Marketing Mondays: How Did You Find A Gallery?

Update on When Bad Things Happen to Good Galleries

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Not exactly a plan
Sign shot on Tenth Avenue in Chelsea. Photo: Sid Garrison on Facebook via Mark Pollack on Blackberry.

Recently I recommended an artist to one of the galleries I work with. The dealer liked the work, and the artist is now scheduled for a show. Just like that.

For artists who are sending out package after package, this anecdote is no doubt infuriating. But the fact is that more artists find shows through networking than postage. In How To Start and Run a Commercial Gallery, Edward Winkleman lists the ways he has found artists, in the order of importance to him:

. Recommendations from artists in his gallery, other dealers, curators
. Institutional exhibitions, such as non-profits and contemporary museums
. Studio Visits and Open Studio Tours
. Cold-call submissions

In my own experience, over the years I have come to be represented or to work with galleries in these ways. I’ve listed them in the order of importance:

. Artist referrals
. Dealer referrals
. Networking in general
. Internet search by the dealer
. Cold-call submissions

In one memorable opportunity (which I'd consider in the "networking" category), a juried show at an annual small works show in New York led to a solo show and a warm relationship with a gallery that has spanned more than a decade, including a second solo and a large group show. How did this happen? The dealer made a trip to see what and who was new, a scenario that is repeated many times over by many dealers and curators at many venues, including juried shows and art fairs. Dealers look. Relatedly, dealers and curators are using the internet for initial research. Suggestions here: make sure you have an updated and easily navigable site, research the gallery that contacts you, respond quickly if you like what you see.

I once responded to a "call to artists." Over a decade ago I send my URL to a Southwest gallery that was starting up. I took a chance; hey, what did I have to lose? The dealer came to New York to make studio visits and we hit it off. The relationship continues to this day. Typically, though, most calls to artists—at least the New York galleries that advertise in the classifieds of the national art magazines—are vanity galleries trolling for artists willing to pay to show. Check them out if you wish, but the minute they ask you for money, run.

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As for artist referrals, generosity among our peers is the most important way to make connections. I can tell you that anecdotally; Ed Winkleman tells you that officially in his book. You may have experienced this yourself. If you get into a gallery as the result of an artist singing your praises, return the favor if you think you see a good fit--and then pay it forward. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

What are the ways YOU have found gallery representation? I’m curious to see the common threads. In a few weeks I'll tote up the responses to see what kind of picture has emerged.
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I'm Not in the Hamptons, But My Paintings Are

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If you're in Bridgehampton this weekend, stop in at ArtHamptons, under the big tent in Sayre Park. More specifically, look for the DM Contemporary booth. Say hi to Doris Mukabaa and ask to see my work. The fair is on all day Sunday, 11:00 to 6:00.

.Silk Road 111, encaustic on panel. 12 x 12 inches

Printmaking Camp, Day 6: PULL

Update 9.22.10: A Little Peek at the exhibition, and my full report, More on Pull

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Day 1.

Day 2.

Days 3, 4.

Day 5

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The Participants

Tim McDowell, master printmaker and painter

Marcia Wood, gallerist and all around muse and support

Kim Anno, Kate Javens, Don Pollack, Katherine Taylor and me, the artists making prints

Brown Sanders and Clara Euam, technical assistance

Ellen Barnard and Lucas McDowell, producer and cameraman, respectively

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Marcia holding the colophon.

You can see it better below:

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The headiness of Printmaking Camp has given way to the project now officially known as Pull. This is the last post about the project.

.“Sweet ink on paper” is how Tim describes the process, as only a master printmaker can. Marcia calls the project “a profound experience,” adding, “I had not expected to be so personally moved and inspired by these artists and the palpable creativity and talent flowing through such highly charged days.”.
I would describe the week as a lot of work—I’m not sure why I thought printmaking was easy—but rewarding both esthetically and personally. I came away with a good edition after having stretched my thinking about what it means to make a print. (I think we all did.) I made some new friends and strengthened existing friendships. Plus I had fun. And did I mention that I, along with each member of the team, ended up with a portfolio?.We tossed around a number of titles for the project but settled on Pull, both for that singular moment when the impressed paper is separated from the plate and for the idea that in this collaborative process we were pulling together to create a project larger than our individual efforts.
I would have asked each of the other artists for their comments, but it was hard to immerse myself in a new process while simultaneously reporting objectively on the project. But I can bring you their images. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Pull:

Kim Anno, Heavens

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All prints made from 9 x 12" plates that were custom sized for the individual projects. Prints are two-color or custom-printed single color on 20 x 26" BFK Rives White paper

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Photos of artwork by Kim Anno.

Kate Javens, Father Ram
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Joanne Mattera, Soie
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Timothy McDowell, Arcadian Troubles.

Don Pollack, Mysterious Island
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Katherine Taylor, Parallax

The collated portfolios ready to be crated and shipped to Atlanta

Inquiries about the portfolio, Pull, may be made directly to the publisher, Marcia Wood .

Marketing Mondays: Did You Work This Weekend?

