No. The gallery is open to all. Initially, when you opened an account, you had to check the "ask for an artist account" option to start the artist account request process.
I haven't added that feature for someone who already has subscribed, but if you want to go ahead, let me know and I'll start it for you.
I checked the little box, but an advertisement covered up what I had to do to start posting. All I know is that I have to have 5 pitures to show some one, but where do I send them?