IAO Named Best Art Gallery - IAO was recently voted Best Art Gallery in the 2010 Best of the Best Awards by Oklahoma Magazine. Thank you to everyone who voted for us. Congratulations to Artspace at Untitled and DNA Gallery who tied for second place! Click the image on the left to see the list of results.

At an ONEAL (Oklahoma's New and Emerging Arts Leaders) event back in January, we all had to come up with a list of our top challenges of being a successful artist. It was very insightful that we all had the same top few listed. The big one that caught my eye was the difficulty in trying to get their art seen and their names out. I was struggling with the same issues and I am still working on it. That's what led me to create okcArtists.  I wanted a search engine friendly site that would get people to me. Then I thought that maybe we could all use this.

Did you know?...
The more times you have your site linked to another, the more "relevant" your site is to web crawlers and the more likely you will be found. That's why okcArtists is on facebook and townsphere. This gets more people okcArtists and ultimately to you. okcArtists artists are already getting increased traffic to their sites by listing on here.

I just returned from Taos, NM looking for gallery representation. Although the feedback was mostly positive, I did not end up in one. While talking to one gallery owner, he said to me, " You know how to get your work seen when looking for a gallery? You just take your portfolio in, put it on their desk, and say "I'd like for you to take a look at my portfolio. I am looking for gallery representation" " That's it. He said not to do phone calls or emails and that sometimes galleries have those listed just to weed out the non- professionals. To me this seemed rather rude and demanding. But it made me think that maybe that is what it takes. Maybe not at all places though. I  personally like to at least do some home work on the galleries online before I go out. I don't want to drop my photography portfolio down on the desk of a gallery owner that only does painting and sculptures. That would be a waste of time for both of us. So.. for all that are reading this, what technique have you used successfully to get your work into a gallery. I am of course talking real gallery, not a coffee shop that says, "Sure you can hang your work in here if you like. We need something new on the walls anyway."

Just got back from a very short trip to Taos, NM. Stayed at the American Artists Gallery House Bed and Breakfast Inn. I highly recommend this place. The owners are awesome and the breakfast amazing. Went looking for gallery representation for my photos. I had some good responses but not much interest in Taos for photography right now. However, I did get some great encouragement from one gallery owner that said my work would do well there. But he only uses local artists. He told me to come back in once I move there. Hmmmm. Also went whitewater rafting. Perfect weekend with my wife! George the Peacock was a bit disturbing though.