Suggestions for building a gallery

[frank hoerauf]

i am looking into building a photo gallery in Saratoga NY , in the new art district there on Beekman street. It will be approx 1200 sq feet. I need info on ceiling height recomendations, type of lighting, different ways of hanging prints. Basically any helpful info would be appreciated at this point. Also would be looking for photographers from the area interested in selling their work. Thanks ........Frank

[John Brady]

Hi Frank, I have been looking into building a gallery also and have been doing some research. Here are a couple of things I would reccomend.

For lighting spot track lighting works well. The color consistency of the bulbs will be important I think 4100k to 4500k is good. Check into 7 watt par 30 led lighting. They are expensive but very efficient.

For ceiling height I like 11 to 12 ft. Most galleries have high ceiling. Low can make you feel closed in.

Thats a couple of ideas, I hope it helps. Good luck with your project.
John Brady
www.timeandlight.com

[Louie Powell]

Frank -

You have caught my attention!

I've been concerned for some time that our community doesn't have a reasonable venue for serious photography. SCAC doesn't seem to have a lot of respect for photography. I've taken a run at a couple of the galleries in Schuylerville, but they aren't very receptive either.

There are several photography galleries within a couple hours drive of Saratoga Springs that you might want to look at. Some examples:

The Village Green Gallery (http://www.thevillagegreengallery.com/about-gallery.html) in Weston, VT is owned by a photographer (Nobushi Fuji'i) and offers jewelry, sculpture and coffee in addition to photography. I didn't go in with the intention of scoping out their facilities, but in retrospect, my sense is that their ceilings might be 10 ft. The building appears to be an old commercial structure with no interior walls and lots of window to allow natural light into the space. I would guess the space to be 1000-1200 ft2. Individual pieces were large with essentially only one horozontal row of work around the room.

There is another gallery in Weston that shows mainly ceramics, but has an 'upper room' with a few paintings and photographs. Perhaps 400 ft2, with incandescent track lights. Because the space was limited, the photography tended toward smaller sizes - I think they had one 16x20 frame on the wall, with the rest of the work much smaller.

The Iris Gallery (http://www.irisgallery.net/) in Great Barrington is a much smaller space - basically, two rooms upstairs over a nice restaurant (Pearl's) and spilling out into a hallway. My sense is that their ceiling height was not spectacular, and they were not blessed with a lot of windows. One thing I've noticed is that Iris 'feels' like a more intimate space and gets away with showing smaller work, eg 4x5 Pt/Pd prints.

There are two galleries in Lenox, MA that show photography. One is also upstairs over another nice restaurant (Bistro Zinc) while the other is a couple of doors down the street in an old house - with conventional 8' ceilings.

Photosensualis (http://www.photosensualis.com) in Woodstock is an example of what NOT to do. They had track-lights - spotlights - on the ceiling. Given today's energy costs, I can understand why one would have the lights turned off when no one is there, but either the person staffing the gallery should have turned them on when we arrived, or else there should have been a sensor to automatically turn them on. It's hard to look at photography in the dark. The walls were fairly cluttered, and some of the work was quite large. The space was large - perhaps 1500-1600 ft2, but the center was taken up with a couple of large couches and a grand piano.

Finally, my recollection of Galleriebmg (http://galeriebmg.com) (also in Woodstock) is that their ceilings are around 10ft, and they have a front wall that features lots of glass to let in natural light. I wasn't looking to see what kind of artificial lighting they had, so I didn't notice. The main floor was probably 1000 ft2 or less. There is a small upstairs space, but I didn't wander up there. The walls weren't quite as cluttered, and the show that I was most interested in was 8x10 Pt/Pd contact prints in frames that might have been 14x18 or thereabouts.

Most of these galleries hang work in conventional frames with some kind of attachment to the walls behind the individual frames. Frankly, I can't recall seeing photography hung in any other way in commercial galleries that I have visited in our area, New York City, Carmel or New Orleans. As you may know, both the Northville and Lake Luzern libraries have adjustable rod arrangements that allow work to be changed without requiring that the attachments be moved and the walls repainted between shows.

[Michael Mutmansky]

Don't use LED lighting.

As a lighting designer and architectural engineer, I can speak authoritatively about this. LED's are a great concept, and I think that they will eventually be used in a widespread manner, but they aren't ready for the big time when it comes to color-critical lighting or aesthetic-critical lighting.

Don't get me wrong, I specify and work with LED's a lot (much more than you may imagine, mostly because of the kind of work I do), so I'm not biased against them. I just don't think that a gallery would be happy with the performance they are capable of at this time. I know I would not.

