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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?

so I did the thing everyone tells you to do. packed up a small stack of prints, drove three hours to a gallery that had a call out, walked in with the portfolio under my arm like I had anywhere else to be. woman at the desk was nice, said the owner would look. he came out, flipped the first page for maybe 8 seconds. then set it down on the counter and asked if I'd emailed it. as if that was the real door and I'd knocked on the wrong one. my honest take now: email first, and only walk in if you're already in the neighborhood. the in-person thing feels brave but it mostly just gives them a story about the person who came by. but I keep hearing people swear the walk-in is what worked for them. so. which is it. do you email, or do you show up, and did the one that worked actually work the first time or the tenth

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.

Genuine question, because I think I've been doing it wrong for years. First time I tried, maybe 2009, I put on a decent jacket, took a folder of photos, and walked into a gallery on rue Auguste Comte with no appointment. The woman at the desk looked at me like I'd brought a dead animal into the room. I got maybe ninety seconds. Never heard anything back, obviously. Since then it's email only for me. Short message, three or four images, dimensions, price if they ask. Boring but it has actually worked twice. So which is it for you? Email or walk in? And if you walk in, how do you do it without it going badly? I suspect there are people here who have made the in-person thing work and I'd like to know how.