As mere students of art, we sometimes may find it a bit difficult to find it in ourselves to venture out into the arts community to show off our creations. Your fears and insecurities are most definitely well understood and respected, but at some point, sooner rather than later, you simply must make the leap and try to have your work seen somewhere outside of the classroom setting!

I will admit that it is a daunting task at first, and there will be many worries about how well received your work will be, or even whether or not it will be accepted, but I promise it is absolutely worth the venture. Submitting your work to a gallery, exhibition, show, or contest teaches many valuable lessons such as how to handle deadlines, gallery requirements, and many others on what the best way to exhibit your work really is.

These lessons, if learned early enough, offer a huge advantage as you move forward with your art career and the exposure to the public and art community will open many doors and reveal many opportunities. And who knows, if you take that chance and submit your work, you might be surprised at the amount of people who may be interested in purchasing it.

In my case, I learned a lot about deadlines and personal limits before, during, and after my first gallery exhibition. I worked a lot harder than I ever thought I could and got what I thought was feasible in a short amount of time. Looking back, it was definitely worth it. I met so many contributors of the local arts community and I found out that people actually enjoyed seeing what I did.

I came out feeling like I really made a great first impression and have possibly started to make a reputation for myself in and around the Scranton art world. I encourage anyone that has a beautiful, completed piece of artwork that you are very proud of, to join galleries, submit work, and start making a name for yourself. I promise you wont regret it!