So, you’ve got an undergraduate degree in Art. That’s amazing! Thank you so much for dedicating so many resources (a ton of time, money, energy!) to your career.

Formal study makes a difference, especially when you consider how many folks never do it. There are always a few geniuses (out of millions of arts producers) who don’t need formal art study, but it’s very highly recommended for all the rest of the 99%. Lots of study and tons of hard work.

As you may have noticed, getting a degree in the arts isn’t the same as getting one in Business or Electrical Engineering – there are no recruiters out there fighting each other to give you a job with a huge paycheck and benefits as soon as you get your degree. In many ways, your career is just starting when you finish school. Your writer friends who get MFA’s aren’t writing New York Times best sellers the day after graduation. 

Even your business major friends who get jobs right out of college don’t get hired as the CEO. They start somewhere low on the totem pole and build. And build. And build. And get better and better. And better. It takes time to build a career in the arts.

We can’t guarantee that we have a spot for you just because you studied Art, but we’ve certainly seen some great work coming out of the schools lately. Where you clearly the “star” of your class? Did you study at a prestigious university where all your classmate we’re super smart and very hard working? 

Feel free to TEXT us and leave a message with your full name and city and the letters “BA ART” or “BS ART”.

We’ll Google you and your website will pop up and hopefully some links to some media as well. Don’t sweat it if you don’t have much media at this point; some day you will, just keep working hard and being nice to people. 

If you look like an amazing human being creating stunning art that fits into what we’re doing then go ahead and TEXT us and we’ll get back to you as soon as we get a free moment to schedule a meeting with you: (509) 270-5804.

And, because you’re a smart artist you also understand that our hands are extremely full keeping our business alive and thriving and focusing on the artists that we have already committed to work with so we won’t be able to reply to all inquiries. We care deeply about the artists we already represent. We also respect our commitments and prioritize those over others. Calling you up and explaining to you why you don’t fit right now into our program sounds like a terrible way to spend time for both you and us, doesn’t it?

Thanks again for doing the work, putting in the time. We hope things work out and we can work together someday. It’s awesome that you studied art, but in many ways that‘s just the beginning of your career. 

In the meantime, here are some great articles written by a highly successful arts advisor in California with decades upon decades of experience in the art world : Absolutely Essential Artist Tips, What Galleries Look For In Artists, and Common Misconceptions About Galleries. If you have a lot of experience with commercial fine art galleries then you’ll recognize much of what he says, but some of it will be new to you. These articles will be especially helpful for those artists who haven’t started a new relationship with a gallery in a while, especially a commercial fine art gallery. Have fun!

Lastly, we hope the above articles opened your eyes, but didn’t shock you too much. There’s some great info in there from an experienced arts professional. One thing that we would suggest is that if we don’t reply to you quickly you may wish to start to slowly build a relationship with the gallery. It’s one thing we see missing in Spokane. 

In communities all over the world as we speak artists are developing relationships with galleries. Slowly, purposefully, thoughtfully. They’re attending First Fridays, they’re bringing their friends along to the galleries they want to show in, they’re buying work from the galleries (this is a no brainer, but nobody does it in Spokane – best way to show you really support a gallery is to literally support that gallery - to purchase a piece – it makes a great first impression), they’re getting their friends to buy work, they’re “liking” and “sharing” all the gallery’s social media to get on the gallery’s radar, all the while working on their work, developing a following, and creating a fantastic web presence.

It’s work, alot of work. Okay, a TON of work, but if you’re a real artist you won’t be afraid of putting in the time. A real artist, just MUST create and will do everything necessary to eventually succeed. We know. We’ve been there. We’ve done that work and achieved success. And we know lots of people who have as well. It’s possible, but very difficult. Now’s a good time to get going…