7 Tips to Make the Most of Art Gallery Openings
Sep 26, 2010 Promotion and Exhibition
You’ve lande
d an exhibition and the opening date is fast approaching. You begin to wonder what it’s going to be like, how you should prepare and what you should expect. Here are a few things to keep in mind for gallery openings, whether for a solo or group exhibition.
1. When to Arrive
It’s always a good idea, in my opinion, to arrive at the gallery a little bit early if you can. This lets you get acquainted with the gallery director or curator, get a feel for the space and help set up, if you’re so inclined. Some people like to arrive fashionably late, but that’s not my style. I like to know the lay of the land and have a few minutes to relax before jumping into networking.
3. Speaking of Networking…
Be prepared to “work the room.” You’re there to meet and greet, not only for your benefit but for the galleries. It’s a draw for visitors to know that the artist will be in attendance. Some tips for successful networking are:
- have a statement prepared to talk about your art when asked for more information
- keep business cards on hand throughout the evening, and give them out!
- have a website to direct people to if they want to see more of your work
- show genuine interest in your potential clients; ask questions (it’s not all about you!)
- mingle, but stay close to your work when in a group show
- be willing to approach viewers and introduce yourself; don’t wait for people to come to you
- don’t stick with friends or family during the opening, this makes you unapproachable
Basically, try to adopt an open and friendly attitude. Be there to answer questions and share information about your work, but also socialize and meet new people. You want to make your visitors feel welcome and valued for showing up. Remember that each person you talk to is a potential client.
4. Dress Appropriately
Don’t roll in looking like you’ve just left the studio. Yes, you’re an artist, but you also want to make a good first impression. The people you meet could be your future clients and collectors. It’s important to present yourself in a clean, professional way.
5. Saying a Few Words
Be aware that you may be asked to “say a few words” at the opening, sometimes with very little notice. At my exhibition opening last week, I knew I was going to be asked to speak. In fact, it was a mini artist talk and I was expected to talk for five to ten minutes. I made sure I had a small speech prepared so that I wouldn’t forget any important information. I’ve also been at openings where the curator has pulled me aside and said that he would introduce me in five minutes, when I’d be asked to “say a few words.” If you don’t have anything prepared, you run the risk of rambling on and on without direction or getting stuck and not knowing what to say.
6. Drinking
Wine may or may not be offered at gallery openings. If it is, I see nothing wrong with having a glass to relax and be sociable. Sometimes it’s good to just have something in your hand! Just be careful that you don’t over-indulge. Nothing screams unprofessional like a stumbling, slurring artist. This should go without saying, but it’s easy to do, especially if you’re nervous.
7. Most Importantly?
Have fun! This is the moment when you get to be in the spotlight and people can appreciate your all the hard work that often goes on behind the scenes. A gallery opening is an event, for artists and viewers alike. It’s a chance to get out, dress up and enjoy good art and good conversation. Enjoy every minute of it!
Toot Your Own Horn ‘Cause No One Else Will!
Sep 8, 2010 Promotion and Exhibition
Getting ready for my upcoming exhibition, I am faced with one of the less pleasant aspects of being an artist: self promotion.
As most artists are introspective in nature, it can be very difficult for us to put ourselves in the public eye. But do it we must!
Some galleries handle the bulk of promotion, but the artist often has a hand in it as well. If you’re exhibiting in a less conventional venue, the promotion might be entirely up to you. It’s not enough to display your art, you need to let people know it’s there.
I find that the anonymity of the internet can help alleviate some of my discomfort around self promotion, but online marketing isn’t enough.
Here are some of the strategies I’m considering for promoting my show:
1. Submitting press releases to all local newspapers. This could result in the paper running my release, a journalist developing it into a bigger story, or even an interview.
2. Submitting my event to online and print listings. There are several local websites as well as art publications that take submissions.
3. Blogging about my show and promoting it in my newsletter.
4. Distributing posters around town.
5. Promoting the event on Facebook through both my personal page and my art page.
6. Sending postcards to my mailing list and distributing them to people I work with.
7. Finally, I may also contact our local TV station about featuring my event.
At the end of the day, you want people to see your art. It’s up to you to get it out there and make people notice.
