Free Workshop: Preparing Yourself and Your Artwork for Gallery Success
About this Event
- Free for NWMIARTS Network Members
Need to join? Add Membership in checkout - $150 public registration
- Location: Petoskey, MI (venue TBD)
Level Up Workshop: Preparing Yourself and Your Artwork for Gallery Success
Making the art is one thing. Finding the right opportunities to show it can be an entirely different skill set.
This hands-on workshop will help artists navigate the process of finding and pursuing exhibition opportunities with greater confidence. Facilitated by artist, educator, and former Crooked Tree Arts Center Visual Arts Director Sheila Ruen, participants will work with their own artistic practice and materials throughout the session.
Together, we'll explore how to find and evaluate calls for art, determine whether an opportunity is a good fit for your work, and prepare the materials needed for a professional submission.
Participants will:
- Find and evaluate real calls for art and exhibition opportunities
- Strengthen the photography, pricing, titles, and artist statements that support a professional submission
- Explore how calls can inspire new work and opportunities
- Develop an exhibition proposal with another artist
- Learn how to communicate effectively with curators and gallery staff
- Talk candidly about rejection and how to keep moving forward
This is a working session, so attendees are encouraged to bring images and information about their own artwork and practice. You'll leave with practical tools, stronger materials, new resources for finding opportunities, and clearer next steps for getting your work out into the world.
Facilitator: Sheila Ruen
Sheila Ruen is an artist, educator, and consultant, currently teaching digital photography at NCMC in Petoskey and serving as a consultant to the Petoskey Public Art Commission. Formerly, Sheila served as the Visual Arts Director at the Crooked Tree Arts Center in Petoskey, Education Director at Ford House in Grosse Pointe Shores, Arts and Design Department Chair at the William Penn Charter Independent Quaker School, in Philadelphia, taught art and textile history at various universities, including Chicago State University, Philadelphia University, and Stanford University, and had an antique textile restoration business. She earned a graduate certificate in Digital Design from the University of Edinburgh, enjoyed a post-graduate painting residency at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Karlsruhe, earned an MFA from the University of Michigan, and a BFA from the California College of Art. Her most recent creative endeavor is called: From Algae to Zeugma, a card game that explores associations between images and texts.
Audience: Who is this for?
This session is designed for:
- Independent Visual Artists
- Emerging Visual Artists
- Mid-Career Visual Artists
About Level Up
Level Up is a professional development series for the arts & culture sector.
Through interactive workshops and expert-led seminars, you will gain valuable skills and insights for growth. Whether you’re looking to improve your fundraising techniques, expand your art business, enhance your curatorial strategies, or foster stronger community engagement, Level Up offers the tools and knowledge to help you succeed.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00 to USD 250.00
