Walk-in or email: how did you actually land your first gallery?
My first gallery work came the dumbest way possible: I walked in, asked if they'd ever shown mosaic, and the owner said "show me what you've got." I had three pieces in the boot of my car, so I brought them in. She took two on the spot. Completely by accident, no portfolio, no pitch, nothing.
Took me years to realize that was luck, not method. Every gallery since has been emails, applications, the slow way.
How did yours happen? The honest version, not the polished one. Walk-in, cold email, referral, or pure chance like mine?
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Mine was a recommendation from someone who owed me a favor, which is the most honest way to say it. Not because I was great, because a curator needed to fill a slot and a mutual friend vouched for me over drinks. Work got in, work stayed, but I used to joke that my career started because some gallery director's wife liked my accent at a dinner party.
The walk-in story is better though, honestly. At least you had the nerve and the work in the car. Most of us had neither the first time. The dumb luck only looks dumb from the outside, plenty of people walk in with a boot full of nothing and get sent home. You had the pieces, that's half of it.