Ignoring Excuses

Continuing my thoughts from my On Selling Yourself post...

I can't begin to reiterate how important it is to take advantage of what is right there in front of you. For example, many memberships in art organizations include opportunities to keep images of works on file, participate in off-site exhibits in area businesses and to apply for a featured artist page on the website and whatnot. And it never ceases to amaze me how few people actually do so, finding excuses for not taking advantage of these opportunities like:
I don't have anything they'd want.
I'm not ready.
I don't want to take an opportunity away from anyone else.
I'm not going to sell anything there anyway.
I don't want to be associated with that.
My work isn't good enough.
And so on.

But a lot of people do this, even to the point that organizations can actually have a hard time filling vacancies for featured artist pages and off-site shows. I have taken advantage of many such opportunities and wound up getting a lot of them, not necessarily because my work was that incredible or well-suited so much as I actually presented it for consideration. (In one case, I was even the "website featured artist of the month" for multiple months running because no one else submitted anything at all.) So it doesn't behoove you to make excuses for not getting your work out there. I am going to examine some of these excuses to show how it's possible to turn them around and to ready yourself to take advantage of opportunities instead:

I don't have anything they'd want.
Don't belittle your own work and decrease the chances of it getting seen by making vast assumptions about it. A lot of organizations offer a range of opportunities for off-site exhibits that are seeking a range of artworks to show. Let them decide what is and isn't appropriate - they have a better sense for it. That said, if you know from actually inquiring that your work isn't applicable at all and you want to take advantage of such an opportunity, you may want to consider exploring some other options in series or something. Or just try again later - new opportunities come up all the time and something you did that was ill-suited for one thing may be perfect for another. It is important to keep trying and not to give up.

I'm not ready.
Then get ready. Don't fall back on this same excuse time and time again - let it be a kick in the pants to do something about it for the next time. Be prepared and do the leg work beforehand. A lot of artists make up new packets for everything they try for despite the fact that each of these individual packets may be very similar. Worse yet, some people don't even keep the old packets and instead just get rid of all of their hard work after the application process has passed. But it is simply not efficient to reinvent the wheel every time you need a cart. Make up some generic packets for the purpose of taking advantage of opportunities. Make these as simple and versatile as possible so you can change them to suit different things as they come up. Templates for cover letters, image sheets and other packet information can be easily adapted to suit whatever so that you don't have to rewrite everything from scratch every time. Keep these generic packets up to date and reflective of your current work and get into a habit of shooting digital images of artworks as you complete them so that you have images of those new pieces as well.

I don't want to take an opportunity away from anyone else.
There are a lot of things to consider here. For one thing, others will likely not be nearly so polite to you or concerned about depriving you of anything. And just because you're taking advantage of something doesn't mean you deprived someone else of a chance at it. What if no one else is taking advantage of it either? Those opportunities that no one is pursuing at all very quickly cease to exist because not enough people are pursuing them. So you may actually be helping others by fostering an opportunity so it can continue to be offered, and you'll benefit as well.

I'm not going to sell anything there anyway.
This is difficult to judge and you can be surprised by what sells pretty much anywhere you take your art because you may not be entirely aware of the clientele or of your own audience. So don't deny yourself potential sales opportunities. Some businesses actually pay artists and art organizations for the privilege of hanging artwork in their establishments, so there may be other monetary considerations as well (not just for your benefit as an artist but for the organization to which you belong and wish to foster).

I don't want to be associated with that.
I don't get why people would be involved in an organization with which they wouldn't want to associate in the first place, but I suppose for some really well-established artists with gallery representation showing in certain circumstances could easily be construed as a step down. However elitism for its own sake is rarely a benefit as we can actually dissuade ourselves from participating in good opportunities by thinking we're above them. Ask those galleries and individuals that represent you what they think about such an opportunity - they may see it as better than you assumed they would or be able to suggest other things that you could do instead more suited to your standing. (Also ask yourself this: if your representatives aren't already offering plentiful opportunities themselves, then what benefits are they offering and do those benefits outweigh whatever limitations have been placed on yourself in regards to promoting and showing your work yourself?)

My work isn't good enough.
This is easy to fall into. Many artists are very self-critical and their work is actually far better than they perceive it to be. But if you are uncertain about the integrity of your own art, then work to change that. Take classes and workshops so that you can develop and improve skills. Seek advice and criticism from as many people as possible, and don't take their suggestions personally but rather look at those suggestions constructively to determine what you can do to better your art. Get out and see and absorb as much art as possible (not just in the museums, but in the galleries, cooperatives, coffee houses and as many places as possible); expose yourself to a wide range of what's out there and focus on studying how things are made and presented to see where you are in comparison. Your work may be better than you're giving yourself credit for. And you'll likely find a niche suited to your skill level.