Week 10

This week was the last third Friday I was going to be able to attend this summer. After a two hour drive in rush hour I arrived with my mom. I was excited to show her where i had been working all summer and introduce her to some of the artists I had met. After giving her a quick tour of the gallery and the art center I got to work. Robin and I leveled off all of the pieces and prepared for the opening. I was really hoping to sell some work this month or at least see something in the gallery get sold. Unfortunately this did not happen. I've been spending the whole summer trying to figure out what motivates people to buy art. This month I noticed that a lot of the people that came through the door either visited with their friends, or walked around and left. Being in an art center, a lot of the people come through for other artists or galleries but still visit other spaces. I feel like there aren't enough people coming through the center strictly to see our pieces. This problem may be rooted in the fact that there isn't a formal marketing plan or much advertising. I was also surprised that the first third Friday had a lot of events ocurring on the first floor and lots of people were in attendance; however, the last two third Fridays have been fairly low in attendance. One income stream that I recently became aware of in art galleries. That is curating shows that require an application fee. Whether the art is chosen or not the submitting artist still has to pay a fee. This money usually goes towards the reviewing and setting up of the show; however, it is also a way to make money. A gallery on the first floor had their annual self-portrait show with over 240 applicants. Only about 40 were accepted. The show brought in hundreds of people and was very enjoyable to attend.