Preparing for a gallery show

8 min read

Deviation Actions

outsidelogic's avatar
By
Published:
1.1K Views
My first solo show!  At a really small gallery in this small mountain town, but, hey it's a start.  I'll be hanging 12 pieces, primarily landscapes and portraits.  The exhibit is titled Sticks 'n' Stones, which covers the landscapes, plus the fact that the portraits are all of people who have overcome tremendous adversity, and have not only survived, but have become prominent figures championing social causes.  If you're interested, here's an article in a local online newspaper.

So this was big change for me, shifting from just sketching and drawing whatever came into my head to thinking about publicly displaying (and...gasp...possibly even selling) my work.  Things I have learned so far:
  • Framing is expensive.  Even buying frames on sale at Michael's (big box craft store), where I got pretty nice 16x20 frames for $20, I have spent hundreds of dollars packaging my drawings.
  • Getting prints made is a lot more complex than I thought.  I went the cheap route by just getting laser prints at a local graphics place, but they don't really know anything about handling fine art.  Limited edition, archival quality prints are just not something I wanted to get into, nor did I feel that the quality of my work warranted it.  But there's a whole world out there of options for the "serious artist".
  • Regarding selling, all sorts of questions came up: 
    • how much will you sell your originals for? The guidance I got was to estimate how long a picture took you, and then to figure anywhere from $25-$45 per hour, depending on how "known" you were.  And then add in the cost of framing and matting.  I could not arrive at a price that seemed reasonable.  $300 for one of my drawings seems way too high.
    • how much for prints?  I bought kits with a foam board, mat, and plastic sleeve to package my prints in.  They were $4-$8, depending on size.  The prints themselves just cost a dollar or two, so I don't know, $20?  It all seems too expensive to me...
    • do you even want to sell originals?  Someone advised against it, because once the original is gone, then you can no longer sell prints.  But you actually can, if you get a good hi-res scan of the drawing before you let go of the original.  Is that ok, to continue to sell prints after the original is gone?  People say "yes".  I can't imagine anyone would be interested in one of mine, but if so, I'll sell it.  I'm honestly not that attached to them.
    • should you sign your prints?  number them?  Apparently yes to the first question, and no to the second, if they're not limited edition, museum quality prints (like offset or giclee prints).
    • how much does the gallery get?  30%, in this case.  I have nothing to compare that to.  It's a non-profit museum, not a commercial gallery.
  • Regarding social media, the artists who exhibit up here in the mountains (they tend to skew old and wealthy) have no idea what deviantART is.  I think the name itself puts some people off.  I need to branch out to tumblr, maybe facebook.  Ugh.  It all takes so much time.
  • I definitely miss drawing purely for myself, and it's added a layer of stress having to think about the whole gallery thing.  It's a great opportunity, and I hope I have more, but there have been moments of "crap why did I sign up for this?"


I'll post more after the show ends (it runs for the month of May).  Sort of a "lessons learned" kind of thing.  Have any of you been through anything similar?

Here are the pieces I'm showing:
Carnage by outsidelogic  Pussy Riot by outsidelogic  Skinny Dip by outsidelogic
Humaira Bachal - new version by outsidelogic  Dear Franklin Booth by outsidelogic  Marguerite Barankitse by outsidelogic
Ponderosa Triptych by outsidelogic  Arn Chorn Pond by outsidelogic  Raven Landing by outsidelogic
The Stone Snake by outsidelogic  Shin Dong-hyuk by outsidelogic  Elk Vertebrae (2 views) by outsidelogic

© 2014 - 2024 outsidelogic
Comments26
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
defectivebarbie's avatar
I'm so glad to read you've gone from getting back into making art all the way to this point, its a labor of love but you know your efforts are worth it! You bring up some very good points about the whole process. I have had luck on Amazon for frames & mats, art to frames & Craig frames have some decent options. As for prices I thought I was committing suicide raising mine, I wanted to crawl under a rock & die but it's been the best choice I could have made, magically somehow better for both my customers & me. Stick to your guns when you take chances, that has gotten me through a lot of doubt-filled experiences. Low prices are a great place to start, pricing yourself out of your own market is the mistake that I've heard to be the worst to bounce back from. Keep making art!