In this episode of Art Crush, hosts Fi Marks and Paula Telizyn break down the crucial lessons learned from organizing an independent artist-run exhibition.
As they prepare for their upcoming “Wild Within” show in Derby, Fi shares her recent experiences taking full control of a space alongside three other artists, treating it as a successful dry run.
They discuss why artists must stop waiting for traditional gallery approval and instead step up to create their own welcoming, engaging, and unexpected art events.
In this episode, we cover:
- The Power of Presentation: The hosts discuss their strategy of wearing luxurious velvet at shows to project the image of successful, powerful creatives. This intentional wardrobe choice helps artists feel confident and signals to visitors that they are approachable members of the exhibition.
- Mastering the Meet-and-Greet: Fi explains the importance of welcoming guests like a restaurant host, offering them water, and providing seating to encourage “slow looking”. Removing the awkwardness of a traditional gallery visit makes attendees much more likely to connect with the art and the artist.
- Investing in Photography: Trying to take your own photos during an opening night means you cannot properly engage with your guests. Hiring a professional photographer ensures you capture dynamic images of visitors interacting with the artwork, which is vital for marketing future shows.
- The Post-Show Deconstruction: Removing emotional reactions after a show and treating the outcomes purely as data helps artists figure out what to improve for their next event. Asking attendees how they found out about the exhibition provides essential marketing insights that you can carry forward.
- Making “Unexpected” Art: Traditional galleries often act as gatekeepers, pushing artists to create safe, commercial pieces that are guaranteed to sell. Fi and Paula champion creating bold, unique art that forces viewers to take a second look, even if it defies conventional expectations.
Tune in to learn why forming a collective can empower your art business, and check the show notes for links to the fifty one percent collective and the hosts’ individual websites.
Art Crush season 3 episode 33
00:00:00 Speaker 2: Welcome to Art crush with artist Fi Marks and Paula Telizyn, where we talk about being an artist, being a woman who’s an artist, and everything about the art world.
00:00:23 Speaker 2: Hello, Fi.
00:00:25 Speaker 1: Hi, Paula.
00:00:28 Speaker 2: So you’ve just had a show. Now, when our listeners hear this, it’ll be several weeks past, but you’ve just had a show in, Derby that wasn’t part of the fifty one percent. And we did a really awesome sort of post show. things you learned kind of thing in our fifty one percent meeting, and we felt that it would be great to share some of that learning that you did with our listeners.
00:01:00 Speaker 1: Yes, because this was almost like a dry run for the wild within, which is happening. Is it five weeks now? Paula. Oh my goodness. It’s coming up very soon. By the time the listeners listen to this, it will probably be upon us already. But, it ended up being a dry run in the respect that, I was asked if I wanted to use the space and myself and three other artists took over this space. it was my first experience really of doing everything. I thought that the person whose space we were in would be there and would be dictating. Saying, well, you can’t hang things there. You can’t do this, you can’t do that. And we would be fitting in around them. They would be promoting their business and we would be a bit of an also ran. However, to my very, very pleasant surprise, it ended up being he was there at the opening, but he kept checking and saying, is this okay? Is this how you expected it? And then we didn’t see him for the whole weekend and we put up the show. We decided where things were going, and we ran it as if exactly as pop ups are meant to be, that this was our space.
00:02:24 Speaker 2: Which is absolutely incredible because I know for myself, I’ve done a show in a group show with other artists, and the artist who owned the space turned it into her show with us as kind of extras, which was very disappointing. Yeah. And I think that that’s not a unique experience for artists when they try to do their own shows in other people’s spaces.
00:02:46 Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Absolutely. as I said, it was a pleasant surprise. the biggest thing that I have taken away from doing this show with K came in Derby, was actually the confidence it has now given me in putting on our own show in a few weeks time, because it will all be fresh in my mind. I’ve shared the ideas and the things that we learnt from that and we will be able to carry that forward. So already we’re like a step ahead. And I know, Paula, that we have spoken about that this is not a pop up that we’re doing. This is the first of many and I am one hundred percent sure about that. that this will be a growing learning curve. And because we love learning so much, it will just get better and better and better. if we can support other artists in doing that, even better as well.
00:03:44 Speaker 2: Yes. One of the surprising things that came out of the show, was the confirmation of what you were wearing. So why don’t we talk a little bit about that?
