What I Learned from Being Part of a Local Art Gallery

Being part of a local artist cooperative, community or pop-up gallery or even a pop-up exhibition can be a really valuable part of developing an art practice.

There is, of course, a lot that can be learned by making art alone. But there is something quite different about spending time alongside other artists: seeing how they work, talking about materials and processes, meeting the people who buy art, and discovering all the practical things that sit around the business of being an artist.

It's about more than putting your work on the wall

There is an important distinction between exhibiting your work in a gallery and actually being involved in running one.

If you simply submit some artwork to a gallery, the gallery may take care of the display, customer enquiries and sales. That's undoubtedly useful, but you don't necessarily get to see what happens on the other side of the transaction.

A pop-up gallery or artist cooperative can work differently. Often, the artists involved take turns doing shifts to actually run the shop or exhibition space. You might spend a few hours behind the desk alongside another artist, welcoming visitors, answering questions, processing sales and generally helping to keep the space running.

This can be a fantastic learning opportunity. You get to see first-hand how people respond to artwork, what questions they ask, what makes them stop and look, what they pick up and put down, and what ultimately persuades someone to make a purchase. You also learn all the little practical things that are difficult to understand when you're only seeing the finished exhibition from the outside.

The same principle can apply to a pop-up exhibition or group show where several artists are working together as an exhibiting team. Being involved in setting up, invigilating, talking to visitors, taking down the exhibition and dealing with the practicalities gives you a much better understanding of how exhibitions actually work.

For me, this hands-on element is one of the biggest benefits of being part of a creative community.

Learning how other artists make and sell prints

If you make original artwork, prints can be a useful way of making your work available at a different price point. But there are surprisingly many decisions involved in producing them.

Being around other artists gave me the opportunity to find out how different people approached photographing or scanning their original artwork, preparing files, choosing printers, selecting paper and deciding how to present the finished prints.

This kind of practical knowledge can save a huge amount of trial and error.

Discovering different merchandise options

The same applies to merchandise. Not every type of artwork translates well onto every type of product, and seeing what other artists had chosen to produce was a useful way of discovering the possibilities.

Cards, notebooks, decorations, textiles and other products can all work for different styles of artwork, but there is also the question of whether producing them fits with your values and the kind of art business you want to build. Talking to other artists can help you understand what suppliers are available, what has worked for them and what hasn't.

Learning how to display artwork

Displaying artwork is a skill in itself. A painting can look completely different depending on where and how it is presented, and a gallery environment gives you the opportunity to see lots of different approaches side by side.

You can learn about different framing options, presentation styles and ways of arranging collections of work. There are also the practical details like how to hang work securely and safely, and how to get a whole row of paintings looking reasonably even.

Finding out why people actually buy art

One of the most interesting parts of being in a gallery is talking to customers. As artists, it is very easy to make assumptions about why someone might buy a piece of artwork. Talking to people who are actually considering a purchase gives you a much more useful picture.

Someone might come into a gallery because they already know the work of a particular artist. Someone might have recently moved house and be looking for artwork for their new home. Someone might be looking for a gift. And sometimes someone simply sees something they love!

These conversations can be incredibly useful for understanding how people discover art, what catches their attention and what helps them decide to buy. That doesn’t mean you should start making art in a particular way simply because you think it is what people will want. Your creative practice is your own. But understanding what has attracted customers to particular pieces can provide valuable insights into how people respond to artwork and may help you feel more confident and informed when talking to potential buyers.

Learning strategies for selling artwork

Galleries can also provide ideas about ways of encouraging sales without simply reducing the price of everything. For example, a gallery might experiment with:

• Time-limited special offers

• Vouchers towards a future purchase

• Discounts when buying multiple items

• Seasonal sales

• Gallery events

• Special exhibitions or themed collections

  
  

Seeing how different approaches work in practice can help artists think more strategically about selling their own work. It also reinforces an important point: selling art is not simply about putting a painting on a wall and hoping somebody buys it. There are lots of ways to create opportunities for people to discover, engage with and eventually purchase artwork.

Discovering opportunities you wouldn't otherwise hear about

Being part of an artist community can also open doors to opportunities that you might never have found on your own.

Artists talk! They share information about exhibitions, open calls, competitions, workshops, grants, local events and creative opportunities.

You might hear about an art competition because another artist is entering it. Someone might mention a local council grant that they need collaboration for. Another artist might tell you about an exhibition looking for submissions.

Not every opportunity will be right for you, but simply knowing that it exists can make a difference. This is one of the less obvious benefits of artist networking: information travels through relationships.

Seeing lots of different kinds of art

There is also a much simpler benefit to being surrounded by other artists: you get to look at art, and lots of it!

You see different approaches to colour, composition, subject matter, materials and presentation. You see things you love, things you don't understand, things you would never have thought of making and things that make you want to immediately go home and try something new.

