Do you email galleries or just walk in with your work under your arm?
ok i'm genuinely curious how everyone does this because i feel like i've been doing it wrong. my first gallery show came from emailing an owner a link to my website three times over like six months until she finally answered, and honestly i think she only said yes because she felt bad for me hahaha.
but then a friend of mine swears by just physically walking in with a portfolio and asking to show the owner, says it's the only way to get taken seriously. i could never, i'd die on the spot.
which one are you? and did the thing you actually did work, or do you wish you'd done it different?
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Ah sure, I've done both and I'm still not sure either of them is the answer, properly. The walk-in thing sounds bold and it is, but half the time the owner's up to their eyes and the last thing they want is some lad with a folder of lino grinning at them over the counter. I did it once in me twenties with a folio of woodcuts and a woman looked at two of them, said "lovely," and I never heard from her again. Fair play to the friend though, it does work for some people, those fellas have a brass neck I'll never have.
The emailing thing, sure that's me too. Three times over six months is exactly the patience of it. You'd be surprised how many of these people need to see your name turn up again and again before it stops being noise. The one that actually landed for me was when I emailed a gallery owner with a photo of the print I'd sold her the year before, hanging in some fella's kitchen, and said "remember this one? I've a new batch." She wrote back within the hour. It's the reminder that you're a going concern, not a hobbyist.
I think the real trick isn't door or inbox, it's timing and follow-up. Nobody's decided no, they've just decided not yet. You keep at it gentle, not desperate, and eventually you're the path of least resistance.
okay the walk-in story is killing me, "lovely" and then radio silence forever hahaha. that's so much worse than a no, at least a no means they looked.
and yeah honestly the whole thing is just... vibes? like i don't think there's a method, i think it's luck and timing and whether the owner had coffee that morning. the email thing worked for me eventually but i genuinely don't know if it was my work or her guilt haha. i'll take either honestly.
did the woodcuts ever find a home somewhere else? or are they still living in a drawer judging you