00:03:55 Speaker 1: Yeah. I really think, forgive me if some of you have already thought about this and are applying this. This was something that we probably have mentioned before, but this was really putting it into practice. the idea of what the artist looks like at these shows, when you are going to the opening of your exhibition, if you are there and you are running the show, what is the impression that you want to give not only about your art, but about you as an artist and as part of the fifty one percent. We’ve discussed the image quite a lot. We’ve talked about that’s what bands do. Musicians do this, theatrical groups do this. But it’s really is quite important because you want people to look and go, wow, they look amazing. and don’t they look powerful? Or what is it that you want people to get from it? So we decided, probably about six months ago that the fifty one percent would go for taking a luxurious fabric fabric like velvet, and then with our own individual style, we would wear velvet and look as if we were these amazing, well off, incredible creatives, that people could come and talk to. the first time I did it was at the Artcore exhibition a few weeks ago, That was just for the opening The way people responded to me was hugely different. I was blown away. I was wearing a velvet sort of floaty dress with a kimono velvet jacket, and everyone was like, oh my gosh, you look amazing. Look incredible. Well, nobody normally says that to me. If I’m pulling up in jeans and and a t shirt or a jumper. people would say, oh, you look like a woman from your painting. it made me connect with my artwork, which was another really interesting thing. Also, it made me feel very, very confident. And so when it came to last weekend and doing the Take AIM show, I decided to continue. I was going as a fifty one percenter. I was representing the fifty one percent, so I would be wearing my velvet outfits. And again, it made a huge difference. And yet the difference was even more pronounced because we were running it and I was going and greeting people as they came into the exhibition, not going up to them and saying, oh, come and have a look at my art. This is my art. Let me tell you about my art. None of that. I was like somebody in a restaurant. Or when you go to an event and I was like welcoming them and saying, I’m Fi, I’m one of the artists. this is the show. How have you heard about it? I will let you enjoy it. If you have any questions, come and find one of the artists and we’ll be able to answer your questions. If you’re interested in buying any of the art, just reiterating that. Not with a hard sales pitch, but reiterating that they are all for sale. Come and let us know. some of the things I noticed from that meet and greet were people were reading the Bumf about each of the artists and about the paintings. They were looking really, really closely at all the artwork. They spent time. Some people even came back on another day and they did engage with the artists. They came over and spoke to us and then at the end, they would thank us and tell us what they thought of the exhibition and the gallery. I think it was almost like giving permission for people to feel connected to the artwork through the artist, rather than coming in and feeling a bit awkward. And they they know that they might be the artist, but they don’t know who those people are standing or sitting or whatever in the exhibition, but it gave them the chance to feel welcome.
00:08:27 Speaker 2: And that’s a really interesting thing because in our conversation in our group, we focused on how good you felt and how confident you felt in wearing that outfit, like dressing up for a nice event. You feel better about fitting in when you’re dressed appropriately, but we didn’t touch on how your, visitors felt. I think that knowing that you were the artist that you cared enough to look at every detail probably gave them comfort, they came in and understood you were different, therefore you must be part of the show. that is a big deal because sometimes walking in the door is a lot for some people, because going to a show or a gallery almost makes people feel like you have to be a certain kind of person. And if they’re not feeling good enough, but they’re curious, they’ll walk in and then they feel awkward instantly look around and leave. so when you show up in your velvet being all gracious and concierge or hostess in welcoming them, like I think it bridges that gap of I’m in here now, but I don’t know what to do. And I’m uncomfortable and I want to leave. And you just remove that feeling from them, which I think is a big, big deal. and something that we overlook as artists because I know I’ve gone to my own show openings years ago when I was represented by a few galleries, and I would just stand there like a lump, like a potato awkwardly, even though I have had retail training, as a teenager in early twenties. But yeah, there’s that awkwardness both from the visitor and the artist. And I think dressing for the part makes more of an impact than we realize.
