How I became a gallery curator.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve been a little less active on here than I usually am. I love this newsletter, so it’s not like me to neglect it like this. Now, that’s partially because it’s summer, and I needed to swim so badly that being land-locked felt like I was being locked up.

But there’s also another, more exciting reason I’ve been a little radio-silent. I’ve been busy working on something really, really cool!!

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Many of you on here are familiar with my work as a pottery instructor. I joined a local art studio a few years ago so I could practice my ceramics, but pretty much only got to spend time there in the summers, since I was mostly living in Pittsburgh at the time.

After I graduated college, I was going more consistently, and I got to know a lot of the other instructors there. After a while, they became familiar with my work and decided that they wanted to have me join their team. I was hired this past fall, and I’ve been working there ever since.

(Here’s some of my work!!)

Now, I love my studio a lot, but I couldn’t help but notice how small our numbers were compared to the level of talent our instructors possessed. We have so many talented and passionate craftsmen, I couldn’t understand it. That’s when I realized one of our biggest problems—people just didn’t know we existed.

About a month back, we were in the process of planning out our summer class schedules, when I proposed a way we could bring more attention to the studio. I wanted to put together a gallery show.

My hope for this event was to promote the studio and bring more people in to take classes and participate in open studio workshops. I wanted a way for all of our instructors and members to showcase their artwork, and for everyone to get the chance to sell the pieces they’ve worked so hard on.

My proposal consisted of a brief description of what I wanted to do, as well as a poster mock-up and a mood board for the event. I created a more in-depth marketing plan and included it towards the end of the presentation.

After my proposal, our team was completely on board. I was put in charge of the event, and we started to discuss potential dates for the event.

The thing is, this is my very first time curating a gallery show. It’s my first time putting together any kind of event, actually. The entire process has been a huge learning opportunity for me, so I don’t want it to seem like I’m speaking from a place of experience. I’m sharing what I’ve learned, and hopefully, it will lead to something lovely.

I’m sort of treating this the way I treated the design work I did for my Substack rebrand. I’m just here to share my process, not to tell you how to do it.

I’m learning a lot as I go, so I’m sure there are plenty of things I can change and improve on. But again, it’s my first show. I’m so happy that I’m getting the chance to do this at all.

Since our studio is in an old firehouse, it’s got large open spaces perfect for studio work, but it also has some more traditional living spaces. It basically just looks like a big house. It’s also in a residential neighborhood, so it adds to the overall homeyness of the place.

Our gallery space doesn’t quite look like a traditional gallery. Instead of the white walls and the sterile atmosphere you’ve come to expect from most high-end art galleries, our space has got colorful, peach-colored walls, and green linoleum floors. It has cozy Turkish rugs, warm wood panels, adorable, functional pottery and gorgeous wood carvings. It was used as more often as an office space and store area, than a gallery space where we hosted events.

Initially, I struggled to think of how we would adapt this space that we’ve used mostly recreationally, for a formal event. That’s when I realized I didn’t need it to feel so formal, but decided to lean into the warmth and coziness of the space.

I had seen people do pop-up galleries in New York, putting on shows in apartments, and leaning into the lived-in style, rather than a high-brow style of artwork. It made art feel more accessible to people, while also creating a space that was accessible to artists to display their work.

I thought this idea really suited the space I had to work with. I created this mood board as sort of a way to show everyone at the studio what I was talking about, in case they hadn’t seen one of these pop-up galleries before.

I really liked the the idea of using what we had, rather than trying to pretend that we are something we’re not. We are working artists, not art dealers or gallerists. Although, that’s something I’m personally working towards, my fellow artists don’t have those same ambitions, they just want to make art and spread that love for art to others in the community. I want our gallery exhibit to reflect who we are as artists.

Although my first poster design was informative, I think the gray wasn’t quite as eye-catching as I wanted it to be.

I knew I wanted to do something that stood out, something that felt like you could tell it was an art event just by looking at it. I also didn’t want it to feel upscale or formal, it should feel playful and fun.

I really liked the way these posters all played with the lettering. The titles were all big, bold and eye-catching, and all of the information was relatively small, but still incorporated into the the space in an interesting way. They had everything you needed to know without sacrificing any of the aesthetics.

I designed my poster on Canva, and although I originally tried some of the templates, I inevitably landed on putting the poster together by hand.

I liked how this one ended up because it looked like the lettering was opening up around the artwork. I thought it was playful enough to illustrate the kind of energy I want to create for the space.

Because our studio is relatively small, we don’t have a large network of contacts, which is something I wanted to develop for us.

I did so first, by researching local gallery coordinators so that we could build a community of other artists and people involved in the art world. That way, we could get involved with local events in the future and deepen friendships with these other businesses in the area.

Second, I researched other local nonprofits involved in the arts and found pages that listed their board members. I wanted to develop relationships with people who may not be artists, but who were interested in art and attending these kinds of art-centered events, people who are passionate about the arts and getting involved with their community.

I also ended up deciding to contact my own personal networking connections, ones I’ve made through working, volunteering, and schooling. I wanted to focus on people I had closer relationships with that did gallery work, worked in museums, and teaching.

For all of those contacts, I wanted to send a specific, personalized invitation, so it felt more thoughtful and friendly. I thought thats since it’s an invitation, it was ok if it looked a little more informative than artistic. I landed on this as the final design.

All of the images included on the poster and the invitation are real pieces of art from our collection of artists.

As I researched more about how marketing events worked, I learned that for an event of this size, it’s appropriate to begin sharing your marketing material around 4-6 weeks prior to the actual event. I’ll begin to send out my invitations, put up posters, and create a live Eventbrite page, as well as other social media and digital marketing materials, towards the beginning of July, around a month before the event is going to happen.

Like I mentioned before, our gallery space is more for the studio’s personal use, rather than events. Although we do hold events there occasionally, it is usually other instructors and artists that are involved, so they’re much smaller and more like friendly gatherings.

So, since the space isn’t very public-facing, it can get a bit messy. Because our working studio is in the room next to it, it can also get very dusty from the pottery or wood carvings.

This was the state of our studio before-hand.

Last weekend, I gathered my family for help, and we all spent the day giving the gallery space a huge makeover. This is what it looked like after all of our hard work.

We cleared out all of the furniture that wouldn’t be used for the show, dusted the walls, and scrubbed the floors. I was shocked by how much brighter the space itself looked (I promise I haven’t edited the colors or the lighting at all! These are real before-and-afters.)

Now, it looks much more presentable, but I expect I’ll have to come back again and give it another nice cleaning before the actual show. The artwork on the wall on the left is not going to be included in the actual show. Our instructors will be submitting their best artwork to be displayed, and the final pieces won’t be revealed until the gallery opening.

There’s still a lot of work left to do, but I can’t wait to put this show together. I’m so proud of my studio, and I’m so happy to be curating my very first gallery show, especially for a group of artists that I feel so close to.

I’ll make sure to share more updates as things come along!

XO

Maria

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