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Bow Skills Workshop: approaching and presenting your work to galleries with Art & People
Thursday 17th August 2023 , 6:00pm to 8:00pm
This workshop has now sold out. Please email nunnery@bowarts.com to be added to the waitlist.
Join art advisor, gallerist, and founder of Art & People Claudia Kennaugh as she gives us the lowdown on best practice when it comes to approaching galleries and representatives, presenting your work, and how to advocate for yourself in these contexts.
It can be hard to know where to start when it comes to approaching galleries and effectively presenting your work in a way that really lands. “Where do we find the opportunities? What do we say? Who should we approach first?” are some of the many questions that artists find themselves stuck on.
In the first part of this interactive workshop, Claudia will walk through a simple 101 guide on presenting your work, alongside sharing insights from her years of experience in the sector on the different representatives, open calls, and types of opportunities that artists can consider.
In the second half, Claudia will open up the floor for a whole host of exploratory activities, role-play, and opportunities for individual feedback as artists put into practice the lessons learnt from the first part of the session and experiment with how these conversations and connections actually work in real life contexts.
In this workshop, Claudia will mainly be focusing on approaching and presenting your work to galleries. However, she will also share her insights on how to approach art institutions too.
Elements of this workshop are highly interactive. However, all activities are entirely optional – participants are invited to take part and share what is comfortable for them, however much or little that might be.
Session overview:
- Introduction to the guest speaker’s professional practice
- A practical guide on presenting your work and different representatives and open calls to consider
- The chance for artists to role-play scenarios, so they can experiment and practice how conversations and connections work in real life contexts
- Opportunity to network and meet other artists with similar experiences, who are working and practicing today
What you will gain:
- Practical advice and information on how to approach and present your work to galleries
- An understanding of the gallery’s perspective in these scenarios and what they are looking for in artists who approach them
- An insight how other artists practicing today are approaching this topic
- A new network of artists and creative professionals
This workshop has now sold out. Please email nunnery@bowarts.com to be added to the waitlist.
Concession rate applies to students, over 65s, under 18s, Bow Arts artists, National Art Pass members, and key workers
More about Art & People and Claudia Kennaugh
Art & People is a Bristol-based art advisory service offering guidance to artists and collectors. Prior to launching in 2019, founder Claudia Kennaugh worked in the arts for 15 years. First as a songwriter and performing artist and then art advisor and gallery partner. Over her years co-running the Hollywood Road Gallery, London – established by her family in 1980 – she curated countless fairs and exhibitions with hand-sourced artworks from the UK, Europe & South America. During this time, she nurtured the careers of many artists. Her dual experience of life on both sides of the business motivated her to create a service that helps the people who create art, just as much as those who collect it.
Today, Art & People supports the professional development of early-mid career artists with one-to-one coaching, online tutorials and workshops. By partnering with organisations such as Bow Arts Trust, Spike Island, Visual Artists Ireland and Wimbledon Art Studios, Claudia helps to foster thriving artist communities with her practical group sessions. Claudia’s curating work continues both in exhibitions and in people’s homes, where she helps collectors to buy, frame and hang art that they love. Her keen curatorial eye is eagerly sought after and in 2022 she was on the judging panel of Jackson’s Painting Prize. By guiding artists and collectors simultaneously, Claudia creates new connections and opportunities, bringing it all full circle.
About Bow Skills
Bow Arts seeks to support creative professionals at all stages of their careers. In 2015 Bow Arts launched Bow Skills in response to an artist survey which showed over 90% of practicing artists find it useful to receive further support outside formal education.
Bow Skills is a dynamic and relevant programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) which is informed by an artist steering group and open to all creative practitioners across London. The programme of talks, panel discussions, new skills labs and peer crits is open to all, with concession rates available to students, over 65s, under 18s, Bow Arts artists and key workers.
Access information
The Bow Arts Trust office has step-free access throughout from street level, including to the accessible toilet, and is service animal friendly. This venue does not have a hearing loop system. Accessible parking is not available on-site but blue badge parking can be found 500m away on Fairfield Road.
If you have any questions regarding accessibility at this venue or event, would like to make us aware of any access requirements that you have in advance of visiting, or would like this information in an alternate format including Easy Read, please email nunnery@bowarts.com or call 020 8980 7774 (Ext. 3)
Access requirements could include things like providing equipment, services or support (e.g. information in Easy Read, speech to text software, additional 1:1 support), adjusting workshop timings (e.g. more break times), adjustments to the event space (e.g. making sure you have a table near the entrance) or anything else you can think of!
Transport Information
Opening hours: Mon-Friday, 9am to 5pm
Address: Bow Arts Trust, 183 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ
Nearest station(s): Bow Road (District and Hammersmith and City lines) is a 6-minute walk away, and Bow Church (DLR) is a 3-minute walk away.
Bus: 205, 25, 425, A8, D8, 108, 276, 488 and 8 all service the surrounding area.
Bike: Bicycle parking is located at Bow Church Station. The nearest Santander Cycles docking station is at Bow Church Station.