Don’t get overwhelmed with everything you could be doing. As I have to keep reminding myself, you can’t do it all! Pick the strategies that will be most effective for you and go for it!
Tags: art, exhibitions, promotion
Combating Perfectionism in Art
Jun 16, 2010 Art General
The folks over at theArtistsWhoTHRIVE Blog posted a great article a little while ago: Perfectionism Kills Creativity. If you receive my newsletter, you will have already seen it. If not, I suggest you read it!
This short but informative article suggests that quantity is more important than quality in an art practice, a sentiment I happen to agree with.
When it comes to art, quality follows quantity. That is, by producing lots of work, experimenting, trying new things and allowing yourself to make mistakes, you will inevitably improve your skills. If you’re bogged down with details, obsessed with perfectionism, you limit your own creativity.
Your job as an artist is not to produce good art, it’s to produce lots of art. By producing lots of art, you will thereby produce good art!
Okay, it’s a bit much to wrap your mind around, but once you do, it’s very liberating! Let me give you an example:
I am a huge perfectionist, a characteristic that is evident in my portrait work. Throughout the first three years of art school, I really struggled with my need to create perfect images. I was criticized for it and questioned my own creativity. It wasn’t until my fourth year that I was able to set aside my perfectionism and start producing a larger volume of work. That’s when my creativity really flourished and the ideas started flowing like crazy!
So how do we leave perfectionism behind and embrace our true creative natures? Well, it wasn’t easy for me and it probably won’t be easy for you!
For most people, perfectionism isn’t a switch in the brain that can just be turned off. You will likely need to implement strategies that help you subvert your natural tendencies. For me, this was a systematic destruction of my own creations. Because I knew that I would be destroying my work eventually, it didn’t matter anymore if it wasn’t perfect. This allowed me to make mistakes and work more quickly without trying to plan the end result.
So, what are some ways you can stop being a perfectionist? Here are a few ideas that I came up with.
Practical Ways to Subvert Perfectionism in Art
1. Paint with an extra large brush. Don’t allow yourself a small brush to paint details. Force yourself to contend with a too-large tool and simplify shapes.
2. Don’t use an eraser. Whatever you do, whatever mistakes you make, no erasers! Either live with the mistake, or find a way to fix it by continuing to draw.
3. Give yourself permission to make mistakes. Not in a vague and abstract sense, but in a concrete sense. State to yourself that you will make (and not correct) three mistakes in your next piece.
4. Make up rules that get in the way of your usual process. For example, you could decide that after completing the first parts of a painting, you will outline everything in bright orange. This gives you another element to contend with and will keep you from getting caught up in details too early.
5. Go big. Technical drawers (like myself) tend to work on smaller pieces and stay tightly focused on the subject. We use small tools and small actions to draw. Break away from this mindset by using a large piece of paper and drawing with big, expressive gestures.
6. Paint or draw without looking at your work. Do this in the beginning to get a looser feeling, then challenge yourself to make it work.
7. Try it “en plein air.” Take your easel outside and work from nature. This forces you to work faster and looser, and to simplify many of the details that are visible.
8. Give yourself a time limit. Gesture drawings are great for this. Challenge yourself to capture the essense of a subject in thirty seconds, one minute, or five minutes.
By using these and other strategies, you can begin to let go of any perfectionism that may be holding you back. When you don’t stress over every little detail in every little piece, you free up a lot of time to make more art.
Perfectionism on the Web
Perfectionism seems to be a hot topic among artists right now. Check out Itaya’s blog and Kirsty Hall’s blog for more thoughts and discussion on the topic of perfectionism.
Share!
What are your thoughts of and experiences with perfectionism? What are some strategies that you use to keep from stressing over details?
Tags: art, artists, Creativity, perfectionism
Big Art, Small Art
May 30, 2010 Creativity
What size do you typically work in? Do you always work in the same size, or do you change it up? How do you decide what size you want to work? Do you work in a size that’s comfortable?
Personally, I like a lot of variety when it comes to sized.
Going between big art and small art helps the creative juices flow. It sparks new ideas and allows you to see links and parallels between the works that can lead to a deeper understanding of your own art.