00:10:11 Speaker 1: One hundred percent. the other thing that we had, I mean, not many people took us up with this. was that we had water and glasses there and say, if you’d like a drink, if you’d like a glass of water, because we didn’t have a license for the days. we had a license for the opening event, but we were still offering something and we weren’t asking for money. We just say, if you’d like a glass of water, just let us know. There was places for people to sit again with his. All of that is persuading people to take their time to do some slow looking to feel welcome, that they don’t have to rush out and rush around, which we see all the time, particularly at art fairs, which again at art fairs. it can be very overwhelming for the viewer or the client. they’re just seeing too much. It’s just overload overload. So if you can offer something slightly different that will make them stop and just think that’s going to help. So even if you are part of a show, have a little think, why would people stop and look? Do they need a little bit of reassurance? And how are you going to provide that?
00:11:29 Speaker 2: Yeah. So offering a place to sit for people who might be tired or have mobility issues gives them a chance to spend more time offering them something for comfort, to drink or eat is always a good thing as well. the photos from the show that you shared with our group and I know you’ve shared them online as well, were brilliant. And it was something that I never thought about. And in fact, I never even saw any of my own gallery shows, which is you guys had a photographer.
00:11:57 Speaker 1: Yes, yes. For the opening night. that was something that was really important because what I said to the rest of the fifty one percent, it’s a bit like if people say, oh, I’m not going to have a photographer for my wedding, I’m going to take my own pictures. Now, we all know you can’t do that. You can’t do everything. You can’t serve drinks, you can’t take photos, and you can’t engage people with your artwork all at the same time, no matter how multitasking and brilliant you are. Even Paula couldn’t do that, and she’s a genius. But yeah, you’ve got to think, well, but I want to have good photos. I want photos of the artists engaging with people and what this photographer did. I mean, he had he did have problems and it wasn’t an ideal photo shoot because he was having problems with his lighting. But the photos that he did take that I thought was great was all showing artists engaging with people. It wasn’t just about the artwork and that is it’s seeing the big picture. We we need to be able to talk to people as people do in restaurants, as people do in shops. They are the most successful business people who have got those people skills. And if you don’t work at that, unfortunately, your art isn’t going to sell on its own, which a lot of artists do like to believe. Oh, I let my art do all the selling.
00:13:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, I let my art speak for itself.
00:13:38 Speaker 1: Exactly.
00:13:40 Speaker 2: Yeah, we hear that a lot. A lot. and art can’t because art requires context, but it also requires, inviting viewers to take a second look. So if you are taking care of your visitor’s needs and you’re dressed appropriately and you’re looking at the details, it really makes a huge, huge difference. But the photographer, from the outside, we couldn’t tell that he was having issues Because the photos that we did see were absolutely gorgeous. People in motion and people engaging. And there’s that energy that you can see. It’s just made me more excited. because like a lot of artists, I do struggle with having a social battery that runs out really, really quickly. And watching fee in action and then hearing from Susan Gardner, one of our other fifty one percenters, who is also an artist at this show, saying how incredible you were fee and engaging with people was really wonderful. And it allowed us to stop and say, if fee has these skills when we meet in person in Derby next month, in a matter of weeks, you know, she’s going to train us. Having that training, I think is a is something that a lot of artists miss. As a person who’s taught artists for years, I can tell you that one of the reasons artists businesses fail is because they don’t think that they need training for business or marketing or anything. And that’s a huge, huge blind spot. But it never occurred to me about training for selling in person. And so we’re very grateful for that opportunity to work with fee, who is really good at this, and have her train the rest of our group. It’ll make a huge, huge difference.
00:15:20 Speaker 1: this is one of the wonderful things about forming your own collective, not feeling you have to do it all by yourself we all have within the four of us, very, very different skills. We have the same ethos. This is why it works. We have the same ethos and believe in being successful business people. But we all have different skills. we are not only learning from experience, we’re learning off each other. And that is just such a bonus. And this is why we want to share. We want to do the podcast. We want to share our work with other artists. And it is such a strong, vein going through our work that we want more and more artists and in particular women to feel that empowerment and that they can do it, and we can support each other in a very positive way, because there’s so much that we need to do when we haven’t had experience of running a business, doing all of these things.
