Editorial Singapore

How to Get Your Artwork into an Art Gallery

Every artist dreams of getting his work of art exhibited in an art gallery. For an artist, to be given the opportunity to share art to other people is an absolute joy. The feeling of being able to astonish people truly makes an artist ecstatically happy.

If you are fascinated in putting your piece of art in a commercial gallery, the following tips might be very useful to making your dream come true.

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Visit websites of art galleries

In Singapore, nearly all galleries and museums have a web site. Here you can learn about their submission policies and whether or not their doors are welcome to evaluate new artists. Doing your search online first also saves much of your time and effort.

Hunt for new ones

New galleries will most likely accept new artists. Be on the lookout for new ones in your local, and inquire about their policies. If you are fortunate enough to be given a break, get a written contract and insist on being paid on time. This is because some new galleries don’t succeed during the first two years. And so if you don’t have a solid contract, you might not get paid at all.

Fit into their niche

You might have distinctive works of art and that’s good. But part of being able to fish for an opportunity of exhibiting them in a place like contemporary Vinci arts in Singapore is to find one wherein they will fit in. When you visit a prospective art gallery Singapore, try to observe the kind of art and artist it exhibits. If you have such a disparate artwork, the gallery might not be interested.

Post your art online

Perhaps one of the hardships that every artist goes through is searching for an avenue to showcase his works. At present, it’s the gallery that finds the artist and not the other way around. Because of this reality, you need to establish a presence strong enough to magnet galleries. One effective way to do this is by posting your art online. The more places, the better.

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Optimize your web site

There are many ways to optimize your personal web site so it ranks better in search engines. Hiring somebody who is an expert in search engine optimization is definitely a good investment and should be considered if you are really serious about building a strong presence in the internet.

Market your works

Advertise and promote your art. The dream of getting your artwork into a gallery requires much amount of patience and perseverance at first. But don’t worry, all your efforts will pay off once you have finally mounted your art onto the gallery’s walls. If you want, you can also hire an agent to market and sell your artwork.

Always be prepared

This might sound very general, but an artist should always be prepared of tough times. Expect a lot of rejection, especially in urban areas where there are hundreds of artists who compete for a very rare opportunity. Moreover, be financially prepared. Don’t just depend on the income you can get from being able to show your works in galleries. It’s good if you can have a part-time job or a small business, for example. Being an artist may be bittersweet. You may not have a decent income out of what you do, but doing art is bliss.

Singapore Plans to Ban Cigarettes

Singapore is doing its best to keep the people healthy and fit by banning cigarettes. Smoking was first banned (in selected areas) last 1970. As time goes by, the coverage of the “non-smoking area” is broadened to include shelters, bus terminals, public toilets, hawker centres, entertainment hubs (such as bars, lounges, nightspots and clubs), coffee shops, playgrounds, car parks, factories, shops, fitness centres, shopping malls and many other establishments. However, establishments are allowed to construct “smoking rooms” designated by law.

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Smokers who are not following rules are asked to pay from S$200 to S$1000. Managers who allowed smoking are asked to pay S$200 (for the first offence) to S$500 (for the following offences). If you are seen littering (cigarette butts), you will be charged too. Smoking to public areas is a serious crime here in Singapore. Aside from that, smoking can also cause serious illness. You know that smoking can kill. If you are still smoking, you should be reminded that smoking could:

Cancer

Smokers are vulnerable to different types of cancer. Majority of the smokers suffer lung cancer. Aside from lung cancer, they are also vulnerable to oral, larynx, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreatic cancers.

Coronary heart disease

If nicotine and carbon monoxide come together, they can cause damage the lining of blood vessels. This can contribute to the development of heart disease.

Lung related diseases

Smoking can cause chronic airway obstruction.

Smoking is unhealthy for the smoker and the inhaler. Do yourself and others a favour-stop smoking as soon as possible or suffer the wrath. If you need help, you can consider rehabilitation centres. Smoking is addictive. You should stop before it is too late.

Wedding Portal: Creating a Wedding Website

One feature that many wedding portals possess is the wedding website. A wedding website is utilized to aid couples in planning their wedding events. From choosing the wedding date and picking of the venues down to the wedding caterer and wedding cake baker, everything is made easier to plan with the use of wedding website.

wedding-portal

Most of these websites provide updates of the latest trends in wedding planning through email. Through this updates, you get to know the latest trends in weddings Singapore themes, gown styles, bouquet arrangements, and many other Singapore wedding events related details. You’ll find all these updates useful as your planning progresses. However, though some Singapore wedding portals like Singapore wedding bliss offer free wedding website, others may require you to pay a certain amount.
Some ask only minimal amount, while others may range from $50 to $120 a year with a renewal cost of around $60, if you wish your site to remain even after the event. Regardless of the type of wedding website, free or premium, you plan on using, here’s the information that it should include:

1. Basic Info
First and foremost, include your and your spouse’s name together with the date of the wedding, where the occasion will take place, and time the event will start. This info should answer Who, What, Where, When, and Why questions.

