Today's postings
- [Baren 43777] RE: Art as sole source of income? (Hannah Skoonberg)
- [Baren 43778] Story in the Portland newspaper ... (David Bull)
Message 1
From: Hannah Skoonberg
Date: Wed, 27 Jul 2011 16:49:18 GMT
Subject: [Baren 43777] RE: Art as sole source of income?
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Maria, that was a great outline of working as a full time artist. I would
like to copy it and share that with some emerging artists I know.
The art festival path is one I have no experience with. But I have had
success with the online end of art business. What is great about selling
work online is that you photograph and list it and then you can leave it
alone. It is another venue that doesn't get in the way at all with doing art
festivals or making art. And on some rainy Thursday you check your email and
find that you've sold a print to somebody in Australia.
You need to have a good web presence. Maria mentioned blogs and I would
reiterate that. The more online places you can have your images the more
people will find you. You want somebody who only knows your name, to be able
to easily pull you up on a simple google search. Flickr, Twitter,
Deviantart, Blog, personal website, Etsy, Facebook, Inkteraction,
everything.
Maria also talked about the importance of being there in person. The
customer is buying the artist along with the art. This is also the case with
online sales. Of course you aren't there in person so you have to make an
extra effort when describing your art to put in that personal touch. What
was involved in making it? What inspired you? They want to know the artist a
bit and a little history will make the art a little more meaningful to the
buyer.
Hitting the right price range is very important. I would add that I think a
range of prices is good. It is good to have a couple of higher end more
expensive pieces. Really show off the best you can do. But at the same time
offer art for every budget. For me that means my most expensive print is
$600 but I also sell little linocut bookmarks for $10 and everything in
between. I want my broke college friends to still be able to afford
something.
Learn about shipping and packing your art. There are many ways to reduce the
cost of shipping and sort of streamline the process. Depending on the kind
of work you are shipping. It is better to take a bit of a loss on shipping
than to overcharge. I know for a fact that people can be turned away by
shipping that is too high. Just try and shoot for an actual shipping
estimate. Overseas shipping can be very expensive so I intentionally take a
small loss on international shipping to encourage sales.
Art galleries seem to be only so-so at making sales and I mostly think of
them as resume building. People do learn about you from galleries and often
they will remember your name. And having a gallery reputation is good when
people don't trust their own taste.
With art you need the omnivore approach. One single venue isn't going to be
enough so grab onto any art opportunity that comes your way. I am working as
a letterpress shop assistant, selling online, doing gallery shows, and
teaching workshops as they come up. There is also a whole range of grants
and residencies that directly help fund art projects.
I hope that helps
Hannah Skoonberg
like to copy it and share that with some emerging artists I know.
The art festival path is one I have no experience with. But I have had
success with the online end of art business. What is great about selling
work online is that you photograph and list it and then you can leave it
alone. It is another venue that doesn't get in the way at all with doing art
festivals or making art. And on some rainy Thursday you check your email and
find that you've sold a print to somebody in Australia.
You need to have a good web presence. Maria mentioned blogs and I would
reiterate that. The more online places you can have your images the more
people will find you. You want somebody who only knows your name, to be able
to easily pull you up on a simple google search. Flickr, Twitter,
Deviantart, Blog, personal website, Etsy, Facebook, Inkteraction,
everything.
Maria also talked about the importance of being there in person. The
customer is buying the artist along with the art. This is also the case with
online sales. Of course you aren't there in person so you have to make an
extra effort when describing your art to put in that personal touch. What
was involved in making it? What inspired you? They want to know the artist a
bit and a little history will make the art a little more meaningful to the
buyer.
Hitting the right price range is very important. I would add that I think a
range of prices is good. It is good to have a couple of higher end more
expensive pieces. Really show off the best you can do. But at the same time
offer art for every budget. For me that means my most expensive print is
$600 but I also sell little linocut bookmarks for $10 and everything in
between. I want my broke college friends to still be able to afford
something.
Learn about shipping and packing your art. There are many ways to reduce the
cost of shipping and sort of streamline the process. Depending on the kind
of work you are shipping. It is better to take a bit of a loss on shipping
than to overcharge. I know for a fact that people can be turned away by
shipping that is too high. Just try and shoot for an actual shipping
estimate. Overseas shipping can be very expensive so I intentionally take a
small loss on international shipping to encourage sales.
Art galleries seem to be only so-so at making sales and I mostly think of
them as resume building. People do learn about you from galleries and often
they will remember your name. And having a gallery reputation is good when
people don't trust their own taste.
With art you need the omnivore approach. One single venue isn't going to be
enough so grab onto any art opportunity that comes your way. I am working as
a letterpress shop assistant, selling online, doing gallery shows, and
teaching workshops as they come up. There is also a whole range of grants
and residencies that directly help fund art projects.
I hope that helps
Hannah Skoonberg
Message 2
From: David Bull
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 07:33:48 GMT
Subject: [Baren 43778] Story in the Portland newspaper ...
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Barbara has been busy (again!). Story in today's Portland Tribune
about the Inspired by Japan project:
http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=131180138925013800
[Too bad their programmer borked the link to Barenforum! I've written
to them about it ...]
Dave
about the Inspired by Japan project:
http://portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=131180138925013800
[Too bad their programmer borked the link to Barenforum! I've written
to them about it ...]
Dave