What I learnt From Having An Independent Solo Art Exhibition

Many years ago in 2010, I decided to have an art exhibition. I hired a gallery space and had an solo exhibition. This is the lessons I learnt and would do differently next time.

Marketing Is Vital

At the time I had this exhibition, I had no social media accounts, I only had a website. I advertised in the paper and other areas. Even though social media was around at the time, I went for an old fashioned route. A few people that I had never met previously came and one bought an artwork. It wasn’t unsuccessful to advertise in that manner, because with social media, you may have followers from around world, using the local papers to advertise your show allows for local people to come and see your work. With social media especially Instagram style apps, there are hashtags that are associated with your city, i.e. LondonArtist. Posting on those hashtags should be norm so you can attract some people from your hometown, because many people love to support their local artists and businesses. If I ever did this again, I would use both Social media and more old fashion ways to advertise my work. Some people love reading the paper to see what is happening in their town or shun social media. You try to cover different groups of people, for instance, a lot of people that use Instagram are not comfortable with using twitter and that is people who are at least using Social media. I would research marketing ideas to have as many people as I could become aware of a future show.

Research Framers For Quotes

Whether you are hiring a gallery space or chosen to show your work by a gallery, it is normally expected that the artist will pay for the framing fees. Often galleries have their own preferred framers that artists are encouraged to go to, sometimes with a discount given. It is a costly endeavour. I had more choice because I hired the space, but I was encouraged to go to a specific framer. That was a mistake, if you can, shop around and research this topic. One thing these framers told me was that glass was preferred over perspex glass. Now perspex glass is more expensive, it is more durable and stronger then glass. If you submit an artwork for a competition and it is chosen for the show, many art competitions will refuse frames with glass, for safety reasons. This was something I learnt later on because they did not tell me this fact. In general a good framer that is associated with galleries, will have a wide amount of knowledge not just about frames, but the art world in general. Other then the perspex and glass issue, the framers, gave me a great deal of help. These framers are unexpectedly expensive, the price I was quoted for framing all my work was over $7000, as a result I only framed a number of my artworks. Because time was pressing I did the best I could and stuck with the framers. I would not make that mistake again.

Have A Budget

I took everything as it came. That was a mistake, included in the cost of was website fees, hire fees, food and drinks for the opening. Before having your own art exhibition, research everything will need to buy or hire, then make a plan, so you don’t have any unexpected surprises. By doing this early, you won’t feel pressured because of having little time before date. You should not feel pressured into using a company that you feel is charging you too much money or do not trust. This is a big event in your career and since you will already be stressed about showing your work to the public, you should be doing everything you can to minimise your stress levels. Using businesses and hiring a venue you love will give you confidence for opening night. If you market your exhibition correctly, there will be strangers at your exhibition, you want to make the best impression on them.

Not Making Artworks Specifically For The Exhibition

This is one of the ways, the framers that I used helped me. They helped me collate my artworks into a group of artworks that worked together. It was more a best off show then a set of artworks that were made at similar time and with certain mindset, that as result are all connected to each other. Now I would make a project specifically for an exhibition. At the time, I had been painting as a hobby, dreaming becoming an artist, until I finally decided to do it. I went headfirst into this endeavour. It all came quickly, at the time social media was not the same force of nature that it is now, so I decided to have an exhibition. For exhibitions, it is preferred by many galleries that you have a group of around twenty-five to thirty artworks, that all have a similar theme and connection to each other. You are telling a story through your art, people like to know the background of your artworks. It is why artists often give an enormous amount of information about each piece, to help people relate to their artworks. Sometimes they will tell you what piece of music they were listening to, what inspired the work and how they were feeling at that moment in time. Those personal details that make someone say, I understand what you are saying. If you don’t know what information to give, don’t make it up, especially if it is abstract art, because it becomes a creative writing exercise not a way for people understand your work. Tell people the truth, what you were going through when you paint this work, how you felt, what inspired it, all those kind of details. was enlightening and am happy I did it. But I would make many changes and intensely research every detail. If you choose to have your own exhibition, you are responsible for everything and need to plan accordingly. Once you go through it, it won’t be as daunting to have a second exhibition, as it was the first time. Every time you have an exhibition, it will be easier.