In the field: several galleries have gone beyond simply carrying floral artists in their shops. Many have used creative marketing techniques and hosted unique shows to help sales bloom. Can any of these ideas work for your gallery? - news - Brief Article

Art Business News, August, 2002

Winston Wachter Fine Art in Seattle is hosting a summer-long show entitled "In the Garden." Packaged with the show's colorful green invitations was a small packet of wildflower seeds, ready to plant, with the name of the show, the gallery name and the dates of the show listed. The show, which features artists Victoria Adams, Tom Baril, Katherine Bowling, Deborah Brown, Matthew Brown, Emily Cheng, Peter Dayton, Brad Durham, Lynn Geesaman, Jeff Joyce, Jean Kallina, Tony Scherman, Julie Speidel and Hiro Yokose, is a showcase for floral art and ends Aug. 18.

The Charter Oak Gallery in Fairfield, Conn., hosted a Winter Floral Show that featured a selection of floral paintings from artists Natalie Featherston, Daniel E. Greene, Barbara Borck-Hart, George Van Hook, Stokely Webster and Elizabeth Horowitz. The invitation asked collectors to "enjoy sumptuous paintings of floral and garden retreats that evoke feelings of peace and warm the chill of a winter day."

The McBride Gallery in Annapolis, Md., recently hosted a "Color of Spring" show featuring the floral work of Chieh-Nie Cherng, Erika Walsh and Yvonne H. Smith. On the invitation, Gallery Owner Cynthia McBride composed a poem about the joy of spring. "I tried to put words to paper to describe to our collectors why they should come to see a whole show about flowers, and the words would only come out as a poem," she said.

The Marquette Gallery in Cincinnati hosted "Take a Peek at Our Bloomers" during the Cincinnati Flower Show. The show featured a bouquet of oils, acrylics, watercolors and pastels and a mix of colorful springtime florals and landscapes. Gallery Owner Peggy Marquette sent invitations and an e-mail blast inviting collectors to "stop by and smell the roses."

The Richard York Gallery in New York recently hosted "A Century of Nature." The exhibit, which featured the work of such art icons as Milton Avery, William Merritt Chase and Ida O'Keeffe, the younger sibling of Georgia, showcased more than 50 oils, watercolors and drawings that illustrate the changing ways American artists have depicted nature over the century from 1855 to 1955.