Studio Management for Visual Artists
Someone who knows your work, supports your goals, and helps you follow through.
Studio management for late-stage emerging and mid-career visual artists, with support shaped around your individual practice.
My name is Mallory Shotwell. I am an artist and studio manager, working with visual artists on career strategy, grant writing, applications, professional materials, websites, and the ongoing responsibilities surrounding their work.
You may have an opportunity you want to pursue, a project that needs attention, or more professional demands than you can comfortably manage alone. Together, we identify what matters most and build a plan. Then I help carry out the work, so moving forward does not depend on you doing everything yourself.
Support for Your Work and the Career You Want to Build
A good working relationship begins with understanding your art. What are you making? What questions are you pursuing? Where would you like your work to go, and what would help you get there?
We are thought partners in those conversations. My role also includes the research, writing, coordination, and follow-through needed to put our plans into practice.
That might mean preparing a residency application, reviewing artwork pricing, writing to a curator, or keeping a major project organized. Over time, you have someone who knows your materials, remembers the conversations, and can take on responsibilities without requiring you to explain your practice from the beginning each time.
My responsibility is to you. When our work involves galleries, art consultants, curators, museums, collectors, or commissioning organizations, your interests and decisions remain central.
By the Numbers
20 years as an interdisciplinary artist.
15 years in curation and arts administration.
12 years studying the business of art.
3 countries where I currently support artists, including across the United States.
5,000 tasks completed for working artists
Every artist I work with gets a partner who carries the writing, planning, applications, and coordination that stand between strong work and the people who need to see it.
1,320 writing and editing projects: statements, bios, CVs, and career narratives that say exactly what your practice is.
960 website, marketing, and SEO upgrades that keep your work current, easy to read, and ready for a curator’s inquiry the day it arrives.
700 inventory and database builds: complete artwork records and contact systems you will use for the rest of your career.
640 strategic plans that match your goals to the right opportunities, with realistic timelines and clear next steps.
380 pricing and sales documentation projects: confident prices, consistent records, and materials ready for galleries, collectors, and buyers.
1,000+ applications for grants, residencies, fellowships, exhibitions, and public art commissions.
You get someone who knows your work, holds the plan, and takes ownership of the parts we agree on. We make the decisions together. I handle the research, writing, preparation, and follow-through for you.
Studio Management Services
Your support is built around your priorities. We agree on what I will handle directly, what we will develop together, and where strategic guidance would be most useful. Below is a sample of what I am happy to do for artists to support their work and careers:
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Career Strategy and Professional Planning
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Clarify your goals, evaluate opportunities, and develop a realistic plan for your practice. We consider both what you want to pursue and what you have the time, resources, and interest to take on.
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Grant Writing and Artist Applications
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Research and prepare applications for grants, fellowships, residencies, exhibitions, and public art opportunities. Support can include proposal development, written responses, budgets, work samples, and submission preparation.
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Artist Statements, Biographies, CVs, and Portfolios
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Develop professional materials that communicate your work clearly and sound like you. We adapt the writing and selection of materials to the opportunity, audience, and purpose.
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Artist Websites, Marketing, and Communications
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Bring your website and communications into closer alignment with your practice. Support may include website copy, content organization, SEO, newsletters, and a manageable approach to sharing your work.
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Professional Correspondence and Artist Advocacy
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Prepare for conversations, draft correspondence, maintain follow-up, and navigate professional relationships. When agreed, I communicate on your behalf and help ensure your intentions and priorities are understood.
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Exhibition and Project Coordination
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Keep track of timelines, materials, budgets, documentation, and communication across exhibitions, commissions, and collaborations. We establish responsibilities so you know what is being handled and what needs your attention.
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Artwork Pricing and Financial Organization
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Review artwork prices, organize financial records, develop project budgets, and track invoices and payments. This work supports informed planning and professional decisions; it does not replace accounting, tax, or legal advice.
