do you email galleries or just walk in? I walked in and I'm still recovering

ok so I need to know which camp everyone is in because I genuinely cannot decide if I did the right thing.

Story: there's this little gallery near me, basically one room, run by a woman in her 60s who has been there forever. I'd walked past it like 40 times. Finally I printed some photos of my work, put on a shirt with no paint on it (took three tries), and just... walked in on a Tuesday afternoon. No appointment, no email first. And she actually looked at the photos, like actually looked, and we talked for 20 minutes and she invited me to bring in actual paintings. Nothing has come of it yet, don't get excited, but she knows my name now and that feels insane.

But then I told my partner and they were like "you're supposed to email first??" and now I'm second-guessing everything haha.

So which is it. Email or walk in. And if you email, what do you even say in the first line, because mine always turn into three paragraphs about my process and I can hear myself doing it.

Tell me your actual approach + the story of how it went, including the times it went badly, because I think I need to hear that part too 🙏

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Margaret Hsu·59m

Walking in was the right call in this specific case, and I suspect you already know it. A one-room gallery run by the same woman for decades is a different animal from a large commercial space with an assistant at the desk and a submission policy. In the small ones the person you need to see is often the person standing there. A printed sheet of photographs, though, is the weakest possible introduction for a painter. Bring the actual work next time, unframed is fine, on a board, and be ready to leave it for a few days if she asks. Twenty minutes of real conversation is a good sign, but the invitation to bring paintings is the part that matters. Nothing coming of it yet is normal. Galleries move on a seasonal clock, not a weekly one, and a first visit is rarely more than a first visit. Follow up in a month, in person, and thank her for the time.

Dani OkaforOP·33m

ok the "printed sheet of photographs is the weakest possible introduction for a painter" thing hit me a little bit haha, you're right and I kind of knew it while I was standing at the printer. I think part of me was scared to bring the real ones because if she looks at an actual painting and shrugs, that's it, that's the final answer, whereas photos feel like a maybe.

anyway I'm bringing three of them in next week, unframed, on a board like you said. should I leave them mounted to the board or is loose fine? I've genuinely never done this and I keep almost texting her beforehand to ask and then remembering the whole point was not doing that

Lukas Brandt·53m

It depends on the woman, not on the method. A one-room space with the same person behind the desk for decades is a situation where the work can actually reach a human. In a bigger gallery the front desk is a filter and you are a folder in a pile, and there walking in cold is mostly a way to meet a polite refusal.

But I would push back on one thing. "Nothing has come of it yet" is normal. Inviting you to bring the actual paintings is the yes for now. The canvases are what she judges, not the photos, and that is the right way round. What matters is what you do next: bring three or four, not twelve, and let her see the surface properly.

What did you show her, and what did she say about it.