---Michael

[Toyon]

Man, I am tired of traditional galleries with well-lighted austere rows of photos. I'd like to see some more innovative approaches. I'd like to see the photos off of the walls and on free standing floating walls, carrels or inglenooks. Make the space more like wandering a bookstore, not a rectangle with a desk and workstation at one end. What's to lose? The traditional gallery setup has rarely made a living for owners anyway. Think about reinventing the space from austere to welcoming, from linear to meandering, from evenly lit, to intimately and selectively lit. Instead of just white painted walls, try putting grass paper on one wall, or cork -stimulate the senses - good photography is contextual and responsive to the immediate environment. Just my 2 cents.

[jim kitchen]

Dear Frank,

You have a great adventure ahead of you... :)

I shall assume that you have a good business sense, know the current image market values you wish to present to the public, know your potential client demographics, and that you are the sole owner of the business. If you have a moment, I would like to add a few business items to your current mind set, which may assist you with a wee bit of growth, eventually. That said, I would like to submit my direct business comments for your review, since you will operate a small business, and although you may be aware of their content from previous experience, where I apologize in advance if that is a true statement, but my business experience dictates that I should be made aware of the following items:

1. make certain you are the sole proprietor;
2. if you invite a partner, make sure you know the books better than your partner;
3. dismiss any employee that redirects sales away from any other artist to their artwork because their own artwork is cheaper;
4. dismiss any employee, or artist that blatantly sells their artwork to a client after hours, since loyalty seems to disappear when cash is on the table;
5. be aware that a few artists may seek additional representation at another gallery, because the commission rates may be better;
6. do not allow any business partner to operate a secondary business within your gallery, since you will have endless arguments regarding the direction of funds;
7. be aware of artistic jealousies that prevail when one artist is superior to all the other artists, and their image prices reflect their success;
8. be aware and be prepared that a gallery owner may have difficulty describing an image value to a client, especially if your images are cheaper than a prominent artist within the gallery, and you may have difficulty explaining why your image commands more money than another artist;
9. never ask an artist to lower an image price, because the other artists believe that artist's prices are too high, compared to theirs. I would toss all the complaining artists quickly;
10. never sell an artist's image below a price recorded previously by the artist;
11. never arbitrarily set the price of an artist's image without consulting the artist;
12. never tell an artist that their prices are too high and that they should adjust their prices to reflect the commission scheme within the gallery;
13. never tell a client that you have an image that resembles the client's request, and you could make it cheaper;
14. always pre-screen your clients, regarding the artist, their budget, and their interests. Failing to do this simple task creates embarrassment for both parties;
15. the client needs guidance;
16. the client is always right;
17. the client's money keeps your door open;
18. keep your commission rates fair, equitable, and profitable;
19. be prepared to work long hours without a soul in the gallery;
20. be prepared to adjudicate all artistic rivalries;
21. thoroughly pre-screen your artists, to create a collection within the gallery that presents quality craftsmanship, presentation consistency, and success;
22. do not operate your business as a get-by-product, since a client will see that mindset in a heartbeat;
23. believe that you operate a world class establishment, and prove it;
24. learn to stay within you budget;
25. prepare a contingency business plan;
26. find a leasing agent to handle all sales that could be resolved with a lease to own policy, where the leasing agency pays the gallery in full, handles the clients finances, and removes that costly finance overhead from your books;
27. request that you operate the only gallery within the same building if you sign a lease;
28. learn how to close a sale.

If you require additional clarification regarding my comments above, please contact me directly.

This should be an excellent thread...

I wish you great success... :)

jim k

[frank hoerauf]

WOW! Thanks all for some really useful information. Just want to give a little more info on my proposed gallery. I recently purchased a building in the developing art district in Saratoga Springs NY. Its an ugly old building in need of total rehab. I am just starting to get involved with an architect , that is the reason for this thread. I estimate a gallery of approx 1200 sq ft. I would like to have a minimum ceiling height of 9-10 ft. Large windows on street side. As of now there are no photo galleries on Beekman Street. Which I find very surprising. The Art District is only a few years old so its still in its infancy. Every time I am at the old building working I am amazed at the traffic the area gets. All the ifo posted is very helpful to me so keep it coming, I appreciate all of you taking time out to respond.............Frank

[h2oman]

I know little to nothing about galleries, but I was struck by Toyon's comments. Last year I dropped in to Tom Till's gallery in Moab, Utah. Given that it is in the rural west and that his work is color landscapes, it is no surprise that the gallery had a pretty informal feel. Here is a link that gives a rough idea of what it looks like:

http://tomtill.com/pages/online-store.php

He does use free-standing something-or-others in the middle to display some prints. As far as wandering around into nooks, the long, thin floor plan of his space precludes that.

