Well this week I submitted two bodies of work to a local cultural arts center for a possible exhibition next year. Just after picking up my rejected material from the local coop gallery last week my wife and I stopped by the cultural arts center. We happened to catch the curator there setting up the next exhibit. While the primary call to artist for next year's exhibits was over, the curator did say that if I brought something in it may be taken in as a late submittal. So I submitted two bodies of work - People of the Plateau and Simple Impressions. These are very different bodies of work. Given the quick turn time I didn't have the usual time to research what type of work they usually accept. We will see. But the arts center is in a bigger town and a bit more progressive. That leads me to an additional comment on the coop gallery rejection.
After talking with the coop gallery jury foreman, it quickly became apparent that even though I had asked specifically about the galleries recent decline in photographic work, the answer was not correct. It turns out that photographic work had not been selling well so they were really not inclined to accept new photographic work. In addition, it appears the jury foreman was somewhat new to that position. Unfortunately that is who I talked to the most before choosing a body of work. This is a small town and without going into specifics, the jury "just didn't get it" when it came to several of the impressionistic images. So live and learn.
As for the Cultural Arts Center submission, only time will tell. While a show there will not necessarily result in direct sales, it does increase your name recognition and may result in indirect sales on your website.
The blog image is a promo I created for the People of the Plateau. I gave a copy of this to the curator hoping he would hang it on the bulletin board in his office he mentioned the week before. Click here if you haven't visited my People of the Plateau website gallery before to see more.
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