Every time I ask a gallery owner how they found the new artist they are so excited about, they describe a process of discovery:

• “She was featured on a local TV show.”  
• “I read about him in Colossal (an online art & design magazine).”   
• “I found her work at the MFA graduation show.”  
• “I saw his work on Instagram.”
• “An artist we represent introduced her.”

Notice the language here. Galleries like to discover artists. They want to find you, instead of being bombarded by your emails. Even galleries reviewing portfolio submissions tend to respond to artists whose work they have already seen or heard about. Your job is to be visible, to get on the radar of galleries that interest you.

First, do your research, both online and on foot. Identify a short list of galleries that could be right for you. Start local! Pay attention to galleries in your own city or region. This will make your process logistically easier, and you will build your confidence and skills as you go.   

As you review galleries, notice that most of them have a focus. They may show only abstract art, or documentary photography, or works on paper, or minimalist work. This is called their “program” or “aesthetic.” By looking quickly at each artist represented, you’ll see what they have in common. Would your own work fit into the overall look and feel of the gallery?

Pay attention to how each gallery talks about their artists. They may say they represent “emerging artists” or “mid-career artists,” but you need to know what that means. Review each artist and check to see where they are in their careers. Sometimes a gallery’s “emerging” artists have long and impressive resumes.   

When you have identified 6-8 galleries that interest you, let everyone in your network know who is on your short list and why. Ask them for other suggestions. Ask them for introductions. Be open to new ideas. If well-known galleries are outside your reach right now, consider new galleries or artist-run spaces.    

Then begin the process of becoming visible to the galleries on your list.  

• Get on their mailing list.

• Attend a number of events at the gallery, so that your face becomes familiar.  

• Also visit the gallery at a quiet time. Ask questions about the artists they show. Don’t try to promote yourself, just get to know the gallery’s interests.

• If you are active on social media, follow your chosen galleries and “like” what they do.

During your visits to a gallery, always be prepared for the unexpected. Although you’re not there to promote yourself, sometimes you strike up a conversation with gallery staff. Make a connection if you can. If they seem receptive, ask about how they find new artists.

After you have done your research, and visited your top galleries, see if you can find someone in your network who is willing to introduce you. The best person is an artist friend who is already showing there. Choose someone who is at a point in their career when they are willing to be generous to other artists.  

Finding a gallery is a slow, incremental process. It requires you to operate in two opposite ways simultaneously. You are planful and systematic, doing careful research, while also staying open to the random nature of the art universe. You reach out to others, asking for advice, referrals, introductions.

Most important, make yourself visible. Put your name, and your face, and your art out there in the world.
 
Mary Edwards, Ph.D.
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I am a Career & Life Coach for Artists. Visit www.coachingforartists.com to find out more or email me directly at coaching@coachingforartists.com to send a comment or ask a question.

*Please note: I recently published a longer version of this article in the March Newsletter for www.callforentries.com. This is a well-curated site which lists open calls for artists and photographers. Take a look, you can join for free! 

When artists are asked to write about their work, they often resist, thinking that it isn’t important or that someone else could do it for them.  

The purpose of good art writing is to illuminate your work. After you’re famous the critics will take over the task, but right now it’s up to you. You can ask for help polishing the writing later, but the first words must come from you.  

A good statement is powerful and personal and takes real effort to do well. It is worth your time now because it forms the foundation of other documents you’ll need as your career progresses. Here’s a short list:  
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• an artist statement
• a narrative biography
• a letter (or email) to a gallery
• a profile on your social media site
• a proposal to a museum
• a “statement of purpose” for a grant or residency application
• the “about” page on your website

So start with your statement. 

Write in your own voice. Use “I” and “me” and “my.” Your statement should sound like you on a good day, when you are rested and clear. Artists sometimes think that a statement needs to be full of big words--that it has to sound fancy to be good. The opposite is true. Clear, simple language is always best. 

Here are 7 questions to help you think about what you want to say. You can use them to prepare a new statement or revise the one you have. 
​

1. What is your intention as an artist? Why do you make art?
2. What subjects or ideas interest you?
3. How do you get inspired to create a new work of art?
4. Describe your process. How do you select and work with materials? 
5. What should the viewer notice when they look at your work? Are there details or techniques that are typical of you?
6. Who are the other artists you especially admire? How have they influenced you?
7. What else would you like viewers to know, to help them appreciate your art?

