how to Become a Member Artist
Read this page and see if our collective seems like a good fit for you, fill out a brief application and send us three sample images of your artwork. A current artist member will contact you with more detailed information about being a member and let you know if you will be invited to the gallery for an interview and review of your work.
TIME REQUIREMENTS
We change the show every month and the gallery is run by the artists, collectively, who have signed up to show in that month.
Any month a member artist signs up to show carries with it the following time commitments:
• attend the opening reception on the first Friday of the month
• hang their own artwork the Tuesday evening before the opening reception
• attend a potluck planning meeting the Tuesday evening before the hang
• take down their art on the last Sunday of the month when the show ends
• work two four-and-a-half-hour gallery shifts during the month
There are no time requirements for months when an artist does not show.
FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS
If you are accepted as a member, you will be asked to pay the $60 annual membership fee. The renewal fee is $30 for every year after that.
City Art pays its rent and operating costs while providing public relations and marketing support, by renting wall space to member artists on a monthly basis. Wall space costs between $70 to $180 per month, depending on size and location. Wall spaces range from 4 feet to over 8 feet wide, with most running from floor to our 12-foot high ceiling. City Art also offers floor, window, and display case space that ranges from $55 to $95.
COMMISSIONS
City Art takes pride in giving 70% of the art sales back to the member artist. When artwork is sold, 70% goes to the artist, and 30% goes to the gallery and is used for gallery maintenance, improvements, and other costs.
Member artists price their own work. Most of the art sold at City Art falls within the $100 to $1200 price range. However, City Art does sell art costing considerably more and significantly less. Exhibiting artists are responsible for insuring their own art or assuming liability.
We run as a boutique gallery so when art is sold, it is taken off the wall and the customer leaves with it. You then replace that artwork with a new piece. Many of us have had the experience of selling multiple times in a month off a single nail. And that’s pretty fun.
We are excited about the amount of art that is sold through our gallery, even through the recession years. We attribute this in part to our awesome member artists, our excellent location in the heart of the Valencia St. corridor that brings us, new visitors and tourists, each day, and also to our devoted local City Art fans.
EXHIBITING
THE FRONT and back ROOM
Signing up for exhibition space is managed by lottery to decide the order artists will select their space. Payment for space is required at the time of signup. We sign up 4 months in advance, so there will likely be a 4-month wait for new members to show in the front room.
Non-exhibiting members are also welcome to attend the potluck planning meeting. These meetings are the best time to sign up for exhibition space for upcoming shows or to simply get a feel for how the gallery works.
We hold theme shows occasionally in the back room. The cost for exhibiting in a back room theme show depends on the size of your work so it can be significantly less than renting a whole wall space. Since theme shows often have room for artists to sign up all the way until the month of the show, they are the best way for a new member to get their work exhibited without waiting.
As with front room shows, artists exhibiting in the back room must work two gallery shifts and attend the potluck planning meeting and opening reception during the months they exhibit.