PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES

Mary Virginia Swanson: Getting Your Work Out

BY THOMAS GEARTY
Published WINTER 2004

Page 3

TP: What steps would you recommend if my goal was to get work in a gallery?
MVS: Well, I'll tell you, the people who make the decisions on what to show in their galleries are getting tougher and tougher to get in to see. And that's why I underscore the juried shows and the portfolio review events as a way to get to know them.

Certainly put gallery owners and directors on your mailing list. Go to their openings. Become someone that they recognize as an active member of the community. And, if you get to know these people, the golden rule is to ask them what their submission guidelines are. Don't just show up with a box of prints, but have the courtesy to ask them how they like to see work. Do they look at work the first week of every month or do they look at work three times a year? Or do they only do drop-offs?

If you ask, you can learn the way they like to have things done. And there's nothing better than asking first so you will know exactly how they want it. You don't want to be remembered as the person who didn't follow the rules.

You also don't want to send unsolicited work. There's nothing worse than getting a packet in the mail that you didn't ask for and that you now have to go to the post office to return. At that point, the gallery people are not remembering your work at all. They are remembering the fact that you didn't follow the rules. You didn't call in advance, and not only that, you didn't include a FedEx form, so they have to go the post office, because it weighs over a pound. Not what you want to be remembered for!

TP: Do people still want to see slides, or are people looking at work with laptops and CD-ROMs?
MVS: I have to say at portfolio review events people are coming in—and should come in—with prints. If we're talking about a portfolio review event that's really catered to the editorial community, like Photo Fusion in Florida in January, the magazines aren't going to need to see 16" x 20" platinum prints. But if you're going to see people that do show platinum prints, that are interested in craft and the fine print, then you want to put your best foot forward.

And I think a lot of the senior members in the field are not comfortable with laptop viewing, are not comfortable with the CD-ROM. It may be great with them for follow-up later, but not as a first impression. I am a big fan of showing the work in the way you want it to be seen.

TP: How about a follow-up or leave-behind for galleries?
MVS: A card or a folder. Let's just play this through. Let's just say that you've had the opportunity to your show work to a gallery. And whether or not it's in person, you want to make sure that something stays behind with them, so that they don't forget you. So I am seeing more and more folders at that point.

Or you might want to give them a little bit more. You might even want to give them color photocopies of the image that they just saw. You might want to include a set of slides at that point in the folder. It's a place for an artist statement, a place for a résumé, a place for a CD-ROM.

But putting that much effort into something that is a cold-call, essentially, is a little more of a risk. And it's costly. I would say once you've gotten the work in the door, a folder makes a great leave-behind for them.

TP: What about the order of things? For someone just starting out with limited time for marketing, is it better to pursue publication and use that as an entry into the gallery world, or do you have to tackle them both at once? How does someone decide where to make the effort first?
MVS: It's a tough call. Because unfortunately the publications we have to promote our work are fewer and fewer, and with fewer pages. Lesser quality, more advertising—you know the scenario.

I've seen many people self-produce a small brochure that they might self-print, and do 50 of them to send to the galleries and museums they want to get into. That might in fact be better, more effective use of your time—more efficient use of your time—than wishing a magazine will publish five pages in 9 months. I appreciate the publication question, but I think it doesn't always pay off for the effort.

But I will say that too few photographers recognize that there are many subject-oriented magazines that can be perfectly appropriate places to have their work. Audubon, for example, does a fantastic job with contemporary landscape. The Sun and Orion both do a great job publishing a lot of photography. Very small circulations, but maybe very lovely presentation.

TP: What about airline magazines?
MVS: The airline magazines are really overlooked. As are airports for exhibitions. Some of my favorite exhibitions I've seen at the San Francisco airport and the Phoenix airport.

And that gets back to what your audience is. If you have a body of work that has a subject matter that has a broader constituency than just a sophisticated art market, then go for places where that audience will be.

TP: Name the single biggest misconception people have about portfolios.
MVS: Yes! People think they are going to make a living showing their work in galleries.

You may, in fact, have work that will have a broader audience than artists who are very successful in art galleries, but it may be at a science and industry museum, or a natural history museum, or something other than a specific art museum. But your numbers may top those of the top gallery artists.

The misconception is that people think about having a show at a fine art gallery, but they don't realize that maybe they'll have to pay for the prints. They may even have to pay for the frames. And they might have a situation where the gallery may not pay them for 90 days after they sell the print.

Having a show in a gallery is a very expensive investment. And if you are lucky enough to have a show in a gallery, look at it as an investment and help that marketing partner, i.e., your gallery, to do the best job possible to sell that work.

In other words, if you've got a show in a local gallery, go down to that gallery every Saturday of your show. Be there. Ask questions. Offer to do gallery talks every Saturday or something. If you know the critic at the newspaper and they don't, because they are a new, young gallery, take that initiative yourself. Make those contacts for them.

You have to help your marketing partner to market you. You can't just expect to drop in at a gallery, have them take a box of prints, and three years later come back with another box of prints. It needs to be a relationship where you have a dialogue, they have a sense of what your new work is about, and all that sort of stuff. You have to consider it a partnership. It's the only way that you can count on the growth of a relationship.

And you may in your career have more than one partnership. You may have a partner who's a gallery, you may have a partner who's a stock agency, you may have a partner who's a rep. But the bottom line is that all of them have a particular role in your life, and all of them should be considered partners.

TP: So the photographer ought to consider a show in a gallery not just the end, but the means to another opportunity.
MVS: That's absolutely right. It's a means to other opportunities.

