New here! Just getting my art out of the cave!
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traceyleedawes 1 year, 6 months ago.
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I’ve been drawing and painting all my life and i am just now starting to get the confidence to show my work. I love the Color in your life show on youtube and so was led here! I am working on a website and have my facebook page also, but in real life… not many galleries out here in the countryside and so not many chances to show the real work, which i would love. How does someone get their work out of the country and into a gallery? and what does my work need in order to be good enough to be there one day? Advice, critique and feedback much appreciated :) best wishes
ToriHi Tori! Welcome to the forum! As for galleries, it’s all about making contacts. Get out there. Chat with owners and managers. Sometimes they are looking for local talent to bring in new and local visitors to the gallery. You also never know what a gallery is looking for. You may be good enough for them now. If you aren’t, then practice, practice, practice. Develop your own style and rock it! ( I am also in the middle of now where, but the galleries are THERE, you just have to seek them out. ) You can also interest other venues to hold a trunk show of your art to draw visitors to their location. Here they have small one room school houses or museums that routinely welcome new artists to hold a show and small reception. Just another option. As for shipping out of the country, shipping can be quite expensive and the materials to ensure a safe travel are pricey, as are the insurance and postage.
I don’t tend to enter contests out of country, nor to do send art to unsolicited invitations to unknown venues.
Hi Tori – just had a look at your gallery. Wow – very talented!! Don’t hesitate to show off your work.
As a starting point, online galleries/websites are a pretty good option – they are a quick and easy way of getting yourself out there NOW, rather than waiting for a curator to give a yay or nay, and your art is in the international arena without the expense of shipping overseas. I have my work on Bluethumb, Saatchi Art, Artfinder and Oz Artfinder. And, of course, Colour In Your Life. They are free to join, but take a commission (just calculate that into your price). As for approaching real live galleries, advice I found through research was that it’s preferable to send a CV/Portfolio of your work via snail mail – the thought process being that these days that will draw more attention than yet another message in a gallery’s inbox. Then follow up with a phone call – the overwhelming impression I got from my research was under no circumstances cold call or just drop in. Australian Artist magazine has a monthly art challenge (subject and medium differs from month to month) that costs $7.00 per entry, and you send them a photo of your work (pretty sure that mag is available in NZ). Depending on what is around where you are, you could always look at holding a small solo exhibition – a few local artists where I live have their work displayed in the local RSL club, and I have sold a few pieces through a local giftware shop. Good luck and go for it!
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