Out-of-the-box ideas and assets to take your online art show to the next level

An online art show can be a great way not only to showcase your body of work or a particular collection but to share an in-depth experience with people interested in your art 

Here you’ll find ideas we have collected from our community that will give your virtual exhibition that extra oomph that can make it memorable, plus all the downloadable assets you could need to achieve it.

Want to access more downloadable assets, plus, hours of recorded webinars, live events, interviews, tutorials, and how-to guides? Visit ArtPlacer Academy. Log in to your ArtPlacer account or start your free trial to visit this learning space for artists, curators, and gallerists.

How to showcase your art in an online art gallery: creative layouts

How can you make your pieces stand out? It’s all about location! You need to go one step beyond what’s already a cohesive selection and play around with the pieces in the space to create an engaging visual storytelling that tells us more about the creations.

To achieve that specific look and highlight how the artworks interact with each other and with the surrounding space, play with Position handles to find the perfect spot for each piece and create the ambiance you want to capture in this particular online art show.

Use these layout examples as a guide when curating your next virtual exhibition.

You are here!: helping your visitors navigate your 3D virtual exhibition

Once you have curated and created your online art show, there is a little add-on you could use to help your visitors navigate through it. You can upload a blueprint of the 3D Virtual Gallery and highlight and name each space according to the selection of artworks, to help visitors find exactly what they are looking for.

Also, it could be a good idea to share a recommended walk trough so visitors can experience your exhibition in the way you conceptualized it.

Text goes here: how to tell a story in your gallery walls

Your curatorial or artist’s statement is an essential part of your Virtual Exhibition brochure. You can upload it as a PDF on the first step, when creating your gallery. But this rich resource can also come to life inside the art show. 

How can you achieve this look? It’s simple. Create a PNG image of your text, with a transparent background and legible typography that should contrast with the color of your walls. then, add it as an artwork. Afterward, when curating the virtual art show, place it on a wall and click on the Transparent Background checkbox

Bear in mind that you could add any text: from the artist’s bio, to a quote from the curator or maybe a quote that develops a bit more on the ideas that hold the exhibition together.

You could also adapt the most important pages of your brochure and redesign them as a poster (A4 size is ideal) that can be showcased on top of a pedestal like a book ready to be opened and read.

Labels: let your visitors know the background behind every piece

Labels are used in brick-and-mortar galleries and museums to give visitors all the essential information they need to know about an artwork and the artist behind it. You can offer the same experience by adding digital labels to your online art show.

The process is simple, create your own label and fill it in with important information the visitor should know at first sight. Upload it as an artwork to the ArtPlacer web app, and place it inside your online art show. Play around with the position, and place it close to the artwork it describes.

This will also give your digital gallery a more realistic look. Remember to add essential data like the title of the artwork, name, and nationality of the artist, source (if the piece comes from a private gallery or is shared by the artist itself), etc.

It’s sold: how to highlight sold items to your visitors

Congratulations, your digital art show landed you a sale! How can you let future visitors and potential art buyers know which pieces are available now? Easy, we suggest two options you can adapt to your aesthetic.

One is the classic red dot you can see in IRL (in real life) galleries next to sold items. You can download the image from the free pack, upload it as an artwork, and then play with the position using the Position handles, and locate it next to the sold piece. Use the red tag available in the downloadable package.

Another clever way to highlight sold-out pieces is editing the artwork with the word “Sold” over it. Once you have this image ready you can go to the Artwork’s section of the web app, click on “Edit Artwork”, then on the black “Upload artwork here” button, and replace the current piece with the one with the “sold” title on it.

Elements: giving an IRL feeling to a digital art gallery

One of the things that make 3D virtual galleries such a great asset for artists and curators, is that these are digital spaces where they can showcase artworks in their precise size. This offers visitors that can come from any corner of the world, a real sense of how each piece would look in real life. Certain elements can highlight the sense of the dimension of the piece according to the space, like placing “people” and objects inside a virtual gallery. 

This look is easy to achieve: check in the free downloadable pack for people, upload the transparent png image to the web app, and make sure to tweak the size of the image to represent the actual height of a person. Check the name of the PNG for the suggested height. Place it as a 3D-like object or sculpture and remove the pedestal option. Adjust the position to make it look like they are staring at the art piece of your choice. Et voila! Your exhibition now has real-life-sized visitors for a better sense of size and spacing.

Now we suggest opening up your mind to the endless possibilities that placing 3D-like objects can bring to your virtual exhibition: you can add chairs and benches to give it the feel of a real art fair or exhibition. You can also get creative and add elements like artist’s tools, easels, or objects related to the show. For example, if you are doing a photographic exhibition you could place on a pedestal the different cameras you used to capture the images or even objects that appear in the photographs. All these things can help the visitor get immersed in a real 360° experience.

Branding: how to make your brand stand out

There is a lot to say about branding when it comes to art marketing. But let’s cut to the chase, you are your brand. There is no need for technicalities, everything you do, and everything you create, is connected by the fact that it is your creative mind that made it come to life. And everything that people recognize about you and your body of work, is what would be called a brand in the marketing world.

Having a clear concept can help you highlight the most important parts of your message and what you want to express. And how can you represent that when curating an online art gallery? See these examples:

–The artist IS present: pick a picture of the artist, it could even be a candid photo in their studio and exhibit it in a big format. Our suggestion is to position it on a wall close to the opening section of the Virtual Exhibition. You can even add text on the wall with their bio as we have seen before.

–A short talk with the artists: virtual exhibitions host many formats, video is one of them and this opens a wide range of possibilities. Your exhibition could open with a video of the artist sharing the backstory of their collection., Another option is having a video introduction to each curated space in the gallery, that way the artists can directly share with their visitor their own perspective and message.

-Your Logo goes here: your personal or gallery logo or signature should be easily recognizable, at least that’s the goal. You can upload it as an artwork in PNG format, place it on a wall and then select the “Transparency Background” checkbox. 

Another option to showcase your logo is to upload it and place it on a pedestal inside your virtual exhibition.

Think out of the box: put a twist on your gallery walls

We have provided you with some ideas and suggestions from our team of curators, but we want to invite you to use them as inspirations and see where creativity can take you and how you can use these art marketing tools to make your ideas come to life. There are many ways to customize an online 3D digital gallery.

For example, you can create an open door leading to a new exhibition or your museum gift shop (your e-commerce), you can take a real picture of your own gallery or use open-source photography to achieve this look.

Are you selling particular art prints of your collection? A good way to capture your visitor’s attention is to showcase them on a rack, you just need to upload the image and place it as a sculpture.

Do you want to drive traffic to your professional website or your artist’s social media profile? A good way to direct visitors to a certain page is to add a QR code as a label on the wall of your virtual gallery. Think about the possibilities that can open: you can drive them to any content that can deepen their experience.

Now that you have gone through all of these ideas, we hope your creativity is flowing and we are eager to see what you can create. Get the Art Marketing tools you need today. Log in to your ArtPlacer account or start your free trial today.

Start working on your next virtual exhibition and make sure to share the process and more with the hashtag #ArtPlacer to be featured on our social media channels.