You can have a show in the lobby of a corporate building downtown, and use that as a way to invite groups to come and hold their events there and the artist will be present. I think there are many other venues other than traditional galleries that can also get you further along in terms of being collected and being known. You need to be a little entrepreneurial, and if the gallery doors are closed, there's loads of other places that would be happy to have work hanging. From ad agencies to airport lobbies to hotels—you name it.

TP: How does one find those places?
MVS: I think if you put your entrepreneurial hat on, you can't help but notice that when you walk into a place like higher end department stores, they have beautiful still-life work on the wall. How did that happen? Call that corporation and find out who's responsible for the décor in the stores. I actually went into a Banana Republic in Portland and they had an exhibition up of Victor Schrager's work—with a beautiful little brochure. So be entrepreneurial about where things can be. And don't let it just end with "Oh, I can't get into the one big gallery in town."

University art galleries are a great place to go. Public libraries. There are loads of places that would love to have your work on the wall. And it adds a line to your résumé, it adds experience at editing your work, at framing and matting your work. Keep building your mailing list, so every time you have your work shown somewhere, send those things out. People like to know that you're being active with your career.

TP: What about online galleries?
MVS: In today's market, there are a number of venues that are online only that can be terrific places to have your work seen. I'm a real fan of it.

My favorite of all them is Photographer's Showcase, which is a division of PhotoEye books. With any of these—from Photographer's Showcase to Your Wall to Meter, which is the newest, youngest one based out of New York City—always think about the company you keep. In a situation like this, you should be driven by that. If you don't think the work is the best that you're seeing, on that site, then why would you send your work to be seen there?

One of the reasons I like PhotoEye so much is that they've taken the time to keyword the site. If you ask the editors from The New Yorker how they find work, they'll literally say, "I go to PhotoEye.com to their Photographer's Showcase. It's keyworded, I can type in the metaphor that sings through this piece of fiction I've got to find the right image for. And because they've taken the time to keyword it, I can find an image there."

The picture professionals are using this site like they used SWANSTOCK, because it was the stock agency of all fine-art photography. I think that's an interesting thing, to put yourself in a situation where second market sales might come.

But again, first and foremost: the company you keep. I am excited about online opportunities. I really am. And I know photographers who have sold work from Photographer's Showcase, and I have bought work from there.

TP: Do you have to pay to be shown on a site like that?
MVS: You do have to pay to be shown. But it comes to a total for the year of something like $250. Which to me is really minimal. And if your work is sitting next to Raymond Meeks and Maggie Taylor, that's a pretty good place to be.

I think it's important to have a site that's not about the size of your couch and the color of your wall, that's not a décor site, but a really serious photography site. And that's a parameter that I encourage a photographer to follow.

One of the reasons I like PhotoEye so well is that they've been in business an awfully long time as a bookstore. They've had a gallery for 8or 9 years on their own. They know the business. They are not a brand new start-up, and they already had 2,500 people coming a day to buy books. It's a sophisticated audience already coming there to buy books. So that's good company to be in.

And those are the kinds of concerns you should have. Frankly, it's no different from thinking about what gallery or what museum is right for you. What do they show? What are the terms? What kind of exposure will you get? What are the fees?

TP: What about museums? I know that some of them, like MoMA and the Met, have regular drop offs. How does one approach that? Or, should you focus on all the other things and hope that the museum part follows?
MVS: I think the museum drop-offs are absolutely essential, and you should do them every 6 to 9 months if you have new work. Obviously, don't go back with the same body of work, but if your work is moving forward, you want them to know that. The more you show them your work, the more they'll become familiar with their name, with the growing body of work. I think it's important.

TP: So it's not just a black hole?
MVS: I don't think it's a black hole. I really don't. Of course, you're waiting for that note from Peter Galassi saying he'd like to meet with you, but how's he going to know? You've got to step outside your door. And more and more museum people are coming to these portfolio review events. You'll find the occasional curator stepping out to do it, and certainly good photo editors and gallery owners do those things. So I don't think it's a black hole.

I think you also have to recognize that with the fiscal challenges that have come upon us, people have smaller budgets to buy prints and they have smaller budgets to do exhibitions. A museum that may have done three exhibitions a year may have cut down only to one. So not only are we losing exhibition wall space but we're losing the possibility of being bought in.

It may be that if there's a museum you really want to be a part of and they can only afford to buy one print, you might do the courtesy of donating one as well. I mean, I am an advocate for photographers to be paid—don't get me wrong—but you have to recognize the challenges.

TP: Consider the exposure, not the money?
MVS: Yes. Another way to do that is to donate prints to auctions for causes that you really care about. Because I have to tell you, good collectors—especially young collectors—keep an eye on auctions like the San Francisco Camerawork auction, the PhotoReview auction, the Center for Photography at Woodstock auction, Houston Center for Photography. People buy works at those events.

And my best advice to photographers, I have to say, is give your best work. I am so disappointed when I go to an auction and I see work that I know is really a B edit from an A body of work.

TP: Work usually sells for less than a fair price at those auctions. But you think it's worth it?
MVS: Give your A game. Always put your best foot forward. Give your A game every single time.

You never know how many museum curators are there. They might have seen the body of work from drop-offs and they see an image that you never included in the portfolio to them, when in fact it could be a great opportunity to buy an image they've become familiar with and get you into that collection, get a start. So always your best work, especially if they have a catalog—those things live on.

Now, if you are editioning your work and you do have a partner in a gallery—your marketing partner that you have a relationship with—you need to really be in synch about what you're doing in terms of what you're giving away. If they're works out of the edition, if it's the size of a print that's not in your edition. Just make sure you're in a good dialogue with your representative.

My heart is always warmed when I see at every single photo auction is William Wegman. He gives to every one. But it's a size you cannot buy. It's a fantastic gift and it's a way for him to be involved.