​How to get a gallery show at Commonwheel Artists Co-op

by Juanita Canzoneri
 
As a working artist ( http://www.commonwheel.com/juanita-canzoneri.html ) one of my greatest joys is finding other people who enjoy what I make. And even more when they relate to it so much that they buy it and take it home with them.

There are many ways you can get your work out there. One of them is to apply for a show of your own in a designated gallery space. These opportunities can be rare in frequency and some galleries charge rent for the space. But for the rest of June the door is open here at Commonwheel Artists Co-op.

We are looking for artist groups, individual artists, themed shows with a designated curator, or any other idea for use of our gallery space.

If you’re an individual artist you can all on your own. That’s what I did back in 2003 (before I was a co-op member). They paired me with another artist who had also applied on her own. We’d never met, but her paintings just felt good alongside my mosaic art. My work went on the pedestals and hers hung on the wall. And we were both glad that neither of us had to have a large enough body of work to fill a whole room alone.

We also invite curated shows or themed shows, whether you have all your artists lined up or will issue an open call for art. With group shows we communicate with each artist involved. That takes some of the stress off of the show coordinator.

We hang the show for you. We also provide gallery cards for the work that give the artists name, the title of the work as well as the price and other pertinent details.

We host an opening reception for your show. We provide some of the food, drinks, table dressing and serving dishes. Our members set up the food for the reception, we keep the table stocked, and we clean everything up when the evening’s done. As the featured artist, you are asked to bring your favorite nibbles to share, to be there to meet your adoring public, and talk about your work.

Commonwheel handles all sales, collects and pays sales tax, and pays you for all your items sold.
We publicize your show in print and online media. We create social media and blog posts about you and your work.
And all it takes is a completed application. We don’t even ask you for a jury fee.
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Applications are currently available at http://www.commonwheel.com/visiting-artist.html . You can apply right online or download the form and mail it in.