ArtBase

I am globing museums, commercial galleries, alternative art spaces, university galleries into one section here. They are all art spaces and they are places where we, the artists, can show work.

Museums and commercial galleries are generally the hardest places to get into unless you are already established. Some contemporary art museum and galleries will have "project spaces" with a corresponding submissions call. Outside of these special circumstances artist have to bank on their unique schmoozing skills, luck, location (living in the same city and going to the same dinner events as the curator or gallery owner does help) and oh yeah... your work shouldn't suck :) As a very wise old gallery owner once told me, I'm partly paraphrasing here,"In the art world there is one element that is valued above all and that is the artist's personality."

Basically the moral of this story is that success at commercial gallery level, and correspondingly at the museum level, does not hinge solely on the quality of your work but also on how you present yourself to the world. Good luck (No rolling eyes here. This is a sincere "good luck":)!

If the above two paragraphs sound to you like rantings of a capitalist pig then university galleries and alternative spaces can be a good match for you.

Alternative spaces range from people's garages that are cleared out for a couple of months a year to well known cultural pillars. These are run, for the most part, by idealistic individuals/groups who are not interested in sales and want to "keep things real." To get into people's garages you have to be a part of the same "scene." In fact that's how art scenes are built, one apartment show at a time. To get into more established places check out their websites, see what the submission policies are. You will generally loose money doing alternative space shows (travel, shipping, time taken off of dayjob(s) all add up) but you will gain great friends, show experience, art connections and some great stories (I, for one, once got to install a show in a burning building... :)

Canada has an amazing non-for-profit gallery scene. These are under "alternative spaces" in my listing. Maybe there are some issues with this breakdown but I really don't care to get into this particular discourse on taxonomy. Call them what you want, the important thing is that they are pretty well funded and usually run by very knowledgeable artists. Artist fees are often payed, part or all of the shipping cost covered and all sort of other things (like hotel costs) unheard of in USA are taken care of.

University galleries also range quite a bit in their scope, funding and public draw. Some are literally there exclusively for the benefit of the art student body and generally don't draw large number of people from the community out side of the department and/or university. Others have ambitious outreach programs and literally have a status of an art museum in their (usually smaller) communities. University galleries generally have calls for submissions for a given academic year. So around April/May you will see calls for the following Fall and Spring semester shows. Since most university galleries don't post calls on their websites, you will find most of these on CAA website under "opportunities" and art deadlines list.

Finally, a disclaimer: remember that the info above is a generalization presented by a single individual (who likes to listen to himself talk... i mean why else become university professor. health insurance?) so research the places you are sending submissions to. You will find some amazing people in all four areas of the art world.

Museums

Commercial Galleries

University Galleries

Alternative Spaces

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