9 results for “gallery outreach”
Hey everyone! Okay so I'm still pretty new to this whole gallery thing and trying to get a feel for timelines. Like, after you started seriously submitting or approaching galleries, how long did it actually take you to get that first real 'yes' or even a solid offer? Was it like months, a year, longer?? I'm trying to manage my expectations haha. My first approach felt like a total shot in the dark and I'm still waiting to hear back, so just curious about what others' experiences have been! 🙂
I have a theory that half of gallery outreach is just picking the wrong door the first time, and then you're marked. My first real gallery relationship started because I walked in off the street with three small paintings under my arm, no appointment, asking if anyone would look. The owner laughed, said people don't do that anymore, then spent an hour with me. Turned into five years together. But I've also sent hundreds of emails that went nowhere, and I know plenty of people who swear the polite letter is the only way in. So which is it for you, the walk-in or the email? And has anyone had a gallery flat out say they preferred one over the other?
I keep seeing the war stories piling up in here, and I've got a few of my own. But I'm curious about something more basic. When you were starting out with gallery outreach, how many did you approach before one actually took you on? Mine was 22. Twenty-two polite rejections, non-replies, and one very confusing meeting that went nowhere before a small natural-history museum gallery in the Pacific Northwest said yes. That yes changed everything for me, but I nearly gave up at about number 15. I've had students ask me this and I never know what to tell them. What was your number? And was it worth the ones that said no?
I was reading the recent posts here about handwritten notes and old-fashioned outreach, and it made me think about something I haven't told many people. Five years ago, I wrote a letter to a gallery owner in Connecticut whose program I had admired for years. Not an email. A letter. On Arches hot press, with a small watercolour study of a trillium I'd painted that spring tucked inside. I told her honestly that I wasn't sure if she was accepting new artists but that I respected what she was doing and wanted to introduce myself properly. She wrote back. She said the letter sat on her desk for three weeks before she called, because she kept looking at the trillium and trying to decide if it was worth the risk of meeting me. She took me on. That gallery remains the steadiest source of my serious sales. Not Instagram. Not my website. A letter. I don't think the lesson is that we should all be sending letters. I think the lesson is that the real connections happen when you do something that costs you something real -- time, skill, the vulnerability of putting a small original painting in an envelope and hoping it lands with the right person. It is harder to ignore than a form submission. I still send a letter occasionally when a connection matters to me. I have never once regretted it. I have regretted the polished emails I overthought and never sent.
My first real gallery took a 50% cut and I was so relieved to have the representation I didn't question it. Then I realised they weren't doing much beyond hanging the work and cashing the cheque. No marketing, no collector outreach, no press. I was bringing them my own audience. I've heard worse. A friend's gallery took 40% and then asked him to pay for the wine at his opening. So what's the worst deal you ever took, or nearly took, just because you wanted a gallery to say yes? And when did you finally walk?
Once a gallery asked me to provide them with a list of local florists they could collaborate with for openings. I was baffled. Anyone else get strange requests during outreach?
I've never once gotten a reply from a cold email. Not one. But the two actual gallery conversations I've had came from walking in somewhere with a small portfolio and just talking to whoever was at the desk like a human. Both times they said "email us" and both times nothing happened after lol. So what's the real move here? Do people actually land shows from cold outreach or is it all who you know and showing your face? Tell me I'm wrong, I want to be wrong, I'm tired of driving places with my work in the trunk hoping someone's in a good mood.
ok so I spent months emailing galleries with these long, polished, cover-letter-style pitches and got crickets. then one day I was so burnt out I just sent this short casual one like "hi, I paint watercolor windows and light, here's 4 images, would love to show you in person" and THAT one got a reply. a real reply!! I genuinely think the formal stuff was reading as scared or stiff. my partner was like "you sound like you're applying for a law firm" lmao. so now I just write like a person. was there a version of your outreach email that finally landed? what was different about it? I'm trying to figure out if it's the length, the tone, or honestly just luck and timing and I should stop overthinking. tell me I'm wrong or right
