Blueprint for a Successful Show

I am feeling nostalgic. Here in Madison, Wisconsin, our city-wide gallery night event recently concluded. The bi-yearly event is an opportunity to visit area galleries and retail stores with featured artists. A few years ago, I had an opportunity to be an artist at a fall gallery night. As I reflect on that event and the planning that went into it, I’d like to share a guide and checklist as you prepare to showcase your art. I owe the success of this show to careful planning. All shows are slightly different. Here are ideas that helped me, and hopefully will help you.

Items to consider as you plan

There are a number of moving parts in planning a show, and depending on your level of involvement (i.e. a reception, promotions, etc.), responsibilities and timing need to be taken into consideration. 

Once the date of the show is established, work backwards in planning your event. This will help you have a realistic idea of how much time you need to prepare for each task. For my event, I had 3 months to plan. I work full-time, which left weekends and most evenings to accomplish my tasks. This meant that over the weekends and evenings, I would need to select prints, arrange for framing and other activities to prepare for the show. If you have more time, take advantage of it.

Theme: Determine the overall theme of the show. A cohesive style will go a long way in making your display polished and “together”. For this show, I decided to focus on displaying the versatility of gyotaku and not the perfection of the final prints. I accomplished this by creating gyotaku prints of various types of fish, octopus and oysters. This manageable goal helped me focus on the next tasks as I prepared for the show. 

Title of the show: Your show title will have an impact on what your audience expects to see when they visit your work. The title can also help you stay focused as you plan on what to exhibit.

Number of prints: Depending on the exhibit space, plan how many prints you can have, their size and space between each piece. Ask for help in narrowing your selection. Too many prints will be overwhelming.

Framing: Determine your budget and amount of time needed to frame items. I like the solid black frames with a white matte. I think this style looks good with my black and white gyotaku prints. Your art might look better displayed with natural-colored wood frames. Recently, I saw an art piece displayed as a banner hung on a tree branch. It worked!

Wall tags: Make sure your wall tags have your name, title of the piece, the medium used in creating your print, price and contact info. Use an easy-to-read font. Avoid handwriting your wall tags unless it’s part of your show vibe.

Reception: Are you responsible for providing food and drink? If so, contact a caterer as soon as possible (they book fast). Determine your budget and the type of food you’d like to serve. I strongly suggest finger-foods that can easily be carried on a plate so viewers can wander with their plate while viewing your work. In other words, no hard to eat food items that need to be nibbled around, or saucy, drippy items.

Photographer: We live in a visual world. Hire a photographer for your event. Make sure you have attendees permission to take their photos especially if you will be posting them on social media.

Marketing: Is the gallery promoting your event? If so, great! Use this also as an opportunity to send invitations (via postal mail and social media) to your friends and followers. Add anticipation with your followers by posting progress and updates leading up to your show.

Selling: Are you selling artwork? Make sure you and the gallery have ironed out details on commissions and other financial matters. How will you collect payment? If you will be accepting payments via Venmo or other electronic means, run a few tests a week before the event to iron out any issues.

Pricing: Determine the price of each artwork. It might be helpful to have a price sheet that lists all your work that potential customers can take home. Make sure your contact information is on this sheet.

Your artist bio and statement: Have a framed (or displayed) bio with your photo. In your artist statement, describe what makes you the artist that you are. Your vision and goals. Keep it succinct.

Dress rehearsal: A few days before the show bring in your art pieces and hang them on the walls. If it’s not possible to hang the items, lean them on the wall to determine how you will arrange your art. Draw a thumbnail sketch of what piece will hang where. Make a note to bring a level, extra wire and hanging hooks just in case they will be needed.

Make notes on what will be needed the day of the event.

What to pack:

• Equally-sized and professional-looking wall tags. 
• Find out ahead of time what type of adhesive can be used to mount signs on the wall (i.e. Stickum/Blue Tac)
• Price sheets of your artwork with your contact information.
• Red Dots to place on sold artwork. Place the dots on the card and not on the frame.
• Business cards
• Guest book—for names, mailing, and email addresses
• Pens
• Do you have an email list? Now’s the time to have a sheet inviting folks to sign up so you can announce any upcoming exhibits or classes.
• A notebook. What’s going well? What can be done better the next time? Take notes as soon as possible. Because chances are, in the flurry of events you will forget.
• A positive attitude. Yeah! It’s go time! It’s going to be great!

Day of the event 

Arrive early. If you can hang art before the day of the event, take advantage of that. Walk through the gallery looking at your art with an objective eye. 

Dress professionally. Like you’re a serious artist. Because you are. Pro-tip: don’t dress to blend in. If people have questions, they will need to find you easily.

Sold a piece? Congratulations! Be ready to take down your buyer’s name and address. More on that in the next section. As much as possible, have the sold piece stay in the gallery (with the “sold” Red Dot), to keep your show cohesive and inspire other buyers.

Post-event 

The show doesn’t end when the last, lingering guest leaves. Now’s the time to thank people for coming, and keep them informed for upcoming events or classes. Refer to your guest book for this information.

Send your buyer a card to thank them for their purchase.

Keep folks informed of any upcoming events. Don’t forget to add your social media handle to your email so interested people can keep in touch, follow you and see what great art you’re creating.

A downloadable check list of what we covered is here, along with a few blank fields for you to add your own notes. Feel free to download and use this planning sheet as you prepare for your show.

Think about other things that will help create a memorable and reflective show for your guests. What other tasks would you do to create a successful show?