Tip 1:When attempting to show your art, there is no place like home. By home I mean the city you live in. Look around and use your “art” eyes to discover the art community around you. Make it a challenge to get to know every artist in your community whether their work is in the same medium as yours or not. They share the same passion as you do…art.

Tip 2: Make a long list of every possible place where your art can be publicly seen. Talk with all those you meet in Tip 1 (above). And then think outside the box and take it much farther. There are different municipal art spaces, artist societies, festivals, park departments, and art exhibition programs.

Consider  any business that has a wall space–restaurants, bookstores, barber shops, beauty salons, banks, lounges and coffee bars.

When I painted The Red Truck (left), It was a corner building salon and next to it was a restaurant. Think about it, what a great place to exhibit it on the walls. Not everybody paints businesses or street scenes but, if you do, take advantage of the situation. Again, be creative and think outside the box.

Tip 3: Be an organizer now that you have personally met everyone involved in art, from promoters to societies to peer artists. Create your own community art shows. Make a plan, find a space (utilize empty commercial real estate), invite peer artists to join you. Divide up the expenses and the tasks of organizing, installing, publicizing and promoting.

Malls tend to like promotions as long as it helps the public and brings in people to the mall. In other words, give them something back to help barter the price they may want such as quick art lessons timely scheduled in the mall for invited groups such as young children (organize visits with schools as a field trip). The kids go home talking about how they got their drawing posted at the mall. The parent’s have to go back to see. It’s educational and good for the public and it is a great promotion for the mall. Just a thought.