which will sell better. Skecting,ink, etc. comes easy to me but doesn't sell like paint. I have come in contact with enough succesful artist to know it comes down two things. Getting your art out there to your target audience and hopefully knowing enough people who know people to show your stuff to. I just finished a free hand sketch of an exotic car but I know people are waiting to see what I can do with the car in paint. I know in one area I work, you join an artist group and local places (banks, popular turistrt areas, restruants, etc. pay the art center to "borrow" your work for display, while on display it does give info on purchasing it. The art center does take a commisson. The art center also has regular gallery showings for its members. I am not sure if this is just an unusal area but it works. Of course it also depends on what type of art you are doing. I recently learned of some odd ways of getting your art out there, but then again it depends on what you are doing. For those of you looking for festivals going on there is one on the central coast of california, It takes place over a week in the fall, but you need to start signing up now. For more info just email me

[Amber Palecek]

I think the "no calling" request made by many galleries has alot to do with the high number of portfolios and art submissions they might receive, also some artists not very polite when making a follow up contact, plus there are many individuals who are not very good with handling rejection or any kind of unwanted news.

As long as you are respectful when making the call or sending the email then it shouldn't be a problem. I use to work at a small museum in Trenton, NJ. We were never bothered by artists calling or emailing with questions regarding their portfolios, except when the same person called a million times and was rude. The rudeness makes if difficult to want to work with someone..

[Tom David]

Need more information. Was your work solicited by the gallery? Does the gallery represent you? You'll find some useful information in art journals about marketing, i.e, Art Calendar, etc. and on-line.

[Jordan Mummer]

In a professional business setting there's a standard etiquette that most understand and that doesn't have as much emotion attached to it. In my opinion (not from experience- not yet approached galleries) I do believe that there would be an acceptable amount of time to follow up. I do agree that a phone call a couple of days after "sending" a portfollio would be acceptable and is good. If, the situation occured where you actually handed it to the decision maker, they probably would have told you when to expect a response from them and if you haven't; then every couple of weeks unless told otherwise seems to me ok. Of course, it's always important to respect a galleries policy on submitting work first. Because most of us artist's are creative individuals and spend alot of time in our brains right hemisphere, we might not be so comfortable socially; professional or otherwise. The sqeaky wheel gets the grease...or replaced, as brother as said. I hope he doesn't think that way with his kids!

[Slone Fries]

Unfortunatly there is a universal rule that applies to everything "It's not just what you know, it's who you know." I read up on a post about not being very socialable and I totally understand that. For me, I got thrust right in the middle of the spotlight about 10 years ago and had to learn to get over being shy. Thankfully I had someone who helped me navigate my way through this life changing experince. I learned how to talk to anyone comfortably and even after I left the place I was at those social skills help me everyday of life. I wouldn't call myself shy now but I do still prefer the known to the unknown. One draw back :) I have memory problems and I am horrible with names! Running into people is like a horrid version of memory. Trying to recall who someone is or how well I knew them depends on how well there memory is! That's when you just smile and nod your head constantly!

[Ted Schaal]

My experiences with galleries have been mixed. Most good galleries have hundreds of walk-ins a week so keep that in mind. I think that you should be able to E-mail or call without offending those in the gallery. It seems to me that you have made a good faith effort to do business in a professional manner and they should reciprocate. All of the galleries I am in (3 at the moment) emerged from building a relationship with the manager prior to asking them to give me a try. One is an artist friend of mine that I had known for years before he opened his own gallery. He has never sold a piece of mine in the 5 years that I have exhibited there. Another gallery had a juried art festival in their parking lot and asked me to do a few shows and be a permanent part of their gallery. They have sold two small pieces. The third Gallery that took more than two years of delivering sculpture for another artist to the gallery and its clients. The owner got to know me and finally took a look at my portfolio. He came by my booth at a street show and decided to try one piece. To my knowledge he still has it. I'll check back in June. A gallery that I have a very good shot at joining in the near future will consider me because I brought a big check his way. I won a large commission and didn't know how to write a good contract and close the deal. This was probably the smartest thing I did last year because he paid for his own fees by the money he saved me. It gave me a good reason to walk in the door because I could say "lets make some money." Galleries are definitely more receptive when you have money on the table and a track record of completing projects and selling your art.
To be completely honest I don't sell my art through galleries. I sell everything in arts festivals. 98% of what I sell is off the street. I don't pay commissions just booth fees. This seems to be where all the action is for me. I meet the collectors, grow my mailing list, get direct feed back and the public votes with money. You find out right away that people are smart when it comes to buying art. I have met talented, productive artists that pay off their homes in a matter of a couple of years doing street shows. I can't imagine a gallery getting the same kind of foot traffic that a great show gets. The shows around Chicago have 750K in art shoppers in one weekend! When you do well in street shows you don't need galleries but they will need you!