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And how was your Fourth?

It’s the biggest non-denominational holiday of the year. If you’re like most artists, you worked over the weekend—either at your income-earning job, or in the studio because it was the only time off you had from your income-earning job, or because you’re a workaholic and there’s always something that needs to get done. Plus, of course, there’s that other thing: we like what we do, even if we overdo it.

But sometimes we work until we feel like we’ll explode.

So on the heels of a weekend when most of America went to the beach, a barbeque or sat around by the pool, I’m curious:
. Did you work this weekend?
. If so, was it in the studio?
. Do you feel the compulsion to put in that extra hour in the studio?

. Do you still pull all-nighters?
. Do you feel guilty if you take a day off?
. When you take time off, is it still art related (galleries, museums, studio visits) or do actually chill?
. And here’s a biggie: How many hours a week—combination of paying job, if you have one, and studio practice—do you work?

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Gotta run. I'm writing this on the Fourth and I've got work to do.

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Printmaking Camp, Day 5

Day 1.
Day 2.
Days 3, 4
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The Participants
Tim McDowell, master printmaker and painter
Marcia Wood, gallerist and all around muse and support
Kim Anno, Kate Javens, Don Pollack, Katherine Taylor and me, the artists making prints
Brown Sanders and Clara Euam, technical assistance
Ellen Barnard and Lucas McDowell, producer and cameraman, respectively

A couple of Don's proofs. Which will he print?

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By now (Friday, June 25) everyone had printed except Don Pollack, so a lot of things were going on in the print studio. Prime among them: Don and Tim, aided by Don’s son, Anders, were producing Don’s edition. In another part of the vast studio, the artists were signing their prints, as Kim photographed an example of each. (I'll show you Kim's images in the next and final post). At the end of the day Tim printed two more of his--a welcome opportunity to see the master at work on his own edition--and we discussed and prepared the colophon page.

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Above, Tim prepares the ink for Don's first plate

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Below, blue will go at the top and bottom of the image
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Don about to pick up that first plate

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Above, Anders Pollack turns the press wheel on the second plate; from left: Clara, Don and Tim
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Below, Don's print. It's different from both of the proofs in the image that opens this post--so interesting this process .

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Tim spent five days inking plates. Now we get to see him print his own--well, two more to complete his edition
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Above, mixing inks

Below, inking the first plate
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Placing the first plate . . .

. . . and cranking

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I love the moment when the print is pulled from from the plate
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Fast forward to the completed print
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Marcia and Katherine preparing the prints for Kim to photograph . . .
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. . . and guess whose print she's shooting?
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Katherine signing her edition
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Kim . . .

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Tim . . .
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. . . and Kate signing theirs
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Discussing the colophon: Katherine, Don, Tim, Clara and Kate
(The final post will open with the colophon page)
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Outside the Studio

I spent a good part of Friday working on these posts, reflecting on everything we’d done together in and out of the studio during the past few days. I didn’t tell you about any of what we did when we left the studio at the end of the day, because I’ve been focusing on the print project, but I think this is a good time to offer you a peek at what else went on:
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Monday evening: Welcome to Ocean Beach in New London

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On Monday evening after working all day, we drove to Ocean Beach in New London, with its honky tonk of a boardwalk. Who knew that muscle cars would be on parade and that doo-wop would be blasting? (Have you ever seen a 70-year-old greaser? There’s not much hair left to grease. The women still had plenty though, and it was still big.)

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On Tuesday evening we went to Ortega’s in Groton, the town across the bridge, for Mexican food. The pop-mariachi band was great fun. We couldn’t decide what was bling-ier: the gold teeth of one of the musicians, or the silver trim running down the legs of their costumes. In an update on tradition, the group’s leader tuned his guitar with an iPhone app.

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Tuesday evening, above and below, comiendo y disfrutando--eating and having a good time
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On Wednesday evening we went to Tim and Jule’s beautiful New England home for some art and food: a succulent spread of kabobs and salad, and plenty of time to view Jule's spectacular sculpture and Tim’s downstairs studio. Mary Sanders, that would be Jule's mom, pulled out her wild crocheted hats, which we viewed on a table illuminated by a Murano glass chandelier; fabulous excess is the phrase that comes to mind.
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The food . . .
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. . . the partakers (Marcia, Amy Pollack) and preparers (Tim, Jule Sanders McDowell, Mary Sanders)

This photo: Brown Sanders
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Katherine and Marcia in the living room with one of Tim's paintings behind them
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Jule with her bronze and wood sculpture, installed in an L in the dining room. The solid bronze objects, many cast from household objects, are lashed to the armature. The piece was conceived with an Amazonian back story: women's weapons for defense. There's a novella here, just waiting to be written

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Below, detail of the installation

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Tim's studio on the ground floor. I love his paintings, which combine botany and landscape in celebration of earthly delight. You can see more here

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The handiwork of Mary Sanders, above in paisley . . .

