Comments on: How do you know if your art exhibit is successful?

By: Tina Mammoser

Tina Mammoser — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 11:08:40 +0000

As I haven’t had a solo show in some time (I’ve been focusing on continual representation with galleries year-round) this is something I really need to do and you’ve made me think about why it’s such a strong need to me! Thanks! My reasons are, I think, that I feel a need to get my work and exposure to the next level. That involves several of your points: building my mailing list further, getting my work in front of certain people, getting my work where it might be reviewed, and I do think I need to talk about my work more. Public speaking doesn’t phase me in the least but I haven’t ever actually spoken about my work in a structured event. Off to email someone about that now!

By: Susie Monday

Susie Monday — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:10:23 +0000

Timely as usual — today I am working on a series plan for a solo show in August an art center in Rockport, a small but active coastal community. I am going to journal about what “success” would mean to me with this show. Its my first solo show since I was a student, and it was unsolicited, and that gives me a tiny foot up on the ladder of “success” to start!

By: Alyson B. Stanfield

Alyson B. Stanfield — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 04:48:48 +0000

Lynda: I hope you come back often, too! I love this: “Just remember that the show is a temporary and passing event, while my ability to commit myself to and be deeply moved by the process, is permanent!” Liza: Yep, make it worth your while or don’t do it at all. Your reputation is at stake. Tammy: That’s very exciting and your site looks fantastic. Congratulations!

By: Tammy VItale

Tammy VItale — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:45:27 +0000

An artist pal and I are putting a show together – we started it ostensibly to try to get in at one space (where I expect they really won’t look at the proposal at all), and then our creative energies got all tangled up together (we’ve never worked together before) and all of a sudden this exhilerating new thing that started to really stretch my conceptions about myself and art and how it all works started to happen. So we’re putting an interactive show together to see where it will take us (personally and profesisonaly). If you’d asked about something like this a month ago, I would have given you a blank stare! Check out: http://bodypolitics.allzah.com/ – and although the original venue might not bite, in the short meantime I’ve found another venuw that is VERY interested. =]

By: liza myers

liza myers — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:37:06 +0000

Hi Alyson, you always find a way to tweak my perspective. I never used to think about whether an exhibition was “worth it” or not. To add the line to my resumé was the paramount reason for submitting. In the last several years however I have become much more selective. It takes a lot of thought, time and energy to put a good show together. And putting a bad show together is a very bad idea.

By: Lynda Lehmann

Lynda Lehmann — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:09:08 +0000

Alyson, you have a great blog here, and I hope to get back to read it more often! I have a solo show of my paintings coming up and the Opening Reception is in two weeks. So this post is pertinent to me right now. Of course I like to see my work well-spaced in a large, well-lit gallery, instead of too closely arranged on my crowded walls at home. And I hope for some publicity, new contacts, and some sales and “potential” customers, as well. But I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks: How do I reconcile the marketing/show aspect, which brings in the element of self-consciousness and possible (negative) criticism, with the freedom, spontaneity, and joy I feel when I am immersed in the creative act itself? My answer to myself: Just remember that the show is a temporary and passing event, while my ability to commit myself to and be deeply moved by the process, is permanent! And maybe in a holistic, whole-life sense, this is much more important!