I had been often told on many occasions and by many people that I need to keep selling my art as it is good and people will buy it. In this post I would like to explain what are the pros and cons of going to art shows to sell your art.
Shows are able to provide the artist the needed exposure and help in being notice. Artist hopes to sell the art piece or at last meet a potential buyer during the show hoping that the person will call later and eventually make a purchase.
Indoor shows are easy as they are usually cheaper, but are often juried and limit the number of art pieces to one or three. Let's say that you decided to participate, you pay the nonrefundable entrance fee, send photos of your art and your CV and you wait. You got in? Excellent, your entry fee did not become just the jury tax. You follow the instructions and bring your art to the gallery, you stick around and watch if there is any interest in your art. If your painting was hang in the wrong place, no one notices it, if it hangs in a great place you still see people just pass by or just take the business card and move on. At the end of the show you collect your art and go home to watch the website stats to see if people that took your business card are visiting and looking at your other work.
Outdoor shows are much different. Often they are not juried so no need to wait for anyone's decision. You pay your fee which is usually about $100 per day and wait for the big weekend. The shows starts at 10 am, but you getup at 6 am or 7 am just to get ready. As per agreement the tent needs to be up and ready before 10 am , so early arrival is a must. Morning chores, breakfast and a quick look at the weather. Thank God no rain! All the shows are rain or shine, so regardless of the weather you need to show up, bring your art and be ready for anyone that wants to buy or at least shows an interest.
You're ready to pack. A tent goes first into the trunk as it is heavy, and then all the hanging hardware. (I'm skipping the earlier steps on how to find out what you need in terms of hanging hardware. Everyone has their own idea on how to securely hang pictures in the tent. You might be able to steal some ideas from other artists, but at the end you need to find our own method by try and error).
Time to put the pictures in. The are hanging on the wall, so you start taking it down and lean them against the wall so it is easier to grab them and carry to the car. You already took few of them down when you hear a rumble behind you. You turn around and see that one of the pictures slid down on a slippery floor. You pick it up just to find that the frame got scraped a bit. OK, it is not the end of the world, it can still be patched and repaired... you tell yourself. No time to do anything with it right now, so you drag the pictures into the car and arrange them on the seat and in the truck so that they do not scrape each other when driving through pot holes. It will be a slow drive to the show and anyone who decides to cut you off on the road will be really sorry.
Finally you arrive at the destination and you find your assigned spot. If you are on the grass, great because setting up the tent is a little bit easier, but it does get tricky during the rain, because the grass will get wet. You just need to take a chance with what you get. Tent comes up first, then all the hanging hardware and the pictures. A little table is useful especially for holding business cards. And of course you can't forget about a chair for yourself. You finally have chance to sit down and sip your already cold coffee that you picked up on the way. It is 10 am and you are ready for the crowds.
Only couple people passed by glancing at your art and it is already 11 am. By noon there are more people, but no crowds. You pickup a book just to help the time pass by. Someone asks about the art and you spend some time talking with that person, but they eventually walk away and you are back to your book. After two hours the books gets boring and you can't stand sitting in the same chair anymore. You get up, but you cannot leave the tent. You walk around for a bit and then sit down again watching the time and people go by. The weather is nice and you wish you were somewhere nice enjoying what is still left of summer.
Suddenly a wind picks up and you spring up to hold your tent so it does not move, but you are a bit too late and one of the pictures falls down as the hardware gives away. The glass is broken. Oh well, need to get the glass fixed now... not much you can do, so you carry the broken picture out to the car. You secure your tent better in case another stronger gust of the wind and sit down in your chair again.
Fellow artists walk by and ask you about your pictures and techniques. They will not buy your art, but it is nice to talk a bit about what you do and kill some time. An older couple shows interest and there is some hope they will buy your work, but they walk away and you never see them again.
The rules say that you cannot pack up before 7 pm, so you wait till then before you start to leave for the day. By the time the pictures are packed to the car and tent is taken down you are exhausted and don't feel like doing anything else. Since the next day is yet another day of the show, you leave everything in the car so that you can get up a little bit later in the morning. At home you only think of getting some rest and go straight to bed.
At the end the day cost you $100 entrance fee, scraped frame and broken glass, not counting the 11 hours spent between putting up the tent and tearing it down. You are lucky that it was not raining and you thinking to yourself that it could have been worse.
Many times I tell myself that attending the art shows will pay off at some point, but I more often choose to work towards my art projects, gathering inspirations and experimenting with painting and other media instead. And if I do not do that, I like to spend quality time with my friends and family or just take a well deserved relaxing time after a long week of work. At the end I'm not doing art for money so I wont be doing everything just to sell my work even thou it does help to bring up the spirit and motivation when an art piece is sold. Maybe I'm getting too much attached to my art, but the possibility of accidentally destroying my work scares me a bit. When I sell my art I always hope they go to a good home and are well taken care of.
If you are an artist and you attend the art shows, especially the outdoor ones, I admire your courage, dedication and patience. If you are able to sale your work at these shows I want to congratulate you for finding the type of art that make you and general public passionate about.
Will I ever be attending any more art shows? Yes, but I will carefully choose which ones I want to be part of and which ones to skip.