Good luck!

[Bruce Watson]

i am looking into building a photo gallery in Saratoga NY , in the new art district there on Beekman street. It will be approx 1200 sq feet. I need info on ceiling height recommendations, type of lighting, different ways of hanging prints. Basically any helpful info would be appreciated at this point. Also would be looking for photographers from the area interested in selling their work. Thanks ........Frank

You are right to be concerned with the lighting. IMHO good lighting may well be your best sales tool. Most galleries think of this, if they think of it at all, as one of the last things they do. Successful galleries tend to think of this first and build to accommodate the lighting.

The best lights I know of at present are still the Solux (http://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlistore/infopages/artwork.html) lights. That said, their fixtures suck -- I had a couple of sets of them in and the paint blistered and peeled off almost immediately. Halo tracks and fixtures are excellent and do not blister, peel, or smell bad in operation, but they are pricey. Also note, none of the commercial offerings will give you a true 12VDC either, so the light temperature will likely be a little less that the expected 4700K. That said, light quality is excellent. The 4700K bulbs work really well for me. They do color shift over time as they age. Still the best thing going if you want all the colors to pop, again IMHO.

Place the lighting so that you get no more than a 30 degree angle from the lighting at eye height. Any more will produce glare which is very uncomfortable which isn't going to help sales at all. If you are going to hang photographs higher then eye height (as in an over/under arrangement) you'll want an even steeper angle on the lights -- you don't want to blind the people across the room when they turn to walk toward the wall in question.

This begs the question of seating. Seating lowers a person's eye height and makes the seated people susceptible to reflected glare. Always consider this in room design and lighting and seat placement.

All I'm saying is, you want people to be completely comfortable in your shop. If they aren't comfortable in the space, you immediately have a barrier to cross in making them comfortable doing business with you.

[Bruce Watson]

Also would be looking for photographers from the area interested in selling their work. Thanks ........Frank

Speaking of photographers, do yourself and them a favor and take over all the presentation of the work. IOW handle the framing yourself and don't force it on your artists. Framing is an art in itself -- it's the transition from the art to the room where it's hung (for example, a modern sleek metal frame looks out of place in a Victorian drawing room). The artist can't really do this unless you expose them to the customers (most galleries don't want to do this because their afraid the artists and customers will get together and cut out the middle man) so they can learn about the destination room. And most artists, photographers in particular, don't have the desire, ability, or space to handle framing themselves.

Taking it on yourself also lets you control how the art looks in your gallery -- lets you present a professional unified look, which as a customer I think is a good thing.

[Drew Wiley]

I'm looking into this anew, so appreciate all the foregoing input. But I have a bit of
dread that new state laws will mandate CFLs, along with their poor color and horrific
UV. Halogens are a no-no for the same reason, at least with color prints. I've had to
pull my work from some galleries which were naive about the risks of poorly researched
lighting. Hopefully construction will be complete before the laws change and make
things complicated. I'd rather save energy by turning out the lights when the building
is vacant, rather than use "green" CFLs made in China in plants powered by burning
coal!

[David Aimone]

Frank,

This company seems to have a pretty affordable and versatile hanging/lighting system, particularly for walls. I've been thinking about a couple of these for my home.

David

[Nicholas Whitman]

Jill Kitchen has obviously been there - her advise is all likely hard earned - believe it!

Here are a few thoughts from a photographer and former gallery owner in the Berkshires.

If you are underwritten ignore the following:

A gallery is a business. You need to make money. You are selling a product which is non essential and pricy. Your potential client base is a tiny fraction of the population.

The nicest, most informed, appreciative people who come into your gallery will be other artists or other enlightened folks of meager means. They can't afford to buy. They will talk your ear off.

You are a sitting duck. The boringest people will come in repeatedly and tell you all about themselves, their talented kids, and what great gear they have. They don't buy either.

Photography doesn't sell very well. Ceramics and oil paintings are better sellers. A woman will always pay $20- for a pair of earrings.

People treat you differently when you own a gallery. Artists will throw themselves at your feet. It is a power trip! If you're into it it is heady. If you're not, it's gross.

Artists will see you as their salvation ... but of course you aren't ... they can't be saved.

A successful gallerist is a natural born smoozer. Art knowledge is helpful - but secondary.

To succeed you will have to lick rich people's balls. You will hear things coming out of your mouth you just can't believe.

You can take the high road and show true fine art. When that doesn't sell you might resort to meeting the client's expectation. In Saratoga that would take the form of a wobbly legged colt in a field of daises, or a lone horse and trainer in the early morning mist of the training track.