Small Art
Lots of artists do small art in the form of studies. Working small allows you to work very quickly. It only takes a few brushstrokes to cover your surface, so it is easier to work spontaneously and expressively. Small art often captures a sense of energy and movement.
Also, because you have less room, it is necessary to “edit” or simplify your subject matter in order to fit it all. Working small doesn’t always mean working with small tools. It can be an interesting challenge to do a small painting with a regular-sized paint brush.
Big Art
Big art has its own set of challenges and advantages. The challenge can be filling up all the space. It takes much longer and because of that, it can be difficult to maintain the spontaneity of brushstroke in smaller works.
On the other hand, big art can open up new possibilities, giving you more space to let loose and get expressive. This is especially true if you’re used to working on a smaller scale. Going big can be very liberating!
Variety in Art
Changing things up in your art practice is so important. Moving between subjects, mediums and size are great ways to generate new ideas. The act of re-interpreting your style and finding different ways to express yourself not only enriches your experience as an artist but keeps you from stagnating.
On Comfort
If you’re at a point in your art career where you feel comfortable, you need to change something! Art isn’t about comfort, it’s about presenting yourself with new challenges and finding ways to overcome them.
If you always work on the same size canvas because it’s comfortable and practical, find a way to change it up. Always working the same way will almost always produce the same kind of work.
PS: Only a few more days to win a tote bag loaded with free art supplies!
Tags: art, art tips, Creativity
7 Exciting Exercises in Abstract Art
May 16, 2010 Art General
Want to get in touch with your abstract side but not sure how? Here are a few different exercises to get you thinking about form and space, shape, emotion and composition.
1. Paint with Feeling
Many abstract works are expressive, as in they express something, often an emotion. Practice making marks on a page. What would an angry mark look like? Now a happy mark. Experiment with different kinds of lines and marks that express some kind of feeling. Then, pick a feeling and focus on creating an expressive painting. Think about the types of shapes you will use, the types of marks and the colours.
2. Paint a Word
This is similar to the first exercise, but here you’re choosing an abstract word that you can “illustrate.” Challenge yourself to make a drawing or painting that refers to your word without using explicit pictures. A good example for a word is time. How can you represent time without using the image of a clock? What would it look like?
3. Repetition
Another common element of abstraction is repetition. Choose an image or a shape to repeat throughout your piece. Draw the outline of your image and overlap the edges. Some questions to ask yourself are: do my shapes touch the edge? are they all the same size or are they different? Start filling in the resulting shapes in your chosen colour palette, but don’t stop there. Re-work some of the lines and edges, focus on creating a cohesive image.
4. Give Yourself Rules
A random set of arbitrary rules will give you a starting place and provide you with a guideline for your abstract work. For example, you could tell yourself that you must draw 100 dots. They can be any size, they can be any colour, they can be all the same or all different. You can draw whatever else you want, but you must somehow incorporate 100 dots. Give this a try and let your creativity go wild.
5. Collage
Collage is another great way to let loose and experiment. In this situation, you’re using an existing image (either your own work or from a magazine) and abstracting the image beyond recognition. Tear up your image and glue it down to your paper, using the shapes and lines to guide the composition. The great thing about this is that you know the colours already work, now you’re just re-arranging them. Again, don’t stop there! Re-work your collage with some drawn or painted elements.
6. Crop it Down
This exercise also uses a found image. This could be a photograph, an image from a magazine, or your own work. Cut two L-shaped pieces of paper to form a frame and use these to find a composition that you like. The key here is to crop the image so closely that it becomes simply a combination of line, form and colour. Now you have a reference to draw from. You can be as faithful, or unfaithful as you like with the colours. The example above was taken from a photo of many houses, cropped right down so that it’s unrecognizable.
7. Step-by-Step
If you’re still stuck, you can try these step-by-step instructions for abstract art. It’s meant for kids, but don’t let that deter you! This is a cool exercise to loosen you up and make you think outside your box. You can always come up with your own instructions and see what happens.
The important thing in abstract art is that you open yourself up to what is possible. You may need to let go of some of your prejudices about what is and isn’t art, but when you do, you will discover a whole new world of art!
Also check out my article about understanding abstract art.
Tags: abstract, art, art tips, Creativity
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