by Monique Brand
Whether you’re exhibiting your own artwork or someone else’s, setting up an art exhibition can be a creative, fulfilling endeavor in itself. And making a successful art show is very rewarding.
However, it does have its challenges and you’ll need good planning to pull it off. No worries! The “PR Lady” is here to help you.
Here’s 5 easy steps to have a successful art show a hit:
1. Choose a theme. It’s not enough to simply have lots of artwork you’d like to exhibit; in order to tie each piece together, you need to come up with a focus. More importantly, however, this doubles as a marketing technique – especially for little-known or unknown artists – by drawing people who are specifically interested in the concept being explored.
HINT: Choosing a theme will also help with a few of the more practical aspects of the exhibit, such as what to title it. As you see in this picture of my art show last year, my art was focused on my travels around the world…. hence the title of the name.
2. Find other artists to exhibit with. I love working with other artist…. it takes so much pressure off of yourself! My suggestion is to browse at local art clubs or street markets where you see artists with good work on sale. Ask anyone you know who is an artist in your community. Artists with related (or even contradictory) themes will help create a group momentum.
HINT: Don’t limit yourself to artists within your own medium. Consider paintings, sculptures, models, photos, glass work, performance pieces, etc. to create amazing collabs.
3. Find a location for your exhibition. This is where your budget comes to play! . Depending on the extremes of the project, however, many different kinds of spaces will do, including a warehouse, restaurant, café, library, or even someone’s home. Ensure that the space chosen is well-presented, clean, and appropriately sized for your exhibit.
HINT: Be sure to choose a place that is thematically appropriate for your work. A modern space with laminated flooring and white or pale, non-patterned walls will go with just about any exhibit. Like for instance, with my art show we did in Orlando was a hit!…. as you can see in the picture… it was simple lighting and aqua walls.
4. Set a date. I cannot STRESS THIS ENOUGH! Give yourself plenty of time to pull everything together or else you might end up with a sloppy job and poor sales. It is always best to hold an art exhibition so that it includes a weekend. This will allow those working during weekdays to attend and often families will make an outing of the event.
5. Be sales-savvy. On the eve of the event and the day of, addition to selling the artwork, it can also be profitable to print cards with photos of the artwork and sell in packs.. If a percentage (or all) of the proceeds go to charity, promote that. I guarantee its a better chance people will come and buy your art.
Hope this helps!
..Until Next Time.