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I'm a chronic email-er, which honestly took me forever to even get comfortable with. But last fall I was in a town with one gallery I'd been chasing online for like a year, and I figured why not just... walk in. I brought three small pieces in a tote bag and asked the woman at the desk if she had two minutes. She was so nice about it, looked at everything, kept one for their submissions pile, and I basically floated out of there. And then I never did it again because the idea of doing it a second time makes me want to crawl out of my skin haha. So genuine question for the people who DO the walk-in thing regularly: how?? Do you book it ahead or just show up? Do you bring work or just talk? And has it ever actually turned into something, or is it more of a warm-up for the email later? I need to know if I'm missing out by hiding behind my keyboard forever.

I'm trying to work up the nerve to approach a couple of local galleries this year and I keep going back and forth on how to do it. Emailing feels safer but also like it'll just disappear into the void. Walking in with a portfolio feels terrifying but maybe more memorable? My first (and so far only) gallery show happened because a friend knew someone, felt like cheating almost, like I never really learned how to do it properly myself. Curious how everyone else got their foot in the door. Email? Walk-in? Something else entirely?

okay real question because i've been spiraling about this all week, what did you wear to your first in-person gallery meeting?? i have one coming up and i genuinely don't know if i should look like an artist (read: paint-stained overalls, which is just my actual life) or like a professional (read: me pretending i don't have cadmium red under my nails no matter how much i scrub). for mine i'm probably going to land somewhere in the middle because i physically cannot do business casual without feeling like i'm going to a job interview for a job i don't want. but i'm so curious what other people did. did anyone go in full paint-apocalypse and it was fine? did anyone overdress and immediately regret it? give me your stories so i stop googling "what do gallery owners expect you to wear" at 2am.

I've been wondering about this. When I was starting out, thirty years ago, you took your portfolio into a gallery, you asked to speak to someone, and you waited. Some of my most instructive rejections happened standing in a doorway. These days I send a well-composed email with links and a PDF, and I suspect most of you do the same. But I still wonder if the old way had something to it, awkward as it was. A person who has seen your actual paper, your actual brushwork, remembers you differently than someone who has glanced at a screen. What has actually worked for you? Have you walked into a gallery cold and been taken seriously, or is that now a relic? Do you still make the trip, or do you consider the in-person visit dead, and good riddance?

I've sent maybe twenty cold emails to galleries over the years. Got three replies. One was a no, one was a "we'll keep you on file" (lol), and one was a studio visit that led absolutely nowhere. So my hit rate is basically zero. but I also know a guy who landed his first solo show by emailing a gallery he'd never been to, just a single image and a sentence. so I can't quite quit them. what about you? ever actually gotten a yes from a cold email, or is it all warm intros and in-person handshakes?

I'm thinking about reaching out to a couple of galleries soon. Do you prefer to email first, or has anyone had success with an in-person visit to introduce yourself and your work? I'm curious about what feels most effective.