Monday, April 19, 2010

Dear Gallery, Shit or Get off the Pot. Please.

As an artist I am feeling really frustrated and even slightly abused so forgive me now because I gotta vent! I’m overworked, too often ignored and always underpaid (as are most of us). What happened to that magic feeling I had as a newbie to galleries? That joy of having my work in multiple galleries and being so thrilled that it was selling on a regular basis? Well after hundreds of unanswered emails and phone calls placed over the last decade, gallery owners that don’t pay for months on end until you chase them down, and galleries that put out calls for artists to go through the jury process and then never respond, I think I the “magic” is fading.


My current issue is with 2 galleries, one in Vermont and one in N.H., both with whom I have been trying to get response for about six months. Why is it that some galleries put out calls to artists and then never respond? Could they possibly not understand how much time it takes us to put together these complex jury packets they request? Do they think we are all just playing around with our Crayolas and that we have all the time in the world to fill out endless forms, burn image C.D.’s and write updated artist statements and biographies?

Of the two galleries that are currently keeping me in limbo one has received my application, cashed my check (6 months ago) and responds to my bimonthly emails with incredibly apologetic responses promising to “investigate” and get and answer back to me “immediately”. The other gallery finally responded after I went to a higher up upon the advice of the Vermont Crafts Council. The “higher up person” stated that I would be contacted on a certain date which has now come and gone, still no response. One of the galleries keeps saying “We love your silk paintings, they are amazing. We can’t imagine how this happened and we apologize.” Well that is lovely, I am truly glad you like my work but you have been saying that for six months now so forgive my language but “Shit or get off the pot people”. Either accept my work into your gallery or let me move onto the joyful experience of the next jury process.
Amen.....I'm done.....Thank you for your ear. I am heading into the studio to paint now (which is what this "Art" thing was supposed to be all about).

2 comments:

  1. Thank goodness, we can paint and get out some of the angst. People say to me "how lucky you are to make art". Yes, the making of art is a pleasure, but marketing art is getting more difficult as the depression deepens. And the work of making art saleable is a whole other form of work. Magic is renewable, hope you are finding yours right now.

    Word verification "ingun"

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  2. Thanks for understanding Maggie. I always value your input. Sometimes I really miss the days of pure experimentation before I started selling my work. But now I seem so busy with art-WORK that I can't wait to get out of the studio at the end of the day and don't have the energy to experiment.(Don't get me wrong I still feel blessed to have this as my job)

    To help heal this issue I have started sitting in the evening with a small journal and just doodling & sketching while Don and I have our Netflix movie of the night ritual. It is a soothing time out of the studio and away from "work" but still linked into the creative spirit. It has also birthed a really cool idea that I will share with you soon.

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