What's the one thing you wish you'd known before your first gallery showing?
I sent work to a small gallery in Gothenburg years ago with no idea what "consignment" even meant. I signed the paperwork without reading it properly and spent the whole opening night hovering near my pieces like a nervous parent. Nobody told me I'd spend most of the night talking about process instead of looking at the work.
What do you wish someone had told you before your first showing? The practical stuff especially, the stuff nobody puts in the contract.
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the process thing hit me hard too. my first group show i kept trying to explain every piece and after like ten minutes i realized people just wanted to look and maybe ask one question. i've learned to shut up and let the clay do the talking lol.
but the thing nobody told me: bring your own little repair kit. tape, glue, a tiny screwdriver. something always gets knocked or chipped during install or the opening itself. i had a piece lose a little ear off a face at a market once, so by my first gallery i was prepared. felt like a crazy person carrying a toolbox but worth it.
also, photograph everything yourself before it goes. the gallery will take pics and they'll be fine, but not the way you'd shoot them. you want your own record for your portfolio that actually shows the work like you see it.
The repair kit is such good advice. I took a tiny tube of glue to my first solo out of pure paranoia but never thought about tape or a screwdriver. Then of course a frame bracket came loose on the second day.
The process thing is still the hardest part for me. I've learned to give people maybe two sentences and then stop. If they want more, they ask. Most of the time they just want to stand there with their own thoughts, and I should let them.