art marketing

Gallery Specializes in Original Paintings Priced Under $500

ARTISTS. A new online gallery called Fifty Artists, is catering to art lovers who would love to support artists but are turned off by high-end gallery prices. Fifty Artists specializes in offering affordably priced one-of-a-kind originals

fiftyartistslogo“Early on, the team talked a lot about our own experiences buying art,” said co-founder Jason Kallas. “Our adventures ranged from awful encounters to celebrated interactions. These impressions shaped our belief that buying original paintings is harder than it needs to be. At Fifty Artists, we believe there is a large gap between how traditional galleries are marketing their artists and the reality of current shopping trends.”

Jason Kallis and his partner Gail Kallis believe that most galleries lack the capabilities to promote their artists and sell artwork online. This in turn makes it hard for potential customers to find artists they love and can afford.

Fifty Artists exhibits paintings and illustrations inspired by a range of art movements. They do not sell prints or reproductions.

“Everything is original and under $500. This has broad appeal no matter the size of your wallet,” commented Jason. “Rather than compromising on quality, we opted to sell smaller works.”

"Snow Day Driving" is a 12 x 12 inch oil on canvas painting by Chin H. Shin
“Snow Day Driving” is a 12 x 12 inch oil on canvas painting by Chin H. Shin

Jason and Gail believe “smalls” are fantastic for a lot of reasons.

“Small paintings are perfect for the newbie seeking their first original piece as well as the seasoned collector,” said Gail Kallis. “Smaller works are more about personal enjoyment versus a monetary investment.” Buying smaller works also removes the pressure of finding a single, great piece. Small artwork fits into tight spaces, can be purchased online, and travels easily.

Smaller, original paintings are perfect for commemorating special occasions and make extraordinary gifts.

"Red cross" is a 22.5 x 30-inch oil and cold-wax painting by Karen Darling.
“Red cross” is a 22.5 x 30-inch oil and cold-wax painting by Karen Darling.

“We chose the name “Fifty Artists” because that’s who we want to represent. We want to promote fifty talented artists and thought the number fifty personified other positive characteristics,” Gail added. “To us, Fifty Artists says we take pride in who we represent and that the collection is curated. The number also indicates there will be spectrum of styles, but as a customer, you’re not going to be overwhelmed.”

"Today's Weather" is a 14 x 14 inch watercolor and ink painting by Marsha Boston.
“Today’s Weather” is a 14 x 14 inch watercolor and ink painting by Marsha Boston.

The Fifty Artists website includes abstracts, cityscapes, portraits, and a variety of other subjects.

Artists seeking representation through FiftyArtists are encouraged to apply online.

LINKS

Fifty Artists

About the Application Process for Artists

 

Galleries HQ Wants to Give Artists Global Exposure via iPhone App

Galleries HQ is a mobile platform that helps visual artists and galleries showcase their creations to the world. The Seattle-based art enthusiasts who founded Galleries HQ are rethinking how the arts community can benefit from the power and ubiquity of mobile devices such as the iPhone. This includes discovering new artists, finding upcoming exhibits, and in the future, managing transactions such as artwork and exhibition ticket sales.

Wayne Bishop and his wife Karen Bishop started working on the Galleries HQ platform in 2010 when they felt that the arts were lagging behind in the application of innovative technology. They self-funded the development of the iPad app that launched in 2012 and promotes the work of 80 artists in a dozen countries.

Now, the Bishops have launched a Kickstarter campaign to extend Galleries HQ platform to the iPhone and bring Galleries HQ to a much larger audience of artists and art lovers globally. The campaign is organized to match potential sponsors with artists. Any individual, business or organization can become a sponsor. The campaign ends November 29, 2013.

GalleriesHQ

“Mobile devices are a great way to reach an increasing number of people interested in art,” said Wayne Bishop. “The rate of people acquiring devices has now outpaced PCs, and desktop purchases are on the decline. As a result, we want to promote artists through tools consumers use the most.”

The Bishops know many artists have stories to tell, but may not have tools to reach groups beyond Facebook and their personal websites.

LINKS

Galleries HQ

Kickstarter Campaign: Galleries HQ Promoting Fine Art on the iPhone

 

Workshop Explains How to Live Your Dream as An Artist

BitMyArtLogoBiteMyArt, the online nexus connecting artists and exhibit spaces, has announced an eight-week, interactive online workshop hosted by art-business expert Sian Lindemann.

