This image is my work in the Center Hall Gallery at the Hudson Opera House
The day I went up to Hudson to view the exhibition space I took my portfolio and a CD of my work with me. There was a gallery there that I thought might be interested in my work. So after viewing the space which felt smaller than the plans they sent me I walked up the hill to http://www.carriehaddadgallery.com/. I went in and introduced myself, told the owner that I saw her ad in Art News and thought I might be a good fit for her gallery (so where do you think I got this idea from?). Of course the first thing out of her mouth was, ‘I'm not adding artist at this time.’ No shock there! But she was very pleasant about it and offered to look at my portfolio since I had it with me. We chatted a few minutes as she made comments about the work. I told her about my show at the Hudson Opera House (HOH) and invited her to the reception, to which she said with a smile, ‘I don’t do receptions I hate them but I’ll drop by and see your work after the reception. As the conversation began to wind down I asked for her business card, she in turn asked for mine. I passed her my CD with all of my information on the label and said ‘if you ever decide to add another artist please consider me.’ (Where did I get this from?) We shook hands; I left and returned to HOH very pleased with what I had accomplished.
Now you might say ‘Accomplished! What? She rejected you!!’ Yes! She did! But this was the first time I ever in my artistic career went into a gallery and made the pitch. It felt good, I thought it went well and I congratulated myself of the success of the practice. I have to do more, the more I do the better I will get at it. You have to know that I would have fainted if she actually offered me a spot in her gallery. But for practice I thought it went well.
That was two weeks ago, this past Sunday I get a telephone call from Carrie, no she didn’t offer me a show but she saw my HOH show and took a look at the CD. She liked the work but was calling to tell me that she was reducing the amount of artists she was currently representing and would not be adding me to her gallery. I was flabbergasted because I thought this was all settled when I first met her. With a smile on my face I thanked her for considering me and taking the time to call me. I suggested that when she was ready to expand her gallery’s representation again I would come to mind.
Now I have sent out many packages with examples of my work and the usual requirements in the hope of getting a show. Maybe out of fifteen packages I get back 10 rejections, four no responses and if I’m lucky one show. But no one has ever called with an explanation of why they were rejecting my work. This is one classy woman; I hope to work with her sometime in the future.
Rejection is not a personal issue; its just part of the job.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Rejection
This image is my work in the Center Hall Gallery at the Hudson Opera House
The day I went up to Hudson to view the exhibition space I took my portfolio and a CD of my work with me. There was a gallery there that I thought might be interested in my work. So after viewing the space which felt smaller than the plans they sent me I walked up the hill to http://www.carriehaddadgallery.com/. I went in and introduced myself, told the owner that I saw her ad in Art News and thought I might be a good fit for her gallery (so where do you think I got this idea from?). Of course the first thing out of her mouth was, ‘I'm not adding artist at this time.’ No shock there! But she was very pleasant about it and offered to look at my portfolio since I had it with me. We chatted a few minutes as she made comments about the work. I told her about my show at the Hudson Opera House (HOH) and invited her to the reception, to which she said with a smile, ‘I don’t do receptions I hate them but I’ll drop by and see your work after the reception. As the conversation began to wind down I asked for her business card, she in turn asked for mine. I passed her my CD with all of my information on the label and said ‘if you ever decide to add another artist please consider me.’ (Where did I get this from?) We shook hands; I left and returned to HOH very pleased with what I had accomplished.
Now you might say ‘Accomplished! What? She rejected you!!’ Yes! She did! But this was the first time I ever in my artistic career went into a gallery and made the pitch. It felt good, I thought it went well and I congratulated myself of the success of the practice. I have to do more, the more I do the better I will get at it. You have to know that I would have fainted if she actually offered me a spot in her gallery. But for practice I thought it went well.
That was two weeks ago, this past Sunday I get a telephone call from Carrie, no she didn’t offer me a show but she saw my HOH show and took a look at the CD. She liked the work but was calling to tell me that she was reducing the amount of artists she was currently representing and would not be adding me to her gallery. I was flabbergasted because I thought this was all settled when I first met her. With a smile on my face I thanked her for considering me and taking the time to call me. I suggested that when she was ready to expand her gallery’s representation again I would come to mind.
Now I have sent out many packages with examples of my work and the usual requirements in the hope of getting a show. Maybe out of fifteen packages I get back 10 rejections, four no responses and if I’m lucky one show. But no one has ever called with an explanation of why they were rejecting my work. This is one classy woman; I hope to work with her sometime in the future.
Rejection is not a personal issue; its just part of the job.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Get your name out there (2)
Balance 16x24 *AoC $1000
Invest in yourself, get a website!
I cannot stress this enough, galleries and clients are starting to ask for your website link. Have one to email to them.
Buy your own domain name, it looks more professional.
Join every free website you can find.
Create a blog with your thoughts about art and your work.
Have several portfolios:
One with an inventory of all your work
One for your car
One to present at shows or exhibitions
One to take to galleries.
Put digital images on your PDA, IPod or IPhone to show to anyone who may ask, 'What kind of work do you do?' If you have a PDA with zap technology create a business card that you can easily zap to someone’s PDA when asked.
Post Cards and Business Cards are old school but have them anyway. I use post card size business cards also because they don’t get lost quickly. Put an image on the back, name, buzzword about your art, website, email, blog, telephone, and fax on the front.
Put the same information on a regular size business card Carry about a dozen postcards with you all the time and several regular business cards for backup
Put your name on every piece of correspondence including your email, use the same format all the time on everything.
*AoC means Acrylic on Canvas
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