Having an art opening -- legal issues

Hi all,
sorry if this has been posted before.
An art gallery would like to show my artwork. They have shown my stuff before, but now they would like to do some advertising, which is all quite normal for a one-man show – It is a business, after all, and they wish to attract buyers. They also wish to make postcards to be mailed to their mailing list. I’m not worried about the mailing list, just the newspaper advertisement. I’m not confident that the gallery will be willing to host the show without advertising as it’s a poor business decision for them.

Obviously I’d like to do the show. It’s my real interest, and being a teacher pays the bills and provides the visa. I’d hate to think that there’s no room to settle into what I really enjoy doing while in this country.
On the other hand, I’m very hesitant about placing an advertisement in a newspaper featuring my name and face, as it’s a direct statement, in print, to immigration: Hey, look! A foreigner!

So, what can be done?
If it is impossible to make this a legal venture, how serious an offense is this? If I’m caught, will I be deported, given a fine, or what? The gallery commonly shows foreign artwork but they’ve never had a foreign artist who was living in the country at the time of the opening.

Thanks in advance.

Valid question.
Can you get the gallery to add themselves to your work permit?
It is legal now to do so.
Keep your teaching day job, and have the gallery added to your id.

This is a good idea, and I started looking into that. The gallery is also asking around for information about what to do. It’s all a little frustrating because I can’t find any info from anyone who’s done this before…
A couple thoughts I had about adding them to my ARC…
Is there a minimum number of hours I need to work there? Is there a minimum amount of pay I need to receive from them? Min. length of work visa on the ARC is a year, I would guess… this kind of stuff poses a problem because clearly it’s a one time show, and future shows would be sporadic at best, depending on sales.

Does anyone know of a temporary authorization one can receive for brief stints? What do performing artists receive when they legally perform a concert? Anyone out there ever done any touring?

I know the easiest way is to just bite the bullet and do it. Chances are I’d get away with it. But this doesn’t really solve much as I’d always worry with every future situation. I mean basically, I LIKE living here, and plan on staying longterm! The thought of deportation, however unlikely, is very sobering.

Again, thanks for any input.

I think the minumum is met by your school job. This would only be moonlighting so you shouldn,t need to meet this.

Guess it depends on who you talk to at CLA that day.
Good luck.

AFAIK, to get a work permit for non-teaching jobs, you need to meet the requirements for professional workers – i.e. proof of two years relevant work experience, or a Masters. Also, the fields for which such permits are given are limited, I think.

I have exhibited a number of times in galleries, some of which had quite allot of promotion effort, and never had any problem.

This is likely of little help as I wasn’t trying to sell my work.

Why not just stipulate no photo? My sister’s a painter in the UK and my uncle’s an art dealer, so I’ve been to countless shows and auctions. I can’t remember ever seeing photos of the artists on the advertising stuff. What a strange concept.
A photo of your work, sure, but why would a buyer be interested in a pic of your ugly mug?

(Just kidding about the ugly part, but you get the, ummm… picture?)

I think that sandman’s suggestion is good.

With this matter out of the way, I believe you will have no problems.

In other words, over and beyond this, I do not see any additional complications arising.