The course “How to Live Your Dream as an Artist” will meet for 90 minutes every week for eight weeks using the online and interactive GoToMeeting platform that you can access in the comfort of your home or studio. The first session will be held Thursday, October 31 at 2 pm ET (11 am PT).

Art business expert Sian Lindemann
Art business expert Sian Lindemann

“This is about doing what you love, and sharing it by eliminating the fear of selling,” explains Lindemann. She will explain why clarity is everything, and help course participants articulate who they are, what they do, and why they do it. 

To attract the right clients to your art, you will learn how to:

  • define your authentic voice
  • identify your preferred business model
  • speak about your mission and work with professionalism and fluency

The fee for the eight-week course is $897. Enrollment is limited to 10 participants so Sian can work interactively with each artist. Her goal is to inspire the creation of new ideas and works while simultaneously encouraging growth, depth, and scope in the artists she coaches.

Some of the things you will learn during the course include:

● Three ways to create immediate revenue from your circle of influence
● How to use Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to make marketing more personal
● How to syndicate and cross promote to create your own fame
● How use the FAB (Fact, Advantage, Benefit) approach to make sales.
● How to build authentic, long-lasting relationships after the sale

Sian is an accomplished artist with over 30 years of experience in arts promotion, marketing, and career development for artists. She has provided hundreds of artists with practical marketing and financial expertise that has helped them generate more consistent revenues while pursuing their passions.

About BiteMyArt

BiteMyArt is an online site through which artists can connect with galleries and unconventional exhibition spaces and gallery owners can interact with artists. Artists can upload up to three free portfolios and access the interactive tools with which to present their work to gallery spaces. Artist resources include advice on creating a compelling artist statement, applying for grants, and developing patronage.

Gallery spaces can search artist profiles on BiteMyArt by type, location and other parameters. BiteMyArt provides an easy-to- navigate interface through which gallery spaces can promote themselves and upcoming events, build relationships with the most promising artists, and enhance communication with clients.

LINK

Workshop: How to Live Your Dream as an Artist

BiteMyArt

 

Learn to Focus Your Art Marketing Efforts at Guerrilla Marketing for Visual Artists Webinar

BarneyDaveyARTISTS. Art marketing expert Barney Davey will present a two-hour webinar “Guerrilla Marketing for Visual Artists” on Thursday, October 10. The webinar will run from 1 to 3 pm ET (4 to 6 pm, PT) The registration fee is $29.

The event will be hosted by J. Jason Horejs, owner of Xanadu Gallery in Scottdale, Arizona.

“Barney has been working for some time to develop a new workshop that speaks to the many challenges and opportunities that face an artist today,” says Horejs. “I’ve always done well when I’ve listened to Barney’s guidance, and I encourage you to register for this new workshop so that you can tap into Barney’s clear vision and advice.”

During the workshop, you will learn how to:

  • Determine what is most valuable to you in your career
  • Develop a list of prospects worth pursuing
  • Bulletproof your career through networking and referrals
  • Mix online marketing, social media and traditional art marketing for exceptional results
  • Coordinate your marketing to wring the best return from every dollar you spend on it

Barney says he understands how hard artists are working to get their careers on track and why many are frustrated with the results.

“The solution is to create reachable goals that work for your situation and your desire,” explains Davey. “Your definition of success is 100% unique to you. If you have been floundering in uncertainty about what to do, or trying to copy someone else’s ideas of how to succeed as an artist, it’s no wonder you’re frustrated.”

He says success in today’s challenging art market requires you to do five things:

  • Set realistic goals that equal your resources
  • Identify your best prospects
  • Create direct sales channels to your collectors
  • Employ powerful marketing tools matched to your capabilities
  • Act on a plausible plan to achieve your goals

GuerillaMarketingforArtistsDavey provides practical advice for getting your art career moving in the right direction. He will discuss art-marketing tools that can get your work seen and sold and explain how to simplify and streamline your art-marketing processes. He will teach you how to focus on the marketing tools at your disposal and increase your sales without spending more time and money on marketing.

“Sometimes we think others were just born with some kind of magic “entrepreneurial lobe” of their brain,” says Davey. “They weren’t. At one time, every artist started where you are right now.”

The Guerrilla Marketing for Artists webinar will help you choose the right art marketing tools and techniques for your art career. You will learn how to break down your marketing processes so you can utilize the components most valuable to you. By emphasizing what works best, you will vastly improve your results.

If you can’t listen to the live webinar on October 10, register now and you will receive a link to the recorded webinar, so you can listen to it at a more convenient time.

