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How to market yourself as an artist.

Monday Jul 04, 2005.     By Joanne Hinkel

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Calling all struggling artists! This week's column is devoted to you. Whether you finished art school last month, graduated 10 years ago or never went through formal training at all, we know that the task of trying to sell one's artwork can seem like a nearly a impossible mission. Belly up to this article and learn a thing or two about the art of persuading a gallery to carry your work.

According to those in the know, the most important thing you can do is to put together a sophisticated artist submission. "When you're making a submission, make it professional, not only concerning the artwork, but to the level of your career as an artist," says Emily Scott, manager of Zolla/Lieberman Gallery. "It means following up with a phone call, treating [the submission] as a job interview, because that's what it is."

Scott defines a professional artist submission as consisting of the following: a well-written artist statement no longer than one page, bio and collection of images, all put together in a package with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, which is either mailed to or dropped off at the gallery. Scott suggests checking the gallery's Web site or calling ahead to find out what format the gallery prefers for reviewing images (CD, slides, etc.).

Scott warns that these faux pas land your application in the landfill: typos and grammar errors, hand-written notes, stacks of announcement cards and poor quality images. Researching the galleries and then targeting the ones that relate to your work makes all the difference, too: Why try to sell your sculptures to a gallery specializing in photography? You get the picture, so to speak.

Although Zolla/Lieberman Gallery receives about five artist submissions per week, Scott concedes that 95 percent of these artists are turned away. As one of the city's best and oldest champions of contemporary art, the gallery has the luxury of being highly selective. As it is, the 25 or so artists the gallery already represents only show once every three years, allowing for the scant and occasional addition of new artists to its roster.

Local painter Sally Ko recently sent out five artist submissions. Ko is an unusual case study, as she currently sells her explosively colorful abstract paintings without proper gallery representation. For the past two years Ko has represented herself, renting a storefront studio in Pilsen that she opens to the public once a month for the neighborhood's Second Fridays event. Within this time, Ko has sold about 30 of her paintings. She now has private collectors calling her, and trendy South Loop restaurant Gioco owns one of her pieces; Ko is well on her way.

But it has been and will be a patient process. Ko applies the slow and steady adage to her goal of finding gallery representation. She relates the process of connecting with the right gallery to dating, as a process of discovery and relationship building. "It's a long term commitment," Ko says. "You just have to keep trying."

As a photographer, painter and digital artist, Kevin Swallow, like Ko, Swallow has taken alternate routes to building his art career. Since he works a nine-to-five job in Internet marketing, Swallow is well seasoned in self-promotion and networking. At the start, he joined Friends of the Arts, a not-for-profit arts support group that helps artists to place their work in cafes and restaurants. Swallow has sold several of his photographs and paintings at galleries; he sold 10 out of 33 works at a solo show at Cafe Boost.

"You have to keep doing things to make sure your art is out there on a regular basis," Swallow says. In suit, Swallow created his own artist Web site, which he says has been essential for his development, selling artwork virtually through Acrylicpixel.com. In one instance, a guy living in Indiana who was homesick bought some photographs Swallow took of Chicago for his wife's birthday and for his office.

"Today everyone gets so busy, there's no excuse for an artist not to have a Web site," Swallow says. "Digital cameras are so much cheaper [than they used to be]; you can email your images. Having a Web site levels the playing field for everyone. You can get yourself to galleries overseas."

Whatever your strategy may be, there is no quick or easy fix for artists looking to make a living from art. The idea of the starving artist may be cliche, but it's not entirely baseless. To take it slow and steady may be the best piece of advice. As Ko says, "Being an artist is a life-long commitment."

A shortlist of networking and community resources for emerging artists: Chicago Gallery News; Chicagogallerynews.com.
A listserv highlighting Chicago galleries and exhibits featured at them: Chicagart.net
Friends of the Art: Fota.com; The Chicago Artists' Coalition; Cacoline.org

[Both of the above images are by local artist Kevin Swallow. The top image represents a gallery show of his work at Izzo/Jones Gallery in Chicago, IL. The second image, "The Opposite Loft," is an acrylic painting on canvas. For more info on Kevin Swallow, please visit www.acrylicpixel.com.]