The first three questions overlap, as they suggest different ways for you to think about what your art is all about. This is often the hardest part to write, so if you get stuck just go on to other questions and come back later.

Questions 4 & 5 ask you to get specific about your process and materials. The best statements are grounded in the details of your work. When you’re trying to write about your art, don’t stare out the window! Look at your work and at the materials you use to make it.

Here are a few examples of artists being specific: 

"When I paint bits of light on leaves, the paint itself becomes those flickers of light moving through the field." (Janet Jacobs)

"For example, I call this series “Escaping the Noise” because the city is seen from far away in my compositions..."  (Patricia Oji)

"My sculptures incorporate unusual materials, like assorted ribbons, pipe cleaners, and tinsel..." (Erika Roth)

Question 6 is optional. It asks you to think about artists who have inspired you. Choose two or three and describe how their work influences your own. Be specific. You might mention their color palette, or subject matter, or technique. 

Question 7 lets you include anything else you want people to know. Just be sure to keep the focus on your art.

Your statement will probably go through several rough drafts as you struggle to tell the truth about your art. The first draft might be full of repetition and awkward language. I call this "the ugly draft." Don’t worry, you will get there. The final version should be no more than a page, and ideally shorter than that. 

As your art develops, you’ll revise the statement. When you create a new series you might add a paragraph or two. Your statement is a living thing, and grows with you.

Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D.
Career & Life Coach for Artists

To receive Free Tips for Artists (twice a month), visit www.coachingforartists.com and click on “Mailing List Sign-Up.”  If you would like to schedule a time to talk, write to Mary at:  coaching@coachingforartists.com. 

​“Do more of what is working, do less of what isn’t, and try on new behaviors to see if they produce better results.” 

​Canfield’s advice assumes that the only thing you control is your own behavior—what you do, or don’t do, every day. For artists who are struggling to make their way in the confusing art world, it’s a strategy worth trying.  

Start by identifying what’s working in your art practice, and then do more of it. Maybe you love being in your studio, or taking art classes, or visiting other artists.  So try doubling the amount of time you spend doing these activities. The best part of the exercise is that you have to think about what is working in your art practice, and that alone can make you feel less stuck. 
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Then think about what’s NOT working. Most of the artists I know come up with this list easily!  But instead of complaining, slowly begin to do less of the things that aren’t working for you. Maybe you’ve been volunteering as a docent at a museum, and you get little out of it. So you cut back on your hours.  Making small changes, wherever you can, puts you in motion and gives you control over your life.

The last part of Canfield’s advice is to try on new behaviors to see if you get better results. Even though artists are the most imaginative people I know, they sometimes have difficulty bringing an experimental spirit to their art career.  

New behaviors are often tiny, and work only gradually. If you have a to-do list that never gets done, try breaking down your first item into smaller and smaller bits. Eventually you reach an action that is so small it is laughable, and easily done, so you do it. And then you do the next one, because you have broken the logjam. For most of us, it is easier to keep going than to begin.  Set yourself in motion. 

The best new behaviors get you out of your head and into the world, so that you are engaged with others. Make an appointment with someone, perhaps to ask for advice about museums you’re interested in. The best kind of appointment is one where you need to prepare ahead of time, so that you’re forced to complete a task you’ve been avoiding. In this example you’ll need to make a list of museums, and visit their websites, so you have your questions ready. Just making the appointment gets you started.

The opposite of being stuck is to be in motion. Motion can be physical (making that phone call) or mental (thinking about what’s working in your art practice) or emotional (feeling that new behaviors could make a difference).   

So, ask yourself:

•  What’s working for me?
•  What’s not working for me?
•  What new behaviors do I want to try?

Let me know what you discover.

Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D. 
Career & Life Coach for Artists
www.coachingforartists.com

I’m a Career and Life Coach for Artists, based in the San Francisco Bay Area and working with artists across the United States and internationally. If you’d like to ask a question or set up a time to talk, please write to me at:
coaching@coachingforartists.com.  

