https://news.artnet.com/art-world/artists-how-to-get-discovered-2669293
This article has great insight on how curators–the people putting exhibitions together–think and how they look for artists. If you’re an emerging artist or looking to expand to new areas this is a great article. We thought many artists in our community will find value in this but we’ve also pulled some highlights and added a Sunbury Shores/Charlotte County spin for you.
1. Be Proactive In Building Your Network
- Attend events at Sunbury Shores–openings, Open Studio, life drawing sessions, speakers series, pop ups, etc…
- Building a network doesn’t have to mean traditional networking or insincerity. If the idea of a network and being active in building it feels intimating, reframe it as building community.
- If you want to build community and don’t know where to start, try our Open Studio events. They’re meant for any type of artist and working in a social space creates more natural exchanges of ideas and conversations. Having your own project to work on also takes the pressure off and gives common ground to start conversations with others in a casual and friendly environment.
2. Present An Organized Online Portfolio
- This is important in a globalized world, but also for rural areas where gallerists and other opportunities are a few hours away.
- Building a website is very accessible nowadays and there are many diy services to choose from. (Kate recommends Weebly)
- iIf you’ve been putting this off, go for action over perfection. A simple, single page website with an image gallery is significantly better than nothing.
- If you can put more time into a website, it’s ideal to separate your work into years, series, or other categories; especially if you have a lot of work or if you work in many different mediums and subjects.
- Whether you go with a single page website or not, it’s important that the images are good quality (not from phone cameras) and you include a short bio, cv, and artist statement.
- If you need to be strategic on where you spend your time and energy, think about whether you’re trying to reach beyond your local area or not.
- If you want to stay local, you may feel that a simple website is enough and focus on direct communication and networking.
- If you want to reach beyond your immediate area, then online activity becomes more important. Your website should be more complete and you should have a separate, arts focused Instagram that is regularly updated.
- If you’re concerned about ai or copyright issues when posting your work on Instagram, focus on process photos, references your working from, highlight materials, small details of finished work, “day in the life of an artist” posts, etc… instead of posting full, finished work.
3. Have A Clear Message
- Art is filled with nuances and we often want to explain the details to our work, but this makes describing what we type of work we do overwhelming. Think about the following to start narrowing down what you would tell someone about your art practice.
- Why do you make art?
- Is your art about specific narratives or subjects, capturing moments or emotion, is the material significant?
- Why would other people care about your art? This doesn’t mean your work needs to be political or have direct social impact. It is asking what others could connect with. There is a big difference between saying “I make art about childhood memories” and “My work uses my own memories as a source to explore [human experiences].”
- If you don’t have an artist statement yet, make one.
- Writing one before you are asked for it or regularly updating this throughout your career will help you distill what your practice is (and means less work when you are asked to submit one!)
- If your artist statement is long, make a condensed, highlights only version as well. There may be word limits when submitting to galleries, magazines, etc… and in these cases, shorter is often stronger, more impactful writing. And, more importantly, this makes it much easier to respond whenever someone asks about your work.
4. Don’t Forget Practicalities
- As a gallery, installation and transport is especially important and easily overlooked during the art making process. This doesn’t mean your work needs to be on stretched canvas or framed, but if that is the case make sure you’ve planned for how it will be installed.
- If hanging paper with pins they should match and avoid distracting from the work or they should contribute to the reading of it; specimen pins, black flat pins, etc.. instead of whatever plastic pins you had lying around.
- If you’re submitting proposals for work that isn’t yet created, make sure you’ve planned out how you’ll deliver .
- have you worked with the materials before? If not, why do you feel your budget, timeline, etc… are feasible.
- Are you really able to finish the number of works you intend to and is there buffer time built in? Be realistic.
5. Flexibility Is Key
- Flexibility and collaboration are incredibly important for any project and any individual or institution you work with. At Sunbury Shores, we heavily encourage it. We want to support our community and we want to be that first step for emerging artists. Not only does being flexible make it easier for us to work with the artist and guarantee a successful show, it gives you a chance to learn and get the most out of the experience.
- If you’re submitting a proposal but aren’t sure if we can accommodate your ideas, ask us! If you aren’t sure on the process or other elements, ask!
- If you’re having a show, participating in one of our events, or are a studio member you can ask for feedback, pricing suggestions, recommendations for hanging, and so on.
- If you can adapt and work with curators, both parties will have a good experience and you will be more likely to be recommended and get more opportunities.
