What constitutes an art business related expense?
The obvious answer is art supplies, studio rent, office supplies, photography, promotion, professional memberships, equipment and software. Keep all your
The obvious answer is art supplies, studio rent, office supplies, photography, promotion, professional memberships, equipment and software. Keep all your
In theory, art is priceless. In reality, it’s not. It’s hard to attach numbers to your work. In order to have success in your art, start by reviewing the sales of previous work. This can begin to establish your prices.
When you sit down to write or revise your artist statement, it’s firstly important to understand the objective of the exercise. People who read it may include gallery directors, potential clients and journalists. Your goal is to give them some frameworks around your work with which they can better view and understand it.
Your website can, and should be your best ally. As an artist help, what constitutes good copy is not only text that reads well and does a great job relaying the key messages of your work, but text that drives visitors to your site in the first place.
If you find yourself staring vacantly into the whiteness of your page, or if you’ve already written your statement and your bio but they leave you cold, as an artist tip, limber yourself up by borrowing – momentarily – someone else’s insight.
It is best to craft a statement and bio that are fairly unique to one another to start with, however, your bio statement should be written in third person and a statement written in first person.
I personally have a number of artists statements. These range from different times in my career, from different stylistic periods in my career and are of various lengths. An example of this is with my current artist statement. I have three different versions of this statement, depending upon where I am showing it or presenting it.
Marketing and promotional materials serve you best when they are easy to update, produce and disperse and when they reflect a professional image of you and your work that makes sense. In all of your materials you should include professional photography of your work. If the photograph quality is poor, this immediately reflects on your own artistic eye.
A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is your opportunity to market your arts successfully and list all of the shows in which your work has appeared, as well as to reference private collectors and museums that have purchased your work. A resume and a CV are often very similar, but a resume tends to be one or two pages, while a CV is comprehensive.
Arts marketing for artists, can be best achieved when artists don’t only see themselves as conveyors of information, intention and feeling and are moved to communicate their messages by means of two and three dimensional objects, performance, or sound.
A fire destroyed my studio in 1983, taking seven years work with it. It shook my foundations as a person and brought me face to face with my mortality. It influenced my transition through a fairly diverse range of art practice and made the later transition to found objects easier, because I became less rigid as a person.
A study into one mans journey into the creative arts.
I started making sculptural pieces with some of the larger plastics that had been washing up on my local beaches. I made totems and installations made with thongs, coke bottles and all of these things.
With art promotion and success, it’s always a good policy to remember that the idea of being a successful artist is a very relative notion.
I have granted myself permission to use a variety of techniques, as I want. Success is sometimes feeling that one isn’t categorized or confined and having the courage to promote whatever you do well.
Art sales and the topic of finances
If the topic of finances terrifies you, remind yourself of this: you can have wealth, and you deserve wealth through your art sales.
Creating wealth as an artist
Everyone knows the stereotype of the poor starving artist. For you, this can become an irrelevant notion of the past. As presented in my seminars, I have created a systematic, practical approach to creating a platform using the Internet to share your creative endeavours.
Art and money while pursuing your art career.
You might also consider other at-home business opportunities, such as writing a book. (This process is outlined in detail in my “Art Insights” seminar.) Ultimately, you can publish your own book e-book or online newsletter and have different products all related to your field of art. Many possibilities exist for a varied income stream.
Art help with responsible financial management
Artists need to organize their money and protect and save their wealth. I have met many artists who were simply overwhelmed by financial planning. Most often they are responsible for the problem by not taking sufficient interest in their finances, and it is often necessary to twist an arm in order to persuade an artist to audit their income and take control.
Art and business success through using ‘The Parthenon Principle’.
To create an effective varied income stream we can look to the Parthenon Principle. If you have visited or seen the ancient Parthenon temple in Athens, you will recall its many Doric columns. These columns are the parallel between this surviving structure and the wealth we aim to build.
Art marketing for emerging artists
If you are an emerging artist, set reasonable expectations. While no one gets very far without a certain amount of ambition, it’s important to realistically structure your approach to getting what you want.
Best ways to talk about your art in order to sell art.
The best way to talk about your art is to start with the elements that you are most clear on. It’s really important not to waffle when you talk about art in general and particularly when addressing your own work. It’s most effective to directly respond to the questions being asked.
Artist marketing is also an attitude.
Marketing is also an attitude. Your own perception of your work can usher in desired perceptions from others. Many artists start apologizing for their work. Here’s a secret: the viewing audience wants you to succeed, and they want you to be confident because they don’t want to feel sorry for you.