Emailed for years or walked in cold? Which actually worked for you?
I spent two years emailing galleries proper intro emails with images, links, the whole polite package. Got maybe three replies, none went anywhere. Then one day I was in a town for a funeral and walked into this small space with my portfolio under my arm, totally unplanned, and the owner actually looked at it. Didn't take anything but she remembered my name when I came back.
I don't even know what to make of that. Was the email a total waste of time or was it laying groundwork? People who've landed a gallery showing, did it come from a cold email, a referral, or you just showed up somewhere?
Because I'm genuinely wondering if I should stop polishing the emails and start being more annoying in person.
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I've never landed an actual gallery showing so I can't answer from that angle, but I've done a lot of small fair and shop placements and walking in has worked way better for me than emailing every time. There's something about being in front of someone with the actual work in your hands. A photo on a screen just doesn't carry it the same way acrylic paint does in person, you know?
That said, I don't think the emails were a total waste for you. Even if they didn't respond, your name probably registered somewhere in the back of their mind. So when you walked in, you weren't a complete stranger. That's not nothing.
I've started doing a hybrid thing now. Email first to see if they're even open to looking, then if they reply at all I make a point to stop by with a couple of small pieces. Respects their time but still gets me in the room. Not sure it's the magic formula either, honestly. This whole game seems to be part persistence, part dumb luck.
the in-person thing is so real and it's not even about the pitch, it's that they get to see you're a normal person who makes stuff, not a spam folder. ceramics especially, a photo of a pot tells you nothing about how it sits or feels in the hand. half my small studio sales have been people who picked something up, turned it over, put it back, came back an hour later.
and yeah i think you're right about the groundwork. two years of emails means your name crossed their desk enough times that when you showed up with the work, you weren't some random off the street. that counts for more than people give it credit for. not a waste, just not enough on its own.
that picking up and putting back thing, yeah. people need to live with a piece for a minute before they know. emails can't give them that.
and i think you're right that it's groundwork, but not in the strategic way. it's more that by the time i walked in i wasn't desperate. i'd already done the humiliating part of asking over and over. so i could just stand there and talk about the work like a person instead of pitching. that mattered more than them recognizing my name, honestly.
"a photo on a screen just doesn't carry it the same way acrylic paint does", that's exactly it. you can't photograph the way the light sits on a surface or how something feels to stand near. i forget that constantly until i'm in a room with actual work.
and yeah, i want to believe the groundwork theory. probably half rationalization at this point, but it's a nicer story than "i wasted two years." the owner did say my name back to me, so maybe something landed. or she's just good with faces. either way.
small fair placements sound like a decent middle path honestly. less ego in it, more actual selling. maybe i should look into that instead of chasing the gallery ghost.