Speaker 1: 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome back to the Curated Muse podcast, and in this episode we are going to talk about one of my favorite topics how to get artwork into galleries. Now you can go online and find information everywhere. I'm not gonna tell you anything that is brand spanking new and magical that you've never heard before, but I will tell you that this one piece of information I'm going to share with you is extremely important, and it comes from being a gallerist, comes from me being an artist. It comes from me having relationships with other galleries as a peer or even as an artist working with galleries and having these conversations with other gallerists and curators. Submissions to a gallery are going to be your number one way of how you are going to make that connection. It's just like submitting a resume for a job, and out of all the people that submit to us, at least 50%, if not more, do not follow submission guidelines and they do a lot of things that make my head kind of shake and go like why Is this for us? Are you spamming us? Are you throwing pancakes at walls Like, did you even look at the kind of artwork we show? It is a lot of fun to get certain submissions, because I kind of chuckle to myself and think, like, how do you not know? And then I realize I've been in this 20 years. Of course I know, but there's a lot of people that don't, and I have legacy knowledge and a lot of other artists do. But there are going to be people listening to this podcast that do not have legacy knowledge. They're just starting out. They don't even know where to begin. So this piece of knowledge that I'm going to share. We're not going to go into all the reasons and details and yeses and nos for getting into a gallery, because we could be here for two hours and you really don't want to hang out with me for that long, I promise you. But there are things that are so imperative and important and so simple that just paying attention and doing those things will put you ahead of the rest. So we're going to talk about submissions.

Speaker 1: 2:25

When you want to get into a gallery, it's all about how you submit your work. First off, never walk into a gallery and bring your portfolio. That's just a no, maybe call, write, and we'll talk a little bit more about that. But I'm just going to say that right off the bat. No gallery wants an artist to walk in with a portfolio and show them their portfolio. I don't know a single gallery that's like. That's amazing. Let's do that Because if they did, or I did or we did, we would have people in and out all the time and we would not be able to work with collectors, we would not be able to sell the work the time and we would not be able to work with collectors, we would not be able to sell the work, we wouldn't be able to do the administration stuff and hang shows and all of that.

Speaker 1: 3:05

All we would be doing is looking at artist portfolios, because there are so many artists out there looking for opportunities. So don't do that. First thing you want to do is find out which gallery you want to show at, because if you're going to submit your work and you're not going to submit it to a gallery that shows your type of work, it's kind of not going to work for you, and we've had so many artists that submit work to us that have no association with what we're doing. Like we're talking traditional landscapes, like very traditional plein air. Well, if you look at our website, we do not show that, and so first you need to look, find out what galleries, find out where you fit. You might not be 100% sure, but you can get a vibe, you can get a feeling. You know it's not uncommon to look at something and go hmm, this is very traditional, my artwork's a little more edgy, maybe I should go somewhere else, or vice versa. And then, when you want to send in a submission, you need to look at the submission guidelines. Some galleries have them, some don't. Most of them do, and if they have them, because this is the honestly the number one thing that most galleries have to deal with is submissions. So there's going to be some directive on their website, whether or not they say we don't accept submissions. We accept submissions during certain times. We do calls for art every couple months, or we're open to submissions, and this is how you do it follow those guidelines. A good example of following the guidelines is we have an open call or when we are generally just doing open submissions.

Speaker 1: 4:51

We ask for your Instagram, but we ask you not to use the handle, meaning not use at sign or whatever. We ask for the full URL and 50% of people don't do that. And why do we ask for it? It might sound like well, why? What does it matter? There's a handle versus the full URL and it's because we get hundreds upon hundreds of submissions and when they come into my inbox, if it just has the at sign with your name, I can't click it. I have to copy it, paste it, go to Instagram, put it in hope you spelled it right and pull it up. If you put it within that form and it's a URL comes in my email, I click it, I open it and I look at it immediately. If I can't do that, it's going in the trash. Because it specifically says in that submission guideline please do not use an Instagram handle, use your full URL.

Speaker 1: 5:47

And if you can't follow simple directions, then you're probably not going to be good to partner with. Simple but important. And then the secondary thing is when you are writing a gallery. So, for example, in our submission guidelines we have a section at the bottom that says why you want to show with us. Some galleries won't have a form and they will just have an email and say you can send submissions through this email address. However, you're going to send that submission in. At least address a human being. If you don't know who's running the gallery, at least address the gallery, because it's going to look like you're just spamming and throwing pancakes at the wall if you don't, and we also don't want you to talk all about yourself all day long.

Speaker 1: 6:34

Yes, it's important for a job interview. Yes, it's important for a partnership to be able to share your accomplishments, to be able to share what you have done and why you might be a good fit. But just like any good partnership, there needs to be reciprocity. Why don't you share in that email, starting off by saying I really enjoy the roster of artists you have. I really like the themes in which you curate shows. I really like this, this or that. Say something that lets the gallery know why you're even interested in them. You know we want to know that. What do you like about what we do? Do you like our programming? Do you like the way we market our artists? Do you like? What do you like? Why do you think we would be a good fit for you? And in doing that, then share what you do. You know a good example would be I really love the roster of artists you have. I think the shows that you curate are thoughtful and interesting and I would love to be a part of that. Hi, my name is so-and-so. I am a mixed media artist from Russia and my work can be found on my website.

Speaker 1: 7:53

The next thing is making sure that you have a website or Instagram. A lot of galleries will be fine with an Instagram and kind of just be okay without you having a website. Most galleries will want you to have your own website and you can get a website for free, for cheap. Do it with a website builder. You don't have to pay anybody. As somebody who owns a web design, seo and digital marketing company, which I've owned for 26 years, I can tell you that anybody can have a website. You don't have to pay somebody. You don't have to pay a developer. You can create a simple portfolio website.

Speaker 1: 8:34

Gallerists often feel that artists aren't professional if they're not willing to have even a simple website. It doesn't have to be snazzy, it doesn't have to be beautiful. It can be a white page just with your art on it and maybe a bio. That is it. But showing that you have moved beyond Instagram, beyond Facebook, beyond whatever platform you're on into professionally showcasing your work shows that you are more interested in a professional relationship at this time, which is helpful. So really it's all about the submissions, the most important part of making a relationship with a gallery is going to be your submission Number one submitting to the right type of gallery.

Speaker 1: 9:25

Number two, addressing the person or the gallery in an introduction. Three, letting them know why you would want to exhibit with them and making sure that you have some type of professional presentation for your work. And that's it. In another episode we'll talk further about this because, again, I could go on this path of talking about this for two hours straight. There's so much information, but just these little, teeny, tiny pieces will put you above the rest. 50% of people do not do what I just told you and they go in the trash. You at least put yourself ahead of the game. You at least show that you're professional and are interested and know what you want and you want a partnership. I hope this episode helped you and we'll see you again soon.