Before you go on a trip there’s a lot you have to do. You buy tickets, book a place to stay, find someone to feed the cat, and pack a suitcase. You get ready.

What does it mean for an artist to be ready? It’s not a passive state, where you sit around waiting to be discovered. Getting ready involves intense preparation for what hasn’t happened yet, and won’t, unless you are ready.

This preparation is especially important because the art world seems to function in a random way. Your friend gets into a gallery even though you’re the better painter. A jeweler’s ordinary work is selling out on Etsy.com, while your one-of-a-kind pieces attract few buyers. That photographer’s fuzzy experiments get reviewed in Lensculture and suddenly he’s a phenomenon. If you are an emerging artist, you have to ignore all of this noise and concentrate on one thing: getting ready.

Perhaps the best way to understand this idea is to remember the last time a moment of opportunity appeared, and then quickly disappeared, because you were not ready.

Here are some examples:

• You meet a gallery owner at a social event and she says: “Just send me a link to your website.”
• You’re finishing an online submission (due at midnight!) and suddenly the system says: “upload your resume here.”
• A collector sees your work at a friend’s house and asks: “how much is a painting that size?”

Each of these questions assumes that you have an up-do-date website, a resume, and a price list. You want to respond right away, and you can’t. Instead of feeling bad about it, use your energy to get ready. 

Getting ready may take you a few weeks or a few months. You may need help with parts of it. Just remember that getting ready will save you time (and frustration) later on. You will also develop the confidence that comes from knowing you are ready.

Getting ready includes knowing what you want from your art practice. Be honest with yourself about your intentions and circumstances. Think carefully about where you are right now, and what success would look and feel like for you.

What’s important to you? Maybe recognition is your primary goal, or you want to increase sales, or just spend more time in the studio, making art. Take a moment, and try to visualize your own success. What do you imagine? 

You’ll also need to take into account the circumstances in your life. You might have a full-time job, or two small children at home, or elderly parents to care for. Part of getting ready is being clear about what you’re willing and able to do now in order to create the future you envision. 

A successful art career, no matter how you define it, takes time, energy, resources, and (above all) perseverance. You might have to learn new skills, ask other people for advice, put yourself out there and even risk rejection. But nothing will happen until you begin.

Ask yourself, “what’s one thing I can do to get ready?”

Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D. 
Career & Life Coach for Artists
www.coachingforartists.com

I’m a Career and Life Coach for Artists, based in the San Francisco Bay Area and working with artists across the United States and internationally. If you’d like to ask a question or set up a time to talk, please write to me at: coaching@coachingforartists.com. 

Recently I’ve been describing three successful artists with unusual careers. We saw that they were guided by moments of insight and they found a creative community. What else do these artists share?

Alisa Burke (alisaburke.com)
Alisa Burke is a painter, printmaker, teacher and writer. She supports her family by running a multi-faceted art business.  She offers online classes, sells books and DVDS, hosts workshops and retreats, sells her paintings and collages and adult coloring books, and even started a fashion accessory line. Alisa writes a daily blog and has 50,000 followers.

Chris Motley (chrismotleyart.com)
Chris Motley spent 30 years in a “left-brain” job,  as a lawyer in the public sector. She has no formal art credentials.  After retiring from her legal career, she began to knit 3-dimensional sculptures whose originality gradually brought her national recognition. She has shown her work in galleries and art centers across the United States, and recently had a solo museum show.

Lia Cook (liacook.com)
You can find Lia Cook’s ground-breaking work in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian, among many others. She works in a variety of media, combining weaving with painting, photography, video and digital technology. She is currently collaborating with neuroscientists to investigate our emotional response to images by mapping these responses in the brain.   

Alisa, Chris, and Lia share another quality common to artists who eventually become well known. Before they discovered universal themes or reached large audiences, their art was first personal. It grew out of their own lives.

One of Chris Motley’s early sculptures was “Living Alone,” a female torso holding a backscratcher. “It was for me, the essence of my mother’s life after my father died, since she’d never lived alone in her life.” The work is both humorous and sad, conveying complex emotions.

As Motley’s art developed, it became more abstract. Such works as “Confusion” and “Up, Really Down and Up Again” evoke different states of mind that punctuate our days. Other works, such as “Homeless” and “Brown is the New Green,” address issues we face as a society. Motley’s work now explores universal themes, but her Mother’s personal story started it all.