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Artwork Inventories and Studio Systems
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Organize artwork records, images, professional materials, contacts, and deadlines in a structure that supports the way you work.
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A Shared Studio Database That Belongs to You
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Every engagement includes a personalized studio database, whether we work together on a short-term project or through ongoing support.
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It brings your professional materials, artwork information, plans, research, and opportunities into one shared location. We use it to do the work: prepare applications, develop strategy, review pricing, organize budgets, track correspondence, and coordinate projects.
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As your materials become organized and I learn your practice, I can take on more of that work independently, bringing completed drafts, recommendations, and decisions back to you for review.
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The database belongs to you permanently. You keep the materials, research, and plans we develop, with a resource you can continue using throughout your art career.
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Who I Work With
I work with late-stage emerging and mid-career visual artists who have a developed body of work and an active professional practice.
You may be:
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Preparing for exhibitions, commissions, residencies, or a new body of work.
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Looking for opportunities that fit your practice and longer-term goals.
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Ready to improve your website, applications, or professional materials.
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Managing relationships with several galleries, institutions, or collaborators.
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Carrying a backlog of correspondence, records, and unfinished professional tasks.
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Looking for a trusted collaborator who can share the work and help you make decisions.
You do not need to have everything organized before reaching out. Understanding what needs attention is part of our work together.
Two Ways to Work Together
Short-Term Project Support
Focused support for a defined need, such as a grant application, website revision, pricing review, studio organization, or strategic plan.
We agree on the scope, timeline, and fee before beginning. You receive a shared studio database and keep the work we develop together.
Ongoing Studio Management Retainer
A longer-term working relationship that provides continuity across your projects, opportunities, and professional responsibilities.
We develop a plan around your practice, establish regular conversations, and reserve monthly time for work completed with you and on your behalf. Priorities evolve as your work develops.
Support typically ranges from $300–$1,000 per month, depending on your goals, needs, budget, and level of involvement. Your proposal explains the scope, fees, payment schedule, and terms before we begin.
About Me
My approach draws on twenty years as an interdisciplinary artist and fifteen in curation and arts administration. I exhibit my own work across the country and have worked as a curator, juror, grant reviewer, gallery leader, and arts educator. Those experiences give me an understanding of both what artists put into their work and what happens within the organizations considering, presenting, and supporting it.
As the founder and former director of Cultivate, an artist-run arts organization in Grand Rapids, I led exhibitions, educational programming, and community partnerships that served nearly 10,000 students and more than 1,000 artists. Building that organization meant bringing curatorial vision into daily practice: developing programs, supporting artists, coordinating people and resources, and taking responsibility for the details that made the work possible.
My background also includes founding and directing Madison Community Discourse and working in curation and arts administration at Arts + Literature Laboratory. Across those roles, I developed exhibitions, public programs, and educational experiences that connected artists with audiences and communities. That work taught me to consider an artist’s experience throughout a project, from the first invitation to the communication, preparation, and follow-through that shape a meaningful collaboration.
For the past twelve years, I have focused on learning the business of art in depth. That includes gallery relationships and representation agreements, artwork pricing, grants and fellowships, residencies, public art, and museum opportunities. My interest is in how these structures affect an individual artist: what an agreement asks of you, how an opportunity fits your goals, what a project will cost, and where you have room to ask questions or negotiate.
Education and writing are another part of that commitment. My background includes extensive curriculum and workshop development, and my articles on artist professional practice and the business of art are now taught at art colleges across the country. Making this knowledge accessible matters to me because artists are frequently expected to navigate complex professional responsibilities with limited preparation.
Today, I support artists across the United States and in three countries. I bring that experience into a close working relationship with each artist, drawing on the perspective of someone who has made and exhibited work, built organizations, developed programs, and participated in institutional decisions.
For you, that means access to experience you can use: someone who can help you understand the context, prepare for a conversation, recognize what needs attention, and make informed decisions about where your work goes next.
Want to Learn More about the Studio Management for Visual Artists Work, or Process? See Below!
