I stopped by The Image City Photography Gallery (722 University Ave.) and briefly checked out the new exhibition, America… So Beautiful with photographs by Gary Thompson and Phyllis Thompson. I generally liked the show; it consists of images of beautiful locations expertly shot. It's subtly a "new" way of looking at those places, but largely captures the essence of what has been captured before.
JayceLand
The only drag about that venue is they charge you to show your work. That's a real downer for me, to add insult to injury there are two pricing structures.
A. Pay to show your work and we'll take a commission if you sell.
B. Pay more to show you work and we won't take a cut.
I know they need to survive, but on the backs of artists?
P.S. Nice to meet you the other day.
I guess I understand their point. I haven't had any luck selling my photos so if I were to put them in a gallery on a commission-only structure, they'd not make enough to keep the lights on.
The perfect gallery would be one that had benefactors who kept the doors open but gave no input on the work to-be-shown so anybody could get in and get their work on the walls without any cost to the artist or to the patrons.
At least ICPG plays the role of the "traditional gallery" (option A) and "vanity gallery" (option B). They are having a juried show starting in January for people with works outside their membership. I signed up for it — 1-4 submissions for $25, so that's not bad. At least I don't think so. There's a sale commission after that, but I don't think there are further fixed fees (I sure hope not).
They are having a juried show…"
I think that is the best course of action. Free for all shows are just that, doesn't seem to elevate the gallery to a status of a "must see" venue where artists lust to show their work.
I give them credit for giving it a go. Sadly, a town built on photography has little in the way of space to view the communiys assests and a unpleasant lack of respect for the medium.