The artist/gallerist relationship is a business partnership. When you find an artist who gets this they are the ones to build your business with. Jill has most of the down side covered.

Summer is short. Winter is long.

Time expands when you gallery sit.

[jp]

I was wondering if anyone has any galleries (for business) that are basically unattended. My understanding is that labor and rent are the biggest costs to operations.

I'm thinking that if someone sneezed or gets fingerprints on the glass over a photo, it's not the end of the world if a staffer does not immediately see it. If most of the talking is not business related, it would spare such distraction.

In my area, galleries tend to cluster into a small geographic clusters all within a short walk. I'm wondering if a combination of a person making frequent rounds to a small group of galleries could provide the physical presence, and the rest of the time, video monitoring and/or high quality easy video conferencing on a big flat screen tv might provide the presence required for security and pressing questions. Then one person could oversee multiple galleries in close proximity, get exercise and sunshine, and not have to entertain non-buyers while their wives are shopping for tourist junk across the street. Sort of a mix of high tech and soft-sell attitude.

[John Brady]

A gallery is a business. You need to make money. You are selling a product which is non essential and pricy. Your potential client base is a tiny fraction of the population.

The nicest, most informed, appreciative people who come into your gallery will be other artists or other enlightened folks of meager means. They can't afford to buy. They will talk your ear off.

You are a sitting duck. The boringest people will come in repeatedly and tell you all about themselves, their talented kids, and what great gear they have. They don't buy either.

Photography doesn't sell very well. Ceramics and oil paintings are better sellers. A woman will always pay $20- for a pair of earrings.

People treat you differently when you own a gallery. Artists will throw themselves at your feet. It is a power trip! If you're into it it is heady. If you're not, it's gross.

Artists will see you as their salvation ... but of course you aren't ... they can't be saved.

A successful gallerist is a natural born smoozer. Art knowledge is helpful - but secondary.

To succeed you will have to lick rich people's balls. You will hear things coming out of your mouth you just can't believe.

You can take the high road and show true fine art. When that doesn't sell you might resort to meeting the client's expectation. In Saratoga that would take the form of a wobbly legged colt in a field of daises, or a lone horse and trainer in the early morning mist of the training track.

The artist/gallerist relationship is a business partnership. When you find an artist who gets this they are the ones to build your business with. Jill has most of the down side covered.

Summer is short. Winter is long.

Time expands when you gallery sit.

This is all so true it hurts. Having owned my own gallery for over a year now I can attest to all of the above being true. I could not have come close to articulating it so well though, well done!

www.timeandlight.com

[anglophone1]

Its the ball licking that really gets you,well me anyway, I'm sure some people like it though?:eek:
Clive
www.clive-evans.com


Jill Kitchen has obviously been there - her advise is all likely hard earned - believe it!

Here are a few thoughts from a photographer and former gallery owner in the Berkshires.

If you are underwritten ignore the following:

A gallery is a business. You need to make money. You are selling a product which is non essential and pricy. Your potential client base is a tiny fraction of the population.

The nicest, most informed, appreciative people who come into your gallery will be other artists or other enlightened folks of meager means. They can't afford to buy. They will talk your ear off.

You are a sitting duck. The boringest people will come in repeatedly and tell you all about themselves, their talented kids, and what great gear they have. They don't buy either.

Photography doesn't sell very well. Ceramics and oil paintings are better sellers. A woman will always pay $20- for a pair of earrings.

People treat you differently when you own a gallery. Artists will throw themselves at your feet. It is a power trip! If you're into it it is heady. If you're not, it's gross.

Artists will see you as their salvation ... but of course you aren't ... they can't be saved.

A successful gallerist is a natural born smoozer. Art knowledge is helpful - but secondary.

To succeed you will have to lick rich people's balls. You will hear things coming out of your mouth you just can't believe.

You can take the high road and show true fine art. When that doesn't sell you might resort to meeting the client's expectation. In Saratoga that would take the form of a wobbly legged colt in a field of daises, or a lone horse and trainer in the early morning mist of the training track.

The artist/gallerist relationship is a business partnership. When you find an artist who gets this they are the ones to build your business with. Jill has most of the down side covered.

Summer is short. Winter is long.

Time expands when you gallery sit.

[Nicholas Whitman]

My apologies. It is Jim not Jill.

One other thought: when a potential client likes a piece, but needs to check with a spouse before purchasing - they aren't coming back.