00:16:26 Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes such a huge, huge difference. And then even doing the deconstruction after a show to learn from what worked and what didn’t, and what could be improved by a little bit of whatever. I think it’s also important because oftentimes we come back from a show and go, oh, I didn’t sell enough or I didn’t sell anything. This whole thing sucked and I’m just going to be miserable for a week. instead, spending the time to deconstruct, regardless of how your show went and look at what worked and what you want to carry forward, I think also makes a huge difference. So it was really helpful when Fee and Susan, this past week and for our listeners will be about two or three weeks from now. But anyway, this past week, sat down with the rest of the group and said, we love this. We didn’t like that because from the outside, for myself and Jela, we were looking at certain elements going that looked really cool. And would it make sense to add things like, for example, the lighting. We talked about the lighting over the paintings, would it make sense to add that to our show? And then on further discussion, we realized that wouldn’t work because there were technical issues we weren’t aware of. So the deconstruction is really, really important and it’s all data. If you remove the emotional aspect from it, everything that you do at a show and learn from a show is data. And it’s very, very valuable to help you make the next show even better.
00:17:48 Speaker 1: One hundred percent. Two points out of that, I would just like to add one about the data is, as I said, actually asking the people I engaged with, could you just tell me how you found out about the show was really, really interesting because not many were footfall passers by A lot of them had come as a destination and they’d seen it all on social media. Facebook was probably mentioned the most, but also using Derby, Nottingham, local places. What’s on, what’s going on? they’d read about it and they came. The second point I’d just like to add, which Paula just touched on, is in the past, the whole focus about shows has been about selling. And I said to Paula and the others, I said, although at that point, we didn’t sell off the wall. We had a lot, a lot of interest. So there will be sales coming from that, which I am more than happy about. And also on top of that, it was in my mind, a huge, huge success for having that autonomy and learning so much. And because we’ve been moving more towards looking at shows, looking how the clients come, what they get out of it, their experience, it all sort of slotted into place. when other artists have said to Susan and I, oh, did you sell? Did you sell first thing they said? And both Susan and I felt like, that’s not even a question that we need to answer. that’s not the key point because the business. We will get out of it. I was approached by somebody who has a venue who wants to put on shows, a gallery, so we might have another potential venue. I spoke to people who were involved in the media who were saying, send us a press pack. I was also able to publicize talk to to people a lot about the Wild Within because it’s happening soon and it’s happening in the same location. So it keeps up that momentum. that’s quite interesting and it’s something that I think we will discuss more. Paula, because we’ve talked about, well, we’ll get this show done and then we’ll think about the next. But actually, as time goes on, I think we will have much more of a momentum going on. So it won’t be one finishes, one starts, it will be right. We’ve done this one, we’ve learned this. We’ll add that into the next one which is already booked up.
00:20:28 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. essentially the shows are planting seeds for the next shows and planting seeds not only for us as the artists and creators, but for the audience as well to create that anticipation of what’s coming next. And oh my goodness, I already love this interaction. I’m definitely coming to the next one and bringing my six hundred friends. six hundred wealthy friends.
00:20:53 Speaker 1: Of course. Which we all have, but. Yes. And we would like we, I mean, obviously this is early days, but we would like to say perhaps have somewhere like Artcore in Derby where we do an annual show. So people know that then it becomes a destination. people will be able to put in their diaries who perhaps live a little bit further afield. Right. I’m going to book because they’ll be back at this time, and they’re going to be doing another show. And I don’t want to miss it this year.
00:21:22 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. I think that’s a really smart idea. yes, it’s early days, but we already have some fairly large plans, which we won’t share here. But, we already have some fairly large plans that are going to be based on how the show, our first show goes. we’ve got plans all the way into twenty twenty eight if things work the way we’re anticipating. So it’s exciting. It’s absolutely exciting. And the reception to your show, to the body language of the people who visited was overwhelmingly positive from the photographs that I saw, which is a really great, feeling that people are interested in art. They’re engaged with artists, they want to see what’s coming out. They’re not just stuck behind screens. They want to come out and go to events.
00:22:08 Speaker 1: And these were people in Derby. If you see Derby, for those of you who don’t know, It is a city, but it’s a very small city. It is very small. So it’s probably smaller than some towns. But people were coming out. There were people who came, went and got their friends and came back. the interest is there. That’s what’s absolutely been so reassuring. You know, when you hear negative comments like people are not engaging in art anymore, They’re not doing this. Yes they are. Yes they are. They just need to know about it and where it is and where it’s happening. And then they will come and engage. So I think prioritizing your marketing has never felt more strongly. Obviously, you have to have a good body of work, be confident, know your whys and everything about your own work, but It has to be marketed the hell out of in order to get the people in.
