Bringing Your Art to New Viewers/Potential Collectors - Showing Work in Coffeehouses and Restaurants

I'll be showing a selection of 15-18 paintings at Uncommon Grounds' Clifton Park location, June 1-June 26. This busy established local restaurant/coffee business has several locations in the Capital District, and has for a long time provided exhibition space on its walls for regional artists. When their exhibition coordinator contacted me last fall to see if I was interested in showing my work at one of their locations, I said sure (after doing a little research), and picked the Clifton Park location for my exhibit, hoping to expose my work to new audiences.

For artists, being open to exhibiting in a variety of venues and different locales, while also being selective about where and when to show work, can lead to great exposure and rewarding sales/connections/future collectors. In deciding to show my work in a few restaurants and businesses over the years, I've had moderate success at a couple of them and other times, my work just decorated the walls.

There are pros and cons to putting work up in non-traditional exhibit spots such as businesses and restaurants. Yes, your work will be seen by a different audience, but will it be worth the work to get a show together depends on a variety of factors: how busy the establishment is-too busy to run sales or direct interested collectors to purchasing, or not busy enough, so not enough people see the show?  Is your artwork info and marketing material visible enough to potential collectors or is your work just decorating the walls? How organized is the venue and how well do they communicate with the artists? Do they help promote the work on their walls? Do you feel that your work will be safe there? A lot to consider for either emerging and moderately established artists who want to expand their reach to new locales.

Uncommon Grounds runs all the art sales for their exhibiting artists and has an organized approach to their exhibition schedule. The fact that they have a dedicated exhibition coordinator is a positive as well. I'm looking forward to the show and introducing many new viewers to my artwork.

Uncommon Grounds in Clifton Park is located just off Exit 9 of the Northway in Village Plaza at 9 Clifton Country Road; hours are 7 days a week, 6am-8pm M-F, 6:30am-8pm Sat & Sun.