Nick

[Drew Wiley]

I'd agree with Bruce about Solux, and with everyone about the preference for relatively high ceilings. The problem with lighting is that you also have to ascertain
how the potential heat of lighting will affect air conditioning, whether UV will be a
factor (halogens can be brutal on color prints), and whether local energy codes are
in effect dictating the type of lighting (in some cities around here they are, and these new mandated CFL's cause some people including me terribe eyestrain). I'm still looking for an ideal space around here, and absolutely won't accept anything in
a building with a restaurant in it - grease fires are way too common. Also find out
everything you can about the wiring, and if it's fully modern and safe.

[Drew Wiley]

Just noted that this is an old thread, and I've somewhat repeated myself! Some useful information anyway. I'm looking at making a complete endrun around the
traditonal retail gallery with its preposterous overhead and dreadful boredom, but
won't go into details here. But location-wise, it seems galleries do best when a
number of them are grouped together, just like car dealer "auto-rows". You want to
attract art buyers per se. And there's a world of difference between having a dedicated personal gallery and trying to represent a variety of other artists. Plus the
economy is not all that great at the moment, though it is starting to rapidly recover
in this immediate area.

[John Brady]

On the lighting front don't rule out lcd's. I brought them up once before here and got smacked down for it but I will still defend mine. I bought mine for my gallery over a year and a half ago from a small company here in Naples. Clyde Butcher had pioneered the project and I got in on the tail end when they had pretty much perfected them. The bulbs have been hand sorted for color temp and they are extremely consistent from bulb to bulb. The company producing them is doing so to market as a gallery bulb. I have been burning over 100 of them for a year and a half now and have not had a single bulb fail. They are 7 watts each so they put off almost no heat. I also take them on the road to my art shows to light my booth. Since they are so efficient I can run them off of deep cycle batteries.

I tried solux for art shows and they almost cooked me out of my tent.

www.timeandlight.com

[jp]

LED lighting: Farnsworth Art Museum begins to convert.

http://www.ledsmagazine.com/products/22261

[SAShruby]

Well designed website is a must as well as customer's mailing list, maybe have a studio too.

[Nicholas Whitman]

I was wondering if anyone has any galleries (for business) that are basically unattended. My understanding is that labor and rent are the biggest costs to operations.

I'm thinking that if someone sneezed or gets fingerprints on the glass over a photo, it's not the end of the world if a staffer does not immediately see it. If most of the talking is not business related, it would spare such distraction.

In my area, galleries tend to cluster into a small geographic clusters all within a short walk. I'm wondering if a combination of a person making frequent rounds to a small group of galleries could provide the physical presence, and the rest of the time, video monitoring and/or high quality easy video conferencing on a big flat screen tv might provide the presence required for security and pressing questions. Then one person could oversee multiple galleries in close proximity, get exercise and sunshine, and not have to entertain non-buyers while their wives are shopping for tourist junk across the street. Sort of a mix of high tech and soft-sell attitude.

This approach on the surface would seem to be very logical. If your objective is to get work displayed you can often find public spaces like restaurants or lobbies. People will see it. Well positioned in a nice restaurant people will be comfortably seated for a good bit of time viewing the image - can't do that in a gallery. But the work probably won't sell - and it will smell like food forever after.

Galleries, at the end of the day are about selling. As this is the business section of the forum we'll make the important distinction between showing and selling.

Photographs, or any art, doesn't sell itself. It has to be sold. And that is where the gallery attendant is critical. You can't just put a warm body by the door to "gallery sit". To even have a shot at selling you need a knowledgeable, personable, gallerist who can engage the potential client. You see, what the client is actually looking for is not just to obtain the object, but a piece of the magic. They wish to vicariously participate in the creative process. They want a bit of the artist's soul. That is why sales often happen at openings - when the artist is there and can make a connection with the client. If the artist isn't in attendance it is the job of the gallerist to conger up the artist's spirt and market it to the client. I wouldn't have believed how critical this is if I hadn't experienced it first hand.

Aren't there any genuine collectors who know what they are looking for and buy when they see it? Sure - but they are in the minority. The interpersonal relationship, in all its nuance, is critical in most sales.

This also explains why we almost never sell anything on our web sites. Come on you can admit it. We're pros talking shop here. There is a ton of good work available and the prices keep spiraling down. True, the market is totally saturated. But on line the human touch, salesmanship, is missing (which is why the gallery deservedly gets 50%).

So the ideal gallery attendant will make the client feel special. Make them feel close to the creative process. Remember, the client doesn't really care about the object. They already have lots of objects. They are buying the magic manifest in the piece which must be brought forth by the physical presentation of the gallery and the skill and disposition of the salesperson.

[Drew Wiley]

John - do you recall the name of the company which made those bulbs? All the similar
bulbs I've encountered have been terrible with color.