Lia’s Cook’s work with neuroscientists grew out of her own curiosity. “I was always interested in how the brain works.” When she started to explore faces she based her work on her own family photographs. “My mother was a photographer, and so we had a huge collection of family photographs.” She tried using anonymous images, but found that her personal photographs were more evocative. These intimate faces from her early life made viewers recall their own family histories.
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Alisa Burke’s life and business grew out of her personal vision. She created her art business in order to live on her own terms. Alisa was raised in a family of artists, whose pottery studio was part of the family home. She assumed that running a creative business from home was a natural way of life. Alisa integrated her art practice and her life into a creative whole, based on her DNA. “I always saw the world though a lens of creativity.”

Each of these artists reminds us that art grows out of the core of yourself. The famous artists you admire started with a personal vision. Remember this and honor your own beginnings.

All the best,
Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D.
Career & Life Coach for Artists
www.coachingforartists.com

​I’m a Career and Life Coach for Artists, based in the San Francisco Bay Area and working with artists across the United States and internationally.  If you’d like to ask a question or set up a time to talk, please write to me at: coaching@coachingforartists.com.  

In my last blog post (“Moments of Insight”)  I introduced three artists whose unusual careers reveal what successful artists have in common. Here they are again:

Alisa Burke (alisaburke.com)
Alisa Burke is a painter, printmaker, teacher and writer. She supports her family by running a multi-faceted art business. She offers online classes, sells books and DVDS, hosts workshops and retreats, sells her paintings and collages and adult coloring books, and even started a fashion accessory line. Alisa writes a daily blog and has 50,000 followers.

Chris Motley (chrismotleyart.com)
Chris Motley spent 30 years in a “left-brain” job,  as a lawyer in the public sector. She has no formal art credentials. After retiring from her legal career, she began to knit 3-dimensional sculptures whose originality gradually brought her national recognition. She has shown her work in galleries and art centers across the United States, and recently had a solo museum show.

Lia Cook (liacook.com)
You can find Lia Cook’s ground-breaking work in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian, among many others. She works in a variety of media, combining weaving with painting, photography, video and digital technology. She is currently collaborating with neuroscientists to investigate our emotional response to images by mapping these responses in the brain. 

Each of these artists followed her own unique path to success. Yet when asked, “how did your art career happen?” all three artists mentioned the importance of finding a creative community.  Their success didn’t happen alone. They found people who offered support, encouragement, information, validation, and a connection to a wider world.

Lia Cook found her first community of artists when she exhibited her work at the International Biennial of Tapestry in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1973. The opportunity was unusual because established artists were exhibiting their work alongside unknowns. She applied, got in, and as a result got connected to an international group of textile artists, some of them already well known. Fifty years later this network is still part of her creative community.

Chris Motley wouldn’t have become an artist without the support of her community. She met her first critique group at a workshop. When they invited her to join she realized that her fiber sculptures could be taken seriously as art. Another critique group continues to give her feedback on developing work, often encouraging her to explore new directions. Chris also finds community by showing her work at galleries, museums, and art centers across the United States. Whenever possible she shows up at receptions to connect with the other artists.

Alisa Burke created the community that now supports her business. She was one of the earliest art bloggers (2005), sharing her do-it-yourself creative projects before she even had a website. The enthusiastic response to her early efforts established a loyal customer base for all of the products and services she offers today. While Alisa offers many online classes, artists still sign up for the retreats she holds in her home studio several times a year. The human connection is part of a creative community for both Alisa and her students.

These three artists show us the importance of reaching out to other artists and art organizations. When you get a response from the larger world of art you know that your art matters and understand how it fits into a larger context. Being connected to other artists gives you objective feedback and support. A creativity community helps you grow.

Think about it. What can you do to find or develop your own community?   

All the best,
Mary

Mary Edwards, Ph.D. 
Career & Life Coach for Artists
www.coachingforartists.com
​
I’m a Career and Life Coach for Artists, based in the San Francisco Bay Area and working with artists across the United States.  If you’d like to ask a question or set up a time to talk, please write to me at:
​coaching@coachingforartists.com.