How to Get a Show in an Art Gallery

For artists who choose to make a career with their art, showing their work is a necessary part of the business. The process of showing art in a gallery is still by invitation only. Planning is required to book a show at a gallery of the artist's choice. The artist must gradually build her reputation, experience level and resume so she becomes an artist that galleries take seriously.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Take classes in your artistic discipline. Research the institution. Pay special attention to which venues regularly work with the institution to show student work. Colleges and universities often have connections that no amount of money can buy. These relationships are usually free for students to exploit.

2. Join an art club. These groups are everywhere, and your city is likely to have at least one. Art clubs provide an organized group of artists who can pool their energy into finding locations for the artists to show their work. Often these groups are well-established and have relationships in the community with merchants and restaurateurs who agree to regularly display work from the club's artists.

3. Enter any available art shows or art festivals in your area. These are generally annual or semiannual events where anyone can show their art for the price of the entrance fee. These events are often held in heavily trafficked places like public parks and shopping malls. Events like this expose a large cross section of your community's population to your art.

4. Donate your work to charities for inclusion in their auction fund-raisers, or to organizations such as hospitals that have locations to display your work.

5. Pay attention to the artwork displayed in every place you pass through and look for opportunities to show your own artwork. Opportunities are often present in places you wouldn't normally think of, such as airports, restaurants, corporate lobbies or galleries and government buildings.

6. Keep a portfolio of samples of your work and the places and events where your work has appeared. Use it to market yourself to private galleries.

7. Talk with gallery owners and curators. Use your portfolio to present samples of your work and show evidence of the public exposure you've gained. Pitch your work and your ideas for showing it. The more familiar, local gallery personnel are accepting your work, the more likely they are to invite you into the ranks of artists who show with them.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep a guest book in your booth at any festival you enter so you can compile a mailing list of people who are interested enough in your work to take the time to sign. Once you have a mailing list, send out notices every time your work is showing, telling people when and where they can find your work. Make it a point to mention your new work that is on display.

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on 4/17/2008 One other option for getting into a gallery is to use the established system of sending submission packets to galleries in hopes of getting represented. Of course, there are tons of galleries out there. So you’ll need to first compile the contact info, then sort it out and choose the galleries you are most interested in submitting to.

Low cost marketing systems and mailing lists like:
Mailingaide.com
are available to save you the time it takes to do the first part.

Sorting out the info and choosing the galleries to target is a very specific – and very individualized process. Mailingaide.com offers some links on its site to other articles and resources to help you do that, too.

Good luck and don’t get discouraged. It takes most people years to get represented. But, once you do you’ll have a dedicated agent showing, promoting, and selling your work – while you focus on making