Finding Where the Work Connects

One of the things I’ve learned about being an artist is that making the work is only part of the equation. You also have to figure out where the work — and the people who respond to it — belong.

A couple of years ago, I exhibited at Paradise City, one of New England’s largest fine-art festivals. It’s a terrific show. And my work simply didn’t connect there.

I sold very little. At one show, I sold nothing.

That was humbling, but also useful. It made me start kicking more tires. Maybe the question wasn’t simply whether people liked the work. Maybe I needed to get better at finding the places where the right people would actually encounter it.

At about the same time, the work itself was changing.

I was leaning much more fully into the geometric, color-forward direction that has now become central to my practice. As that happened, something started to shift.

The work began connecting at Gallery Twist in Lexington and Stewart Clifford Gallery in Provincetown. Between those exhibitions and private sales, 35 pieces found homes in 2024.

That felt significant.

So in 2025, I kept experimenting.

I returned to galleries, but also tried more outdoor art festivals — Coconut Grove in Miami, Bartlett Art on the Mall in Newburyport, Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia and Armonk in New York.

Some were stronger than others. Some generated sales. Others generated conversations, contacts and ideas about where I should go next.

And by the end of the year, nearly 60 pieces had found homes — almost twice as many as the year before.

I’m still taking that in.

There’s a temptation to look at a successful year and think you’ve figured something out. I’m not sure I have.

What I do know is that being willing to experiment has mattered. The work changed. Where I showed it changed. And gradually, I began finding more of the people who connected with what I was making.

There will undoubtedly be more tire-kicking ahead.

But that's part of it.

Make the work. Put it out into the world. Pay attention to what happens. And keep going.