00:23:06 Speaker 2: Yeah. And it just reaffirms the stats that I looked up when we were pitching the show to our core gallery. that Britons are very engaged in the art world. And to a shocking amount, it was such a high stat that I went, I have to double check. so having something that is not run by a corporation and is not generated to strip data from people and whatever, but is actually human made art to connect human beings together, I think is an overwhelmingly good thing. I mean, being an artist right now, even though this world feels very topsy turvy and tough and full of AI slop, I think it’s the most powerful thing you can be is an artist, a human artist making human art.
00:23:51 Speaker 1: the fact that in this show, and also the same with our forthcoming show, all the art is very, very different. But what I heard a lot of was unexpected. People were actually saying, and I didn’t put the words in their mouth. I promised Paula When they thought what they were coming to see, it was very different. The work was powerful. I’m not taking away from any landscape artists out there, but there was not a watercolor landscape in the building, which I think people had sort of expected. It was unexpected. Was the biggest take from it.
00:24:34 Speaker 2: Yeah. in artists shows and all that. There is a sense of sameness. I go, every other year or so to a few large Toronto art shows and you find artists doing kind of the same work over and over and over again. And so to come into a show when you’re expecting the house portraits and the landscapes and the same stuff and you see something different, it really does have a huge impact. Making different art, I think, is a whole other podcast means walking a path that isn’t the same as other people. And humans love to sort of herd together and be safe. But as an artist, I feel like it’s our mandate. If you can stomach it, to walk the different path, to be different, to be challenging, and to require your audience to stop and take a second and maybe even a third look before they can decide if they like the piece or not. so your show definitely was full of different, I’m very familiar with Susan Gardner’s work, obviously, and her animal portraits. I cannot wait to see in person because it’s not pet portraits or whatever that you would expect their dramatic, colorful wildlife art that has presence the same way that your work fee, which I’ve been a collector of for years, has presence in a different way, but it’s different art. so it’s really exciting to see that the audience was receptive to unexpected works.
00:26:01 Speaker 1: Yeah. And that, to me, having been rejected by many a gallery for doing the unexpected, being told, no, our clients won’t like what you’re doing because they won’t know what to make of it was very reassuring because It affirmed exactly what I believed that creating unique, individual, powerful pieces people do want to see. Don’t listen to the naysayers.
00:26:30 Speaker 2: galleries end up being a Gatekeeper for the institution. the art world institutions as well anyway, because they want to sort of guarantee that they can sell and make their money. And so then they tell artists what to make and you end up with the Samy Samy safe. This will sell Ikea style of art. And for some artists that’s fine to make. And I’m not judging because everybody has to make what they’re called to make. But for me and Fee and Susan and Yella, we are not content with following the, crowd of artists. We want to make art that is different, that is not easily taken in that you’ve got to come back and look at it again and again. In my own case, I paint with a lot of neon or fluorescent type colors. My work is not designed to be seen under blue light. It looks really awful under blue light, but, it slaps you in the face with color. I’m not content to be there and paint quietly and make pastels and whatever it’s, you know, bold and you either like it or you don’t. And I’m very content with that because the people who like it like it one hundred percent.
00:27:34 Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. We learned that very early on in our careers. I think, Paula.
00:27:39 Speaker 2: I agree, I agree. I think this kind of wraps up this episode of Art crush, unless there’s anything else you’d like to share with our listeners. Fee.
00:27:47 Speaker 1: No, I think we’ve bamboozled a bit today, but that’s in a good way.
00:27:52 Speaker 2: Absolutely. This one is the one episode to listen to. If you do art shows and take notes and listen to it again, because it does have valuable information in it. And Art crush is not gatekeeping that kind of information. We want other artists to create success for themselves, because it is up to artists to show up and remind humans what it is to be alive and be human outside of what we are being fed right now, online and through marketing and media. Thank you for listening to Artcrush. don’t forget to like, share and subscribe to us. You can find our episodes on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home devices, as well as connected car devices and wherever you listen to your favorite podcast programs. And we will catch you in the next one. Check the show notes for links to the fifty one percent to my own website and fees website to check out some of the art and, uh, go and make challenging, amazing, and different art. At the end of the day, this is what matters and we will see you in the next episode.