You also get to know the people behind the work in a unique way that the average passing customer will not, as they will become your colleagues. Talking to artists about why they make what they make can be just as interesting as looking at the finished artwork. Everyone has different experiences, interests and reasons for creating.

Discovering new materials and processes

Artists are also remarkably good at introducing each other to materials. You might see somebody using a particular type of paper, paint, printing process, fabric, found object or unconventional material that you've never encountered before. A conversation that starts with "What is that?" can lead to a completely new direction for your own work.

This is particularly relevant to the Making Practice, where curiosity and experimentation are such an important part of the process. Sometimes the best ideas come from seeing what somebody else is doing and wondering, What would happen if I tried that?

Finding useful materials through other artists

Artist communities can also create opportunities for materials to be reused.

Artists accumulate things. Paper scraps. Fabric. Packaging. Frames. Paint. Cardboard. Odd bits of wood. Half-used materials from projects that never quite went where they were supposed to.

Sometimes another artist has exactly what you need and no longer has a use for it. And sometimes members of the public donate materials because they know that artists will actually make something with them.

This is one of the things I particularly like about creative communities: materials can move from one person's "I don't know what to do with this" pile into somebody else's next project.

Learning about commissions

A local gallery can also be a useful route into commissions. Someone who is looking for a particular piece of artwork may approach a gallery because they know it is a place where they can find several local artists. That means the opportunity doesn't necessarily depend on the customer already knowing your name.

Being part of a gallery can therefore put your work in front of people who might never have found your website or social media account independently.

Sharing recommendations for suppliers

There are so many choices around frames, mounts and presentation, and different artwork requires different approaches. Other artists can recommend framers, suppliers and practical solutions that they've already tried.

The same goes for packaging. How do you safely package an original painting? Can you send a glass frame in the post? What about an unframed print – should it be rolled or sent flat? Learning from somebody else's experience can save you from making expensive mistakes.

Sharing costs and practical jobs

Being an artist can sometimes feel like being a glorified pack horse, with the amount of time you spend moving work between locations, and often transporting materials too. But being part of an artist community can make the practical side of exhibiting easier.

For example, transporting artwork to and from exhibitions can be awkward and expensive. If several artists are attending the same event, it may be possible to share transport or other expenses.

The same principle can apply to printers, framers and suppliers. If several people are using the same service, there may be opportunities to share recommendations, orders or simply the effort involved in collecting and transporting materials.

It is another example of something that becomes easier when you're not trying to do everything completely alone.

Picking up ideas for marketing

Business cards seem like a tiny detail until you need to design one. What information should you include and how should it be presented?

Seeing how other artists approach their cards, labels, packaging and promotional material can give you ideas for your own. It is also useful to hear what information customers actually request to allow them to find out more about an artist.

Learning how to price artwork

Pricing artwork can be one of the most difficult parts of becoming a professional artist.

Being around other artists gives you the opportunity to hear different approaches to pricing, including how artists think about materials, time, size, experience, framing, commissions and the market they are working in. You can begin to understand the wider context in which you are pricing your own work.

Learning about the business side of being an artist

Perhaps one of the most useful things about an artist cooperative is that you discover just how much of being an artist happens outside the studio.

There are questions about:

• Registering and organising an art business

• Keeping financial records

• Invoicing

• Expenses

• Pricing

• Insurance

• Tax

• Websites and social media

• Marketing

• Selling online

• Keeping track of stock

• Packaging and postage

Nobody starts out knowing all of this.

And while there is plenty of information available online, talking to someone who is actually doing it can make the whole thing feel much more manageable.

The value of learning alongside other artists

Perhaps the biggest lesson is that an art practice doesn't have to be developed in isolation.

Being part of a local artist community provides opportunities to learn practical skills, exchange ideas, discover opportunities, share resources and understand the realities of selling artwork.

And importantly, you don't necessarily need to join a permanent gallery or formal artist cooperative to get these benefits. A temporary pop-up shop, group exhibition, community art event or artist-led project can provide many of the same opportunities.

The key is being involved.

If you simply drop off your artwork and come back at the end to collect it, you miss a lot of what there is to learn. If you take a shift, help install the exhibition, talk to visitors, work alongside other artists and get involved in the practical side, you become part of the process rather than simply supplying the artwork.

But there is also something less tangible.

It gives you people to talk to about making things.

People who understand why you might be excited about a particular piece of paper, obsessed with finding the perfect frame, or unable to throw away an interesting piece of packaging because surely it could be used for something.

You don't have to work in exactly the same way as the people around you. In fact, it can be more useful if you don't.

The point isn't to copy other artists. It is to be curious about what they're doing, take what is useful, leave what isn't, and allow the conversations and experiences to feed your own practice.

Making doesn't have to happen alone. Sometimes the best way to develop your art practice is to become part of the community around it.