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2. Maps and Directions
Another essential detail that should be included on the site is the basic directions of the venue. It would be helpful to also include nearby landmarks, or display map link or attach neatly sketched maps.

3. Hotel Information
If yours is a destination wedding, or you have just invited relative and friends from faraway places, your guests certainly needs your help in looking for a place to stay. Links of hotel information on your Singapore wedding website could be the best thing you can do to help them out.

4. Suggested Attire
People always ask the question “What should I wear?” in every gathering they attend to, same thing with your guests. Help them in figuring out what outfit to wear on your wedding by stating the theme of the event. Is it formal or casual? Should they wear cocktail dresses and coat and tie, or jeans and cowboy hat will fit more to your theme?

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Other optional information to include:

5. Registry Info
Though including registry information on your invitations seems too blunt, a convenient portion of this detail on your wedding site will probably be appreciated by most of your guests. Since you don’t want to imply that guests are obliged to bring a gift, make sure to post the link discreetly. Perhaps, you can display at the bottommost part of the page, or post it as the only link in the secondary page.

6. Your Love Story
You may also include a short story of how you and your beloved other met. This can entertain your guests and make them feel excited for your big day.

7. RSVPs
Though some people view it a bit informal, many couples in Singapore prefer the cost-efficiency and convenience of having their guests RSVP on their wedding site, instead of using response cards.
8. Videos and Photos
Who doesn’t love photographs? Surely, your guests will appreciate seeing a couple of cute photos of you and your spouse – just don’t go overboard. No one would really take much time to browse through all 846 photos from your first Paris trip together.

Quit Smoking or Else…

You should know that smoking is a bad habit that you should break. On top of that, it is banned (in certain areas) here in Singapore. If you smoke in a “non-smoking area”, you will be fined from S$200 to S$1000. Other Singaporeans are pursuing a proposal that seeks to free Singapore from Tobacco. The proposal is to stop or ban the supply of Tobacco to Singaporeans born from 2000. This will eventually result to the phasing out of Tobacco.

quit-smoking

Of course, smokers find this idea ridiculous but the group only seeks to protect the health of the people around. Should this become a law, you are in for a lot of trouble. It is better to quit smoking-soon. In case you forgot or you are ignoring it, you should be reminded of the ill effects of smoking. Ill effects of smoking include:

Abstinence

The basic thing that you can do is restrain yourself from smoking. You can start from taking away all paraphernalia so you will not be distracted or pre occupied. If you abstain, you will feel a strong desire or urge to smoke but you can forget it by keeping yourself occupied or busy. More importantly, you should be serious and determined to stop it.

Therapies

If you feel that you need the help of other people, therapies are available. Doctor’s will help you get through this.  They can prescribe drugs that can assist you.

Smoking is not good. Yes, it feels good for a while but as it wavers, everything will be normal again. You should think that the effects are long term. You will suffer and it is not that good or fun anymore. Stop smoking now or regret it later. It is your choice.

Internet Poised to Make or Break Restaurants

Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Foursquare – these five social media sites have become today’s appraisers of the quality of service companies, especially restaurants. Here’s why:

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Changing Landscape

In earlier times, when you get bad food or service from a restaurant, you either talk about it with the manager or you tell your friends not to go to said restaurant. Today, the damage badly-served customers can do is far worse: with the advent of social media, not only can they detail their bad experience for anyone to see, they can post it exactly where would-be other customers are expected to check.

Extreme Example

Understandably, this is bad news to restaurants that provide poor service as shown in the case of one Arizona restaurant. The restaurant, Amy’s Baking Co., has been infamous in its locality. They were so bad that even master chef Gordon Ramsay gave up on salvaging the establishment, a first in his popular show Kitchen Nightmares. But instead of learning from the experience, the owners lashed out at its online critics – to its own detriment.

Masters of Opinion

The more a restaurant cries foul and denies its faults, the more online critics will pounce on them, and the more people will know how bad they are. That was exactly what happened with Amy’s Baking Co. and many others. The power of social media is so strong today that they can make or break restaurants big and small. As evidence, a Harvard study showed that an increase in online rating directly translated to increased revenue. Poor ratings, of course, mean fewer customers.

Singapore Restaurants

How does Singaporean restaurant fare? Not too bad at all. Customers gave perfect ratings to a good number of restaurants, including Restaurant Andre, Shinji by Kanesaka, and CUT at Bayfront Avenue. Notably, Restaurant Andre ranked #38 on the World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 2013.