About Barney Davey

Barney Davey is a workshop leader, consultant, author, and blogger. Through his advice and counseling, he has helped thousands of visual artists improve their careers. Davey is the author of four books on art marketing, including Amazon.com best selling books “How to Profit from the Art Print Market” and “Guerrilla Marketing For Artists.” 

He also has contributed numerous art business articles to The Artist’s Magazine, Art World News, and Art Business News, among others. Since 2005, he has published more than 500 art marketing and art business articles on his art-business blog: Art Print Issues.

LINKS

Webinar: Guerilla Marketing for Visual Artists

Book: Guerrilla Marketing for Artists

 

T-Shirts Can Complement Your Online Marketing

PHOTOGRAPHERS. ARTISTS. Last month, I researched and wrote an article about the 100-year history of the T-shirt business. So when I visited a local art fair (Summerfair), I couldn’t help but notice the many different types and styles of T-shirts people were wearing.

At the entrance to the fair, Summerfair organizers sold T-shirts with the same vibrant artwork as the poster for the 2013 event. The T-shirts were very reasonably priced, suggesting that fair organizers understand that the selling more T-shirts gives them more opportunities for year-round exposure for the event and the implied endorsements of the T-shirt wearers.

But I also noticed that an exhibitor who was selling fine-art photography was also selling T-shirts featuring his vintage-style photography alongside his notecards and matted prints.

What a great idea! People don’t send nearly as many handwritten note as we should. But people of all ages wear T-shirts–to show where we’ve been and what we like.  And if people wear T-shirts that promote their favorite musicians, why shouldn’t they wear T-shirts bearing the images of photographers and artists whose work they admire? Imagine how cool it would be to see people walking around wearing your art or studio logo.

ASIReportCoverAccording to a 2012 Global Advertising Speicalties Impressions study by the Advertising Specialty Institute, 43 percent of all consumers in the U.S. own at least one promotional shirt. Promotional shirts are particularly popular among younger people: 49 percent of people ages 21-36 own at least one promotional T-shirt and 46 percent of consumers in the 35 to 44 age group own a promotional T-shirt.

The ASI report notes T-shirts and other advertising specialties are unique forms of marketing. They point out, “Unlike other forms of media, where the advertiser’s message is seen as an interruption, ad specialties are used by consumers…And because the products are kept and use repeatedly, the advertisers are remembered.”

The study estimated that on average, consumers in the U.S. will keep a free, promotional T-shirt for 5.7 months and wear it often enough to achieve 1,990 impressions for the advertising company.

ASIReport1990ImpressionsMy hunch is that anyone who buys a T-shirt directly from an artist they admire is likely to keep it longer and wear it more often–achieving even more exposure for the photographer or artist.

A new breed of direct-to-garment and sublimation printing technologies is making it more feasible to reproduce certain types of photographic artwork on short runs of T-shirts. Direct-to-garment printers don’t require the screen set-up costs involved with conventional screen printing. Companies that offer short runs of digitally printed shirts include: Jakprints, Spreadshirt, and Blue Cotton.

Skilled screen printers can also print gorgeous photo reproductions on T-shirts. For example, check out the Elvis photo reproductions on “The Wertheimer Signature Collection” of apparel. The T-shirts feature a few of the 2,500 images of Elvis that photojournalist Alfred Wertheimer shot between 1956 and 1958 when the singer was just beginning his career. The images on the T-shirt are included in a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition entitled: “Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer.” The T-shirts were screen-printed by Campus Collection in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and are available to wholesale retail distribution.

Elvisat21T-shirts

Bottom line: If you haven’t yet considered using T-shirts as a way to get your work seen, maybe it’s time to give it a try.

LINKS

Global Advertising Specialties Impressions Studies, v. 3: Advertising Specialties Institute

Campus Collection

Exhibition: Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer

T-Shirts: The Wertheimer Signature Collection

Spreadshirt: Design Your Own T-Shirt

Blue Cotton: Design Your Own Shirt

Jakprints

 

Toadsquare Provides Global Showcase for Creative Professionals

Toadsquare is a new social network for creative professionals. The site aims to unite the world’s 20 million artists, photographers, filmmakers, scriptwriters, and actors and provide them with an instant, global showcase for exhibiting their talents to agents, producers and collectors.

