Anyone who has a problem with design - just take some time and
think and remember no idea is too silly- come on- baby shoes!
I love this!! It is SO true…There is a market for
Everything!
It’s amazing what a little (well, a LOT) self confidence and the
right kind of marketing will do for a product/design. There are
so many amazingly horrific things (not always jewelry, but, you
know…) out there that I just have to admire the creativity in
promotion and their confidence to stand behind their product.
Funny how rare it is to find an “artist” behind the machine. For
the most part, the larger successes seem to have been made by
“business” people.
It makes me wonder…why aren’t there more resources or classes
that teach the basics of marketing artwork? Marketing artwork is
so different from many other marketing strategies. So many arts
programs have little or no support for their new artists trying
to go out in the real world to sell their work. Is it because
funding is scarce? Or that the programs are focused on technique
and theory rather than business skills? Why? Since so many of us
had to learn"the hard way" how to run our businesses, is it any
wonder (wