We’ll be doing some critical (self) analysis in this episode, so I hope you’re sitting comfortably. My intent is to offer emerging artists a few tips that will help guide and focus, so I hope you don’t find this preachy.

You’re an artist. You believe you’ve created some great art and it’s your best work to date. But no local galleries or collectors are beating a path to your studio. So, now what? Well, there are many avenues available to market your art, and a good one is still the tried and tested, fine art gallery. Good galleries have the resources to market your art while you create it. However, since there are many more artists than there are display spaces in galleries, competition to get into a gallery can be fierce. As a result, many galleries are very selective and focused – art251 is no different in this respect. Most galleries have in place art submission guidelines, which are part of this focusing process. This helps both artist and gallery. Incidentally, we’ll be publishing ours very soon.

However, before you approach us, or any other gallery for that matter, before you send us slides or a CD of your art in the mail, before you email your jpeg images, and before you make the road trip to our space, art in hand (please don’t do this!), I’d recommend you first to do some very important preparatory work. It’s really just basic research, and falls into two areas. First, ask yourself what you want from a gallery and why. Second, learn more about the gallery before you make an approach. I’ll delve into each of these in a little more detail.

Step 1. Determine what you want from an art gallery and why

This part involves some thoughtful self analysis. So, breakout that old Rorschach test. I still have results from an ancient Myers-Briggs personality test buried somewhere in my attic – not pretty. If you have difficulty assessing your motivations and goals as an artist try asking a friend or family member to prod you with some questions or to play devil’s advocate with you. Or, come in and talk to us sometime. The more you dive into your psyche the better prepared you’ll be to promote your art and focus your efforts.

Here are some questions that you should ponder, in no particular order and with no right or wrong answers: Why do you wish to make art? What type of art best represents you, your feelings and your motives? Do you wish to make a living from art, or is it more of a hobby? Do you want to be making art 5 years from now? Does your creative process excite you, or is it more of a job? Who buys your art? Why do you wish to be in a gallery? Where does your art fit, i.e., is it traditional, experimental, is it 3D, it is political, is it representational? Does your art ooze emotion or tell a complex narrative or is art for art’s sake?

Up to now you may have been so busy creating art that you’ve had no time to think critically about your work and where it stands in the world. So, use your answers to these questions to construct a framework for you as an artist and to establish how and where to position your work. Remember too, this is just a starting point. I wish I had asked myself these questions back when I was first attempting to become a professional photographer – I probably would have made less mistakes, and recovered from others more quickly.

Step 2. Learn about the galleries you wish to approach

Once you’ve answered some questions about yourself and your art, you can move on to the gallery analysis, assuming of course that you’ve decided that you’d like to be in a gallery. Don’t skip this step – it’s just as important as step 1.

First, find some galleries in your area. Chances are you’ll find several especially in urban, downtown areas. art251 is strangely different, you can find us in the heart of the suburbs.

Second, make sure these galleries display art that’s similar to yours. It’s likely to be a frustrating experience for you to take your traditional Western-style bronze sculptures to an edgy contemporary art space, or visa versa for that matter! So, visit the gallery several times – visit during the day, go see a couple of the gallery’s shows in the evenings. Read its website and its blog (all good galleries should have a blog). Check out the art on its walls, familiarize yourself with the themes and currents of its shows, learn about the artists. Ask yourself what you like about the gallery or its art. You might even try befriending one of the gallery’s artists. In our case, for instance, we don’t show any Western bronzes, but we’re certainly open to new representations of more traditional themes. But, if you’re just starting out and have nowhere to turn, we’d love to discuss your options with you, and try to help, even if we and you know that your art would better fit and show elsewhere.

Third, after you’ve browsed in the gallery it’s appropriate to approach the gallery staff, strike up a conversation and tell them your learning about the gallery, to see if it’s a good match. We hope it will be easy to engage us — we’re friendly, and don’t look to intimidate or act pretentiously. Think of some interesting things to say about the space or the art or an artist. Try to remember the name(s) of the gallery staff you meet. By the way, you don’t need to visit galleries clandestinely. Though should you choose to enter art251 in disguise please make it an amusing one (I’m partial to Inspector Clouseau disguises).

Fourth, ask the staff for a business card and submission guidelines if you haven’t already seen them online. Then, take your leave, and follow-up after 3-5 days with an email. Remind the gallery staff of your previous visit (don’t be pushy), mention your positive vibes and ask them for consideration of your work. Send a couple or three clear images of your work, and describe why you now believe you and your art would be a great addition to the gallery. Your friendly art251 staff love email – it’s often the best way to reach us.

If the gallery likes your work, you can be reasonably sure they’ll be back in touch, so get your full portfolio ready, clean up any broken links on your website and air out your studio. Now, If you don’t hear back from your first email within 2 weeks you should follow-up with a quick email reminder or even a call – just keep it courteous and positive.

I hope you find some useful tips scattered throughout this article. While I cannot guarantee that this approach will work with all galleries it will work with art251, and probably quite a few others. You’ll find that the details in approaching individual galleries will vary. Generally however, you should find that the better prepared you are about yourself and your art and the more homework you’ve done on the galleries the more successful you will be. If none of this makes sense or even if it does, we’d really like to learn more about you and your art and try to help you on your way, whether or not its via the walls or displays of art251.

The more we discuss our gallery with artists, potential customers, art lovers, friends and advisers the more we learn about what to do, and, just as importantly, what not to do.

We have a strong idea of how our space will look. We have a strong feel for the type of art we’d like to show. We have a equally strong sense of how to behave and deal with others, whether with artists or clients. We’ve tried to communicate this to the artists we’ve met — it’s certainly easier for people to get a sense of who we are in a face-to-face meeting. But for those of you we have yet to meet, I’ll try to summarize our business and personal code of ethics, and matching expectations below. It’s rather simple, and much is based on the Golden Rule.

• We strive for openness and honesty in all our relationships, and expect this of others
• We’ll not be sneaky and underhanded and appreciate artists who treat us the same way
• We don’t ask artists to be exclusive (only for the art that is consigned)
• We honor our financial obligations to our artists foremost
• We believe that consigned art belongs to the artist until sold
• We don’t negotiate the sales price for a piece of art with customers (the Saturn of art spaces?)
• We care for a piece of art as if it were our own (and we often wish it were)
• We aim to give an artist frequent feedback, both positive and negative, in a nice way
• We believe in Karma — what you give, is what you get in return (isn’t this a line from a song…)

If you’re an artist thinking, “who needs an artist statement… the art just speaks for itself”, please think again. We’ll need one for each of our artists. During our initial business planning for art251, the results from our market survey confirmed that customers and collectors alike want the story and the facts behind the art and the artist.

An artist statement is a great way for an artist to define the connection between artist and art, and an essential tool for building a connection between artist and audience, potential customers and existing collectors. It may not necessarily help a viewer understand more about the art or its meaning. What it will do, however, is open a small, but important window for others to peek into the artist’s world view. Through it a viewer may learn an artist’s intent, or motivations for being an artist, or achievements, or frustrations, or influences and role models.

Cory Jaeger, artist and owner of an art relations and resume service for artists puts it this way:

Of course, strong art, by itself, will evoke a profound emotional response. But when an artist speaks from the heart about how this art came to be and why it had to be made—this is when art changes minds, moves people, and even becomes unforgettable…

The next time you need to write an artist statement, think of artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, da Vinci—artists who left behind not only sweeping artistic vision, but also enduring and enlightened writings on the subject. Know that your art is a precious thing, and so are your words about it.

I couldn’t agree more. So, here are a few tips to help our artists create a narrative masterpiece to complement their visual one. As you write a statement, imagine your favorite work, and then imagine explaining it to your non-artist friends and/or your mother, or better still, your mother-in-law.

1. Be honest and open
2. Speak in your own voice
3. Keep to the facts
4. Keep it simple, but don’t dumb it down too much
5. Avoid hyperbole and academic-speak
6. Keep it reasonably brief — if you have to write a manifesto, give us a summary
7. Answer the “why”, then the “how”
8. Talk about the positives AND the negatives
9. Re-write it every couple of months to keep it fresh

Please avoid phrases like, “I find this work menacing/playful because of the way the disjunctive perturbation of the negative space makes resonant a participation in the critical dialogue of the 90s.” [Courtesy of the Instant Art Critique Phrase Generator.] It’s all English, but I have no idea what it means.

Generally, you’ll not go wrong if you keep to the facts and stay away from instructions to your readers on what to think and feel — leave that to your art. If you’re still having trouble, we’ll help you. We’ll have an artist statement template available soon that will help artists who may be suffering from writer’s block, and help art251 present all our artists’ narratives in a consistent way.

art251 is receiving lots of interest from artists. This is great! So, to help us, and you the artist, we’ve listed some of the most common questions that we’d like you to answer should we meet. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. Importantly, if you’re an emerging artist and are just starting out don’t be discouraged if you lack answers about history, sales and shows — we’d still be delighted to speak with you and consider your work.

We’ll ask you some questions to get a feel for you and your relationship with your art:

• Why have you chosen to be an artist?
• What are your goals as an artist?
• What kind of formal art training do you have, and from where?
• Who are your favorite artists?
• What are your influences?
• Which is your preferred medium and why?
• How much time do you dedicate to your art?

We’ll ask you about your recent works and sales?

• Where have you shown before and for how long?
• Have you participated in solo or group shows?
• What does your typical customer look like?
• Who are your collectors, and where are they?
• How large is your inventory?
• What is your sales history over the last 1-3 years?
• Do you have any published reviews? If so, where and by whom?
• What is the price range of your work?

We’ll ask you specifics on how you’d like to work with us?

• What kind of relationship do you want to have with us?
• What type of feedback do you want, and how often?
• How quickly could you replace any sales with similar work?

And, then there will be even more questions that you should ask of us.

After “When are you opening?”, this is the next most frequently asked question.

Our space will definitely reflect the tastes of its owners. Over time it will also reflect the tastes and recommendations of our advisory board. We’re putting a board in place to ensure we are constantly challenged with new ideas and don’t limit our “inventory” to a narrowly defined focus, which is solely dictated by the owners.

We’re the first commercial gallery in this part of the world. So over time our customers, collectors, and artists will also influence the type of art we show on our walls, as we learn their unique tastes. That said, there are several lines that we will not cross — for instance, we’re not a traditional or Western art gallery. Nor, are we interested in art that most would consider vulgar or violent or pornographic or exploitative.

We’re a contemporary art space. Our influences are modern and post-modern. We’re focused on our local community, but we have a global eye. We’re based in the suburbs, but we’re here to stir things up a little (or a lot), rather than to fade into our homogeneous surroundings. We like bold color and both strong and fluid forms.

We want art that is edgy, brave, different, fresh. We look for art that has meaning, evokes feelings, offers a narrative, or is simply technically adept. We’re interested in artists who have passion about their work and who are passionate about growing as an artist.

Finally, we’re pursuing a holistic approach to filling our space. This means we’re looking for art works that combine well together — not necessarily similar, but rather, act in a complementary fashion.

We’re about 4-6 weeks away from opening. We’ve entered a fun, rewarding, and sure to be an eventful, phase of our start-up process — finding artists.

Our plan is to fill the space with original art from local and regional artists, both emerging and established. We’re looking for artists with technical talent, creative passion and stories to tell through their art. We’re looking for high quality art that makes a statement and in a variety of media: painting, glass, jewelry, wood, photography, fabric, ceramic, metal, illustration, assemblage, scratchboard.

Over the last 6 months we’ve met and collected names of many local artists and made mental snapshots of their works. Now, with our artist contract finalized we’ve begun approaching those whose art we’d be honored to see hanging on our bare walls.

If you’re not on our initial list of 100+ artists never fear, we’ll soon have submission guidelines spelled out on our website. If you’re in our area we’d be delighted to take a look at your work and listen to your story. I can’t guarantee that we’ll show your art, but we do have an open door policy. So, in the meantime, if you’re an artist and wish to know more about art251, you can contact us by clicking here.