How To Get My Work Seen
This topic is a common one and broadly speaking it is related to all aspects of promoting yourself as an artist.
You may ask:
- How can I sell my work
- How can I get an exhibition my work
- How can I get a curator to see my work
- How can I get gallery representation
- How can I get commissions
It’s a combination of understanding how to present yourself and working on your professional profile and building up experience.
- Having the basics – documentation of your work, CV, Artist Statement, online profile
- Building Relationships – curators, peers, mentors
- Building your audience – digital marketing – social media presence
- Responding to Open Calls – actively going after opportunities
Basically it’s advice on professionalising your practice, some artists will have experience and need help in particular areas, some will be complete beginners.
The administration involved in being an artist needs to be factored into the time an artist spends on their practice and balanced in a way that’s effective for the individual. Generally speaking, a good balance would be to spend one third of your time on the administrative side (promoting work, social media profile, applying for opportunities, writing artist statements etc); a third of your time researching (research on the work you are creating, areas of interest, collecting information, learning techniques, attending exhibitions, researching artists, curators, galleries) and a third of your time creating work.
There are a number of essential Lifelong Learning webinar recordings linked below with experts on various aspects on how to promote yourself and your work. These are essential viewing and the information and tips will end up trickling into most help desk sessions you will have.