Galleries.....making contact

Lisa Allen · Post by **Lisa Allen** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 2:36 pm

Ok, so I have a list of galleries that I would like to contact about my work. What now? What is the best way to approach them through the mail (none are near me). Send a color brochure, send a wholesale price list with pics of each piece, send a letter of interest.......or all of the above?

I am lost in this process and don't have much of a resume yet, no formal art education and only a few workshops, so I can't pad it very much with thrilling, extensive lists. Hoping that the work will sell itself I guess. And, I want the contact to be as professionally organized as possible since I feel like I am at a novice's disadvantage. How do you pros out there make contact?

Also, here is a pic of a new, finished piece. It is 16"x16".

If you can think of any galleries that might want work like this, I would love to know that as well.

Thanks, Lisa

Kitty · Post by **Kitty** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 3:52 pm

my strongest business comes from art museums because the size of the orders is much larger than retail galleries. those plates of yours are dynamite, and perfect for museum stores. a few weeks ago marty posted a response to a similar inquiry, and his suggestion was to have a run of color postcards made by Modern Postcard, send out a few hundred, and then make a follow-up telephone call. i think you'll do a lot better than you think. there are various museum directories, but it would be best to call each one and find out the name of the buyer. kitty.

Bert Weiss · Post by **Bert Weiss** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 11:38 pm

Lisa

I would subscribe to Crafts Report and American Craft magazines.

The most successful gallery artists do the wholesale shows, Rosen and ACC. Doing these shows costs thousands of dollars, but pays off for people doing really good work. If it were as simple as making a few phone calls, I don't think people would bother doing the shows.

When you are doing a wholesale show you have to figure that at least 20% of your wholesale price goes to the cost of doing the marketing. At that rate, if a show costs $3000 to do, you have to sell $15,000 to break even. The math is daunting, but that is the biz.

Steph Mader · Post by **Steph Mader** » Fri Apr 18, 2003 11:54 pm

Bert, what are you saying? I'm not getting the math.

Steph

Gale aka artistefem · Post by **Gale aka artistefem** » Sat Apr 19, 2003 9:24 am

I would subscribe to Crafts Report and American Craft magazines.

Each month in Craft Report, there's a section covering galleries with their contact info and what the managers/owners are looking for in the way of new work. A different region of the US is profiled each magazine.

Also, amazingly enough, you can do cold-calls via the internet. Two years ago, I sent inquiry emails to galleries around the country where I had an interest in being represented.

The return rate of response email was 65%. Forty five % of these were willing to accept digital images as the initial point of visual contact and the other two % asked for the traditional form of slides.

Hard to say how many galleries will be responsive via internet cold-calls, right now with the economic slowdown, but it's certainly worth a try.