Merrimack River Painters

 EXHIIBITION SEASON

By DUSTAN KNIGHT TARBELL

The summer of 2023 breezes in and like many of my cohorts, I am scrambling to make the most of the busy season. All winter and spring we prepare for the summer exhibition season.

Living on the New England seacoast we look forward to tourists and seasonal residents returning with fresh vigor and an eagerness to see what we have been working on during the cold months.

It’s sort of like working the lunch crowd in a Wall Street restaurant – the better prepared you are the more successful you will be.

I want to write about a particular part of the exhibition season that doesn’t get talked about a lot. A professional dancer friend, who is an exciting creative watercolorist, calls it ‘the third act’.

When you take a long overdue look at exhibiting you can easily break the process into three parts.

The first is preparation.

For a working artist that means securing an exhibition opportunity, confirm a timetable and support network, determine a theme and produce the best artwork possible that fits within the theme and is likely to be positively received by the audience that regular attends the exhibition venue you have chosen.

As the day of installation approaches, a long ‘to do’ list includes PR photos, inventory and label lists, invitations, double checking that the work is ready for display, and delivering the work on deadline and/or installing it yourself.

The second act.

Is the actual show and the opening reception.

The third act,

Is perhaps the most important, and YES you are tired and are experiencing a confusing sense of happiness, sadness, frustration and elation. But in fact – this is the time to rev up and make the most of all the time and energy you put into Act 1 and Act 2.

Usually the show is up for just a month. That’s a short time to celebrate it daily on your social media, send out personal invitations to meet your favorite collectors at the show for a personal viewing experience. Get your artist friends to come by so they can see what you are doing and keep you in mind for group shows, and document the show itself.

This last suggestion is often overlooked in the excitement. But believe me, when the show end and the dust settles - its super important to have some photo documentation of your pieces on the wall, in the space, with their show labels along with whatever artistic statement or text you have generated for the show. Keep the leftover postcards and inventory lists to hand out as the year progresses.

Just a hint – most sales happen during the Third Act. Most future opportunities are offered during the Third Act, and more new and re-affirmed art relationships occur during the Third Act.

Exhibiting your artwork is a wonderful, often nerve wracking, part of being a serious artist. It’s always a ‘work in progress’. Saving a little bit of energy for your Third Act could make the experience more

Successful.

Dustan is trying to follow her own advice with a group show at the York Public Library, ME a solo show of 15 pieces at Ceres Bakery in Portsmouth, NH and an Artist Showcase at the Barn Gallery in Oguquit, ME – all in June …she’s gonna need a vacation.