I'm opening a (physical) photo gallery

[paulr]

It might be interesting to talk to Mark Sink at gallerysink.com in Denver. He's been my dealer for years. I don't know if he'd say he's been successful from a financial standpoint ... he's downsized from a brick and mortar commercal gallery to a non-profit art-space to a private dealership / curatorship run from his home, mostly because of economic pressures. But I don't get the impression he has regrets. He's well connected in the art world, unlike a lot of people who try this (on the board of the new contemporary art museum in Denver, and a former Warhol factory member) so I think his expectations have been realistic. He may have some ideas.

[Peter Langham]

Good Luck. I look forward to stopping by. You might want to check in with the Kozals at Studio 391 in Gualala. It is another artist run photo (and other stuff now) gallery in a small coastal town. They might have some good ideas for you.

[Merg Ross]

Sounds like a dream come true, Darin. You are in a great area, surrounded by a lot of talent if you decide to take work on consignment. I visit Half Moon Bay to dine, now I will have another reason!

Wishing you the best for a successful venture.

[Andrew O'Neill]

That's good news, Darin. I hope nothing but success for you... and I hope to visit one day.

Andrew

[Kirk Gittings]

ditto

[sanking]

Hi Darin,

Good luck with your project. Hope you have a lot of success with iet.

Sandy

[smithdoor]

Congrats and good luck photo gallery
If you have a camera please post some photos

Dave

[Darin Boville]

Thanks, everyone, for your supportive words. Here are a few answers to your questions comments--at least as far as I've thought things through--all subject to change on a moment's notice!

--I've struggled with the name. Thought about various "Center for..." formulations. Various "...Workshop" formulations. Generic number names ("Gallery 1234.") I think I'm just going to call it "Darin Boville Gallery" and the sign out by the road will simply say "Photography Gallery." If I dared to put the word "studio" anywhere I'm worried that I'd be deluged with disappointed people looking for wedding photographs or portraits for prom.

--There's not a whole lot in terms of photography galleries in the area. In fact, I'm not really aware of anything south of downtown San Francisco all the way down to north of Carmel. There's a place in Half Moon Bay that is sort of an artist cooperative dealing in all manner of work--they have an invitational photo show every year which is fairly decent. There's something at UC Santa Cruz but not commercial or highly visible. There must be something in Santa Cruz or Monterey but it is not coming to mind. And anyway, that is far too far south for visitors to San Francisco--Half Moon Bay is a day trip. Heading down to Santa Cruz and especially Monterey is an overnight trip.

--The idea about Ted Orland's show and tell gathering and pot-luck is a good one. I'd like to think about how to morph that into something that works in my space. I do have his book but have never read it. I also have two of his prints that my wife bought for me from the Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite when they had a show a few years back. I wandered in, started looking at the prints--didn't know much about Orland--and started laughing out loud with mirth at his images. Damn funny, many of them. I'd like to get more someday. But I digress...

--Regarding the danger of overhead costs, I spent about nine months looking for a place nearby where I live. Most of the obvious locations were too expensive--rent plus all the rest would push me toward $4000-5000 a month. That's a lot of pressure. Didn't want that. What I have going now will not be any pressure at all. If I sell stuff or make money in other ways, fine. If not, fine. My goal is to experiment learn, and have fun.

--Regarding what I plan to sell: My thinking (very tentative) is that there are a lot of educated people, sophisticated people, people with good jobs--especially in tech--who really aren't interested in the art-school stuff that is shown in major photo galleries. Just not their thing plus I don't think they groove on the high b.s. factor that goes along with a lot of contemporary art. However, good landscape work is a different issue. Steve Jobs owned Ansel Adams prints. People can get into landscape work without going to art school and they can continue to be interested in it even as they learn and grow in their appreciation of photography. Somehow it speaks to something important to people, something primal. This appreciation may be just a factor of this time and place in history but it is also true that it won't be changing anytime soon-in fact, as we face greater environmental pressures landscape will only gain in strength as a genre. Within landscape I *think* I want to focus (not exclusively) on California with bonus points for work made along the San Mateo coast. But I will watch out for being pigeonholed--but perfectly aware that being "pigeonholed" is just another word for strong brand awareness. I also want to show good work from outside of California and other genres, too. I'd love to have a "Nude" show with really great work drawn from anywhere in the world, for example.

--Mark Sink in Denver carried my work way back in when he first opened his brick and mortar gallery. I don't recall anything selling. There was one set of prints that he almost sold to a major hotel chain but didn't work out. I got those back and then sold them to one of the Weston family members, in carmel. I was in DC at the time.

--The space is 400 sq ft and I'll open--I hope--in mid-February. I need to install lighting, etc and figure out innumerable other issues large and small. There may be room to expand if things go well. I'd love to meet with anyone who lives nearby and anyone who is coming to the area.

Thanks for all your words of support!

--Darin

[Andrew O'Neill]

"Darin Boville Gallery"

Good choice, and why not? Will you have a website devoted to the gallery?

[Darin Boville]

Will you have a website devoted to the gallery?

Yes, sort of maybe. I'll have a website for sure but I'm not sure how fancy. I've done my share of web sites and in many cases they seem to be a huge time suck. So I'll have something, just not sure what right now, nor how often or how extensively I'll update it.

--Darin