. . . and her hand, with the earthy bling of turquoise, wood and bone

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On Thursday evening we went to Abbott’s for seafood and watched the clouds turn pink. Then we went back to the dorm, and because the wifi was available only outside the building--Anders made the discovery when he stuck his iPhone out the window--we had a midnight cyber picnic on the quad. You'd think we were junkies, so itching were we for that internet fix.
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If it's Thursday, it must be New England lobstah . . .

. . . followed by wifi on the lawn

That's me in profile. I commandeered an empty newspaper display rack as my desk and worked on some of what you are reading now

This photo: Kate Javens

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On Friday evening, our work just about finished, we went back to Tim and Jule’s for a final goodbye dinner. You wouldn't know from the names "McDowell" and "Sanders" that each is half Italian. That may explain the great food that seemed effortlessly prepared. And did I mention the fireflies were dancing just off the porch and the moon was almost full? How many ways can you say “bittersweet”?

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Tim and Jule made foccaccia on their grill. I'm impressed
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Since our project commenced on the solstice, we had the longest evenings of the year. This is close to 9:00 pm on Friday

Above, Anders, Don and Amy Pollack talking with Brown Sanders; Lucas McDowell in foreground

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Below, me, Kim Anno, Anders and Don

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In the next and final installment, I'll show you images from the edition and announce the title of the project

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Printmaking Camp, Days 3 and 4

Day 1.
Day 2
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The Participants
Tim McDowell, master printmaker and painter
Marcia Wood, gallerist and all around muse and support
Kim Anno, Kate Javens, Don Pollack, Katherine Taylor and me, the artists making prints
Brown Sanders and Clara Euam, technical assistance
Ellen Barnard and Lucas McDowell, producer and cameraman, respectively

After taking what seemed like 5 hours and 15 lbs of ink, I'd mixed my green. But I'm getting ahead of the narrative . . .

Photo: Brown Sanders

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I got in early on Day 3 to work on colors for my print. The two plates I’d proofed the previous day were not working—partly, I think, because I was still thinking like a painter—but also because I wanted a density of line that those first plates were not giving me. The second set of plates, both heavily incised, are meant to print at 90-degree angles to one another, like the weave of a fabric, which is where the image came from—my Silk Road series, which was in turn inspired by the grain and iridescence of douppioni silk.
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In the quiet print studio at 8:00 a.m.

The Cummings Art Center was built with a serrated roof to take advantage of the north light

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The process we are using is intaglio. The plates are not copper but steel-backed polymer, with the registered name of Solar Plate. The process is safer than the conventional copper-plate etching, because instead of using acid to etch the image, we use UV light on the polymer plate.

Tim and Clara had burned my second set of plates at the very end of the previous day and I hadn’t yet proofed them. I was thinking about the palette I wanted. On the way from the dorms to the print studio I spotted orange construction netting with the grass visible through it. That was exactly the kind of transparency and overlay I was looking for, just not in orange and green. I wanted to keep the colors more analogous—warm with warm, or cool with cool. Madder over a cadmium yellow/orange hadn’t given me what I wanted the day before. So this morning I'm thinking green over green. I printed a few proofs, making no attempt to register them, just to see what the color would be like. A yellow-green, overprinted with a transparentized pthalo viridian (which is pretty transparent to begin with) seemed right.

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The kind of transparency and linearity I saw on campus, via this construction screen, is what I was aiming for in my print

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Below, a proof in madder over cadmium yellow/orange from the previous day; two unregistered proofs from this morning. I'm liking this blue/green over yellow/green

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Above, working with Brown Sanders

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Below, my inked plate ready to be placed on the press

Both photos: Marcia Wood

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How I gained a few extra inches to see the press bed from a sufficient height. Photo: Marcia Wood
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When he was burning the plates, Tim suggested turning the square on its point. I’m so oriented to the horizontal and vertical I might never have thought of it. Since my new approach was to not think like a painter, I went for it. I liked it. And that’s how we did the prints. Working with Brown Sanders and Clara Euam, we printed an edition of 30 on Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday. Tim offered assistance and advice as requested, but mostly it was the three of us, working slowly. Clara and I prepared each plate for printing, with Brown helping me align the second plate, and Marcia stepping in occasionally to lay paper or to rack. Everyone took turns at the crank.

One of the first prints in the edition. I'm a happy camper.
The emerald hue and the diagonal orientation give this image a gemlike quality, no?
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Marcia racking the print
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On Thursday, Katherine Taylor and Kate Javens, working with Tim, printed their editions. I was printing while they were printing, but I did manage to take a few photos. Take a look:
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Katherine Taylor's palette . . .
. . . for the print Clara is pulling


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Katherine's print on the rack . . .
. . . with Katherine, another happy camper
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Kate Javens's image of a ram was made with one plate followed by an overprint with two partial plates, which Tim placed onto the initial printed image. (Sorry, I don't know the correct print terms.) What you're seeing above are the partial plates for the blue horns, which you can just make out, below
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Coming later this week: On Day 5 Don Pollack's print gets editioned, Katherine and Kim sign their prints, Tim makes two more prints for his edition, and we decide on a name for the project. On Day 6, you get to see the finished prints. Stay tuned . . .

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