How to Arrange Your Own Art Exhibition©
Posted: Friday, July 01, 2011
by Arlene Wright-Correll
http://www.learn-america.com
This week’s “Art Only Spoken Here” question asks, “There are very few art galleries where I live and I would seriously like to arrange my own art exhibition. Do you have any suggestions?”
First and foremost make sure you have an adequate, easy to get to location for your exhibition, create a budget for your event and then a check list and stick to it. If you don’t have a good location, perhaps a local business that has the space such as your bank might consider sponsoring you in their lobby. Offer them 10 to 20% of any sale proceeds for their favorite charity in return for the space and any other help they might offer.
Create invitations and use an image for your invitation that shows a good example of the artwork you want to exhibit in your show. Make sure the invitation includes the place, time, date, gallery or studio hours and the phone number. Make sure the spelling is correct and I would advise you to have at least two other people “proof read” it to make sure everything is correct.
If you are using a printer to create your invitations then spell things out telling him or her exactly what you want done and give yourself enough time to have the printing done and to get the invitations out. If you are doing it yourself make sure you have a good graphic printer and use good paper.
Make a list of people you want to send these invitations to and give them enough time to put it on their calendar and I suggest your guests receive them at least 3 weeks prior to your exhibition. Make sure your invitations indicate you want an RSVP. Be prepared to serve light refreshments. Many exhibitions serve wine and depending on your budget you may want to contact a local winery to sponsor you suggesting that the benefit to them would be to have exposure for their products and winery if they provided the wine at no cost to you. You might have a private evening VIP opening say on a Friday evening for the wine part of your exhibition and a non-wine public opening say on Saturday and Sunday with just soft drinks and light refreshments for these days and remember this might mean two mail outs and perhaps two different media releases.
I also suggest you carry some invitations with you in the event you want to hand one to someone not on your list. Make a pdf file and email mail it out to all your email contacts, also at least 3 weeks prior to your exhibition. If you belong to an art guild then get the information to them and ask them to send it along to their members.
Create a catalog whether you are using a printer or doing it yourself and make sure your catalog includes a brief bio of your self with a picture and contact information, a small picture of each art piece you are exhibiting with it’s title, small description and price. Have enough printed for each guest. Have a guest book for the guests to sign in as they arrive as you want to gather enough information for future “snail” mail and emails.
Do not forget your media releases. Local papers, national papers, magazines, arts TV programs, etc, should all receive your media release (radio stations too). Write your release exactly as you would want it to read.
Have all your art hung, labeled and everything ready for your opening and have some help greeting the guests and be prepared to sell, sell, sell your artwork.
May the Creative Force be With You….
Arlene Wright-Correll
If your birthday falls between July 1st, & July 31st stop in for a visit at Avalon Stained Glass School & Creativity Center during our business hours and pick up your free birthday gift. There is nothing to buy and these birthday gifts will range from $10.00 to $150.00 so it might be your lucky day. Questions? Just email me at askarlene@scrtc.com
First and foremost make sure you have an adequate, easy to get to location for your exhibition, create a budget for your event and then a check list and stick to it. If you don’t have a good location, perhaps a local business that has the space such as your bank might consider sponsoring you in their lobby. Offer them 10 to 20% of any sale proceeds for their favorite charity in return for the space and any other help they might offer.
If you are using a printer to create your invitations then spell things out telling him or her exactly what you want done and give yourself enough time to have the printing done and to get the invitations out. If you are doing it yourself make sure you have a good graphic printer and use good paper.
Make a list of people you want to send these invitations to and give them enough time to put it on their calendar and I suggest your guests receive them at least 3 weeks prior to your exhibition. Make sure your invitations indicate you want an RSVP. Be prepared to serve light refreshments. Many exhibitions serve wine and depending on your budget you may want to contact a local winery to sponsor you suggesting that the benefit to them would be to have exposure for their products and winery if they provided the wine at no cost to you. You might have a private evening VIP opening say on a Friday evening for the wine part of your exhibition and a non-wine public opening say on Saturday and Sunday with just soft drinks and light refreshments for these days and remember this might mean two mail outs and perhaps two different media releases.
I also suggest you carry some invitations with you in the event you want to hand one to someone not on your list. Make a pdf file and email mail it out to all your email contacts, also at least 3 weeks prior to your exhibition. If you belong to an art guild then get the information to them and ask them to send it along to their members.
Create a catalog whether you are using a printer or doing it yourself and make sure your catalog includes a brief bio of your self with a picture and contact information, a small picture of each art piece you are exhibiting with it’s title, small description and price. Have enough printed for each guest. Have a guest book for the guests to sign in as they arrive as you want to gather enough information for future “snail” mail and emails.
Do not forget your media releases. Local papers, national papers, magazines, arts TV programs, etc, should all receive your media release (radio stations too). Write your release exactly as you would want it to read.
Have all your art hung, labeled and everything ready for your opening and have some help greeting the guests and be prepared to sell, sell, sell your artwork.
May the Creative Force be With You….
Arlene Wright-Correll
If your birthday falls between July 1st, & July 31st stop in for a visit at Avalon Stained Glass School & Creativity Center during our business hours and pick up your free birthday gift. There is nothing to buy and these birthday gifts will range from $10.00 to $150.00 so it might be your lucky day. Questions? Just email me at askarlene@scrtc.com
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