Most artists would like to get their art into cities and towns outside of their own. If you’re such an artist, you can take the traditional longer route of researching galleries, adding them to your mailing list, visiting, and waiting for an invitation. OR, you can take a more inventive, more proactive route.

Jennifer Falck Linssen, Eye of the Storm. Sculpture of handcarved paper (katagami) with continuous coil looping and stitching. Archival cotton paper, aluminum, waxed linen, indigo, paint, and varnish, 10.75 x 10 x 10 inches. (c) The Artist http://www.jenniferfalcklinssen.com

The Internet affords us all kinds of options to form friendships with people we might never have otherwise met. Lots of people. Lots of possibilities. Why not take advantage of these? Trade spaces with artists in another city. What I mean by this is use your connections and creativity to organize an art exchange with an artist or a group of artists outside of your usual stomping grounds.

Here are a couple of different scenarios.

(1) You belong to an organization or co-op that has its own space. You find an organization or co-op in another city and build a friendship-partnership with them. Your goals are similar. This is key. Once trust is established, you brooch the subject of trading exhibits. You send up a solo or 2-3-person exhibit from your city and invite them to do the same in return. You decide you’ll do this every two years. You might even split costs for a joint catalog.

(2) You don’t really have the connections to do #1, so you do something on your own with a friendly contact in another city--someone you just happen to know. Since you don’t have access to a formal gallery space, you work with cafés or public buildings. You might even find a willing patron to open up a fancy home or decide to hold an open studio event in yours for the out-of-towner. ( Be sure to sign up for the complimentary teleseminar on open studios. See http://artbizcoach.com/classes/openstudios.html  )
 

Know This . . . Sometimes you just have to take the initiative.. Think About This . . . Who do you know that lives in a town or city where you’d like to see your art? Do This . . . Trade spaces with artists from another town. Create a list of artists you know or may just know from being online. Where do they live? Where do they show their art? Narrow the list down to those who share similar goals--those with whom you feel a synergy. See if you can create an ongoing partnership to benefit you both.