‘I’ve spent my whole life working with creative people and wondering how we can afford to let so much talent, in so many countries, go to waste,” said Toadquare founder Jane Hrouda. ‘When Facebook and LinkedIn showed the incredible power of social networking I realised this could be the answer to the mismatch between supply and demand in the creative industries”’

Hrouda and a team of ten have spent two years turning her original idea into reality. Toadsquare is free to join and gives every member their own ‘website within a website’ – where they can network and market, sell and display their work – art, photographs, films, video, scripts, designs, and music. Members can also swap stories and tips with other creative professionals, advertise shows and exhibitions, invite expert criticism and seek inspiration.

Actor and producer Joel Einhorn thinks Toadsquare could transform the film and TV industries. ‘There’s never been a single place where you know that producers, actors and directors will look at your work. Now there is, and it’s exactly what creative professionals need. Toadsquare is going to transform the way people in the visual arts manage their careers – it replaces serendipity with an efficient, digital marketplace for anyone selling talent and anyone buying it.’

Toadsquare is a new social network for creative professionals. The site aims to unite the world’s 20 million artists, photographers, filmmakers, scriptwriters, and actors and provide them with an instant, global showcase for exhibiting their talents to agents, producers and collectors.

‘I’ve spent my whole life working with creative people and wondering how we can afford to let so much talent, in so many countries, go to waste,” said Toadquare founder Jane Hrouda. ‘When Facebook and LinkedIn showed the incredible power of social networking I realised this could be the answer to the mismatch between supply and demand in the creative industries”’

Hrouda and a team of ten have spent two years turning her original idea into reality. Toadsquare is free to join and gives every member their own ‘website within a website’ – where they can network and market, sell and display their work – art, photographs, films, video, scripts, designs, and music. Members can also swap stories and tips with other creative professionals, advertise shows and exhibitions, invite expert criticism and seek inspiration.

Actor and producer Joel Einhorn thinks Toadsquare could transform the film and TV industries. ‘There’s never been a single place where you know that producers, actors and directors will look at your work. Now there is, and it’s exactly what creative professionals need. Toadsquare is going to transform the way people in the visual arts manage their careers – it replaces serendipity with an efficient, digital marketplace for anyone selling talent and anyone buying it.’

LINK

Toadsquare

Davey’s Book Explains How to Build a Bulletproof Art Career

BarneyDaveyArtMarketingBookARTISTS. You don’t have to leave it to chance that you will meet the right people who can either buy your art or influence others to buy your art. By effectively using synergistic (and inexpensive) marketing tools and techniques, you can gain control over your career.

That’s the heme of Barney Davey’s new book “Guerilla Marketing for Artists: Build a Bulletproof Art Career to Thrive in Any Economy.”

His ideas take into account that the old ways of getting art seen and sold aren’t as effective as they used to be. But as Davey explains, “What is refreshingly different is you now have the tools to call the shots, to control your destiny, and to reap the rewards.”

In the book, he explains how to deploy easy-to-use networking and marketing techniques that systematically will create a solid base of of collectors who will buy from you directly.

Davey believes that over the course of a career, a full-time artist can build meaningful relationships with at least 100 collectors and create 1,000 original pieces (33 originals x 30 years). An artist who cultivates a base of 100 collectors may sell one-third of more of their original works to those patrons. And, as Davey points out, “Many of those dedicated collectors will be the source of invaluable and profitable referrals for the artist.”

Artists who form close personal bonds with art buyers become immune to the effects of a lousy economy or faltering distribution methods. Artists who build direct sales connections with collectors will lead the pack during good times, and thrive in tough times.

Starting the process requires you to:

  • Set realistic, achievable career goals
  • Target the best prospects to buy your work directly
  • Understand thoroughly your existing art business and art resources
  • Determine which traditional and digital marketing tools are best for your situation
  • Focus your marketing on selected projects

In the book, you will learn how to break down your goals into easy-to-complete incremental steps so you can stay motivated. You will also learn how to make each element of your marketing strategy synergistically amplify other elements.

Selling-Art3If you order your copy from Davey’s website, you can get a free bonus e-book: The Zen of Selling Art: Essays on Art Business Success. In this e-book, Davey has collected some of the best advice he has given artists on selling art since 1988. Many of the tips come from his Art Print Issues blog and art-business articles he has written for Art World News and Art Business news magazines. The Zen of Selling Art makes the point that if you are successful selling art on a routine basis, you will enjoy a more balanced life and be able to use some of your income to do good things that wouldn’t be possible if you continue to work for subsistence.

LINKS

Art Marketing Book: Guerrilla Marketing for Artists by Barney Davey

About Barney Davey

The Zen of Selling Art: Essays on Art Business Success

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