Shows are able to provide the artist the needed exposure and help in being notice. Artist hopes to sell the art piece or at last meet a potential buyer during the show hoping that the person will call later and eventually make a purchase.
Indoor shows are easy as they are usually cheaper, but are often juried and limit the number of art pieces to one or three. Let's say that you decided to participate, you pay the nonrefundable entrance fee, send photos of your art and your CV and you wait. You got in? Excellent, your entry fee did not become just the jury tax. You follow the instructions and bring your art to the gallery, you stick around and watch if there is any interest in your art. If your painting was hang in the wrong place, no one notices it, if it hangs in a great place you still see people just pass by or just take the business card and move on. At the end of the show you collect your art and go home to watch the website stats to see if people that took your business card are visiting and looking at your other work.
Outdoor shows are much different. Often they are not juried so no need to wait for anyone's decision. You pay your fee which is usually about $100 per day and wait for the big weekend. The shows starts at 10 am, but you getup at 6 am or 7 am just to get ready. As per agreement the tent needs to be up and ready before 10 am , so early arrival is a must. Morning chores, breakfast and a quick look at the weather. Thank God no rain! All the shows are rain or shine, so regardless of the weather you need to show up, bring your art and be ready for anyone that wants to buy or at least shows an interest.
You're ready to pack. A tent goes first into the trunk as it is heavy, and then all the hanging hardware. (I'm skipping the earlier steps on how to find out what you need in terms of hanging hardware. Everyone has their own idea on how to securely hang pictures in the tent. You might be able to steal some ideas from other artists, but at the end you need to find our own method by try and error).
Time to put the pictures in. The are hanging on the wall, so you start taking it down and lean them against the wall so it is easier to grab them and carry to the car. You already took few of them down when you hear a rumble behind you. You turn around and see that one of the pictures slid down on a slippery floor. You pick it up just to find that the frame got scraped a bit. OK, it is not the end of the world, it can still be patched and repaired... you tell yourself. No time to do anything with it right now, so you drag the pictures into the car and arrange them on the seat and in the truck so that they do not scrape each other when driving through pot holes. It will be a slow drive to the show and anyone who decides to cut you off on the road will be really sorry.
Finally you arrive at the destination and you find your assigned spot. If you are on the grass, great because setting up the tent is a little bit easier, but it does get tricky during the rain, because the grass will get wet. You just need to take a chance with what you get. Tent comes up first, then all the hanging hardware and the pictures. A little table is useful especially for holding business cards. And of course you can't forget about a chair for yourself. You finally have chance to sit down and sip your already cold coffee that you picked up on the way. It is 10 am and you are ready for the crowds.
Only couple people passed by glancing at your art and it is already 11 am. By noon there are more people, but no crowds. You pickup a book just to help the time pass by. Someone asks about the art and you spend some time talking with that person, but they eventually walk away and you are back to your book. After two hours the books gets boring and you can't stand sitting in the same chair anymore. You get up, but you cannot leave the tent. You walk around for a bit and then sit down again watching the time and people go by. The weather is nice and you wish you were somewhere nice enjoying what is still left of summer.
Suddenly a wind picks up and you spring up to hold your tent so it does not move, but you are a bit too late and one of the pictures falls down as the hardware gives away. The glass is broken. Oh well, need to get the glass fixed now... not much you can do, so you carry the broken picture out to the car. You secure your tent better in case another stronger gust of the wind and sit down in your chair again.
Fellow artists walk by and ask you about your pictures and techniques. They will not buy your art, but it is nice to talk a bit about what you do and kill some time. An older couple shows interest and there is some hope they will buy your work, but they walk away and you never see them again.
The rules say that you cannot pack up before 7 pm, so you wait till then before you start to leave for the day. By the time the pictures are packed to the car and tent is taken down you are exhausted and don't feel like doing anything else. Since the next day is yet another day of the show, you leave everything in the car so that you can get up a little bit later in the morning. At home you only think of getting some rest and go straight to bed.
At the end the day cost you $100 entrance fee, scraped frame and broken glass, not counting the 11 hours spent between putting up the tent and tearing it down. You are lucky that it was not raining and you thinking to yourself that it could have been worse.
Many times I tell myself that attending the art shows will pay off at some point, but I more often choose to work towards my art projects, gathering inspirations and experimenting with painting and other media instead. And if I do not do that, I like to spend quality time with my friends and family or just take a well deserved relaxing time after a long week of work. At the end I'm not doing art for money so I wont be doing everything just to sell my work even thou it does help to bring up the spirit and motivation when an art piece is sold. Maybe I'm getting too much attached to my art, but the possibility of accidentally destroying my work scares me a bit. When I sell my art I always hope they go to a good home and are well taken care of.
If you are an artist and you attend the art shows, especially the outdoor ones, I admire your courage, dedication and patience. If you are able to sale your work at these shows I want to congratulate you for finding the type of art that make you and general public passionate about.
Will I ever be attending any more art shows? Yes, but I will carefully choose which ones I want to be part of and which ones to skip.
I fixed the comment options. I apologize if you were unable to make comments. Now comments can be posted by anyone, so you no longer need a Google Account.
ReplyDelete