SPEAK UP: Getting to Know Others By Giving a Gallery Talk
by Robert Bean with permission for 1stAngel
It’s finally up on the walls. Months of work, years even. You’re standing there, spinning slowly in the middle of the gallery, basking in the self-loving glow of your artwork on the walls. The mailer has been mailed, email notices delivered, and a press release sent out. You might have even put up a few posters here and there, and posted to a few forums. You’re ready for the opening reception, with those thousands of people (you hope) rushing through the front door to see what new genius you’ve adorned the empty white walls with.
And then you spend the next several hours answering questions, many of them the same questions, to many different people, with a big grin on your face the whole time. You explain how you use your materials, you explain why you picked your subject matter, why you like this color over that one, and why you only work on canvas or paper, or why sculpture is your medium of choice. You tell many people, time and again, what made you decide to be an artist in the first place.
By the end of the night, you can’t remember who you’ve talked to and what you’ve said. You know yourself and your work inside and out, and you’ve proved that as the hours marched on during the reception.
But do you know anything about the people that asked the questions? The ones who are interested in your work? What’s their take on the images you’ve created? If you spend all your time answering the same questions over and over, this information is hard to come by.
As an artist, creating images and objects comes naturally to you. Speaking may not, but speaking is how you will connect with those that enjoy your work and those that will collect it. By working with the gallery owner and employing a gallery talk at your opening, you can answer a lot of those questions early on that may get asked over and over otherwise. And that gives you time to get to know those interested in your work a little better.
A gallery talk does not have to be a scary thing – even if you’re apprehensive about speaking in front of a crowd of people. Unless you’re speaking in an academic setting, your talk doesn’t have to be long (and even in the academic setting it’s wise to not put your audience to sleep with every little story from your past explaining your growth as an artist). Think of the basic questions someone who doesn’t know you might want to know about you and your work:
? Who are you? What’s your professional background?
? What led you to creating art? Why do you do it?
? What inspires you? What informs your work and leads to your ideas?
? How do you create it? What mediums do you use and how do you use them?
? What kind of experience do you hope a viewer gets out of seeing your work?
These are fairly simple and straightforward questions, and should be questions that you can answer easily. Use them as the foundation for your talk, answering them as you move along through your talking points.
But, you want to add a personal touch as well. Find a few anecdotes and stories that you can slip in between those questions that may help illuminate what you’re talking about, or put your answers to those questions into real life situations everyone can relate to.
For example, one of the stories I sometimes slip into talks about my work comes from years ago when I painted a very abstract painting of a mouse’s head. Without telling a friend of mine what the subject matter was, I had him look at the painting and asked him what he could see. His response?
“Jesus.”
I painted a mouse, and he sees Jesus Christ. Once I got over my bewilderment at his response, the situation became a turning point in how I approached art, because I came to realize that no matter what I create, no matter my intent, it will always be colored by the individual perceptions of those who view it. When I use that story, I like to work it into my talk about the time I’m explaining what inspires me and how I go about creating the work I create.
By taking the time to give a talk about your work, you give the attendees of your opening a chance to get to know you, and your work, all at once. Make sure you work in time for a question and answer session after you get through the talk as well. People love to ask questions, and it will allow them to feel closer to your work. And, as the reception continues on into the evening (or afternoon, or morning), you’ll be presented with a better chance to get to know those that have taken the time to come see what you’ve been creating. You’ll find out more about who they are, and why they like, or don’t like, what you’ve been doing.
You already know who you are, and you know your work – give a gallery talk, and give yourself a chance to find out who the people looking at your work are, and what they like and don’t like. You’ve already had a chance to express yourself, give them the chance to do the same.
Robert Bean is a practicing artist that resides in Little Rock, Arkansas. His work is collected throughout the United States and has been included in several competitives and exhibitions. Examples of his work can be found at his website, www.rbfineart.com. You can read more of his thoughts on art and being an artist on his online journal, Scribbles & Smudges, at http://rbfineart.livejournal.com.
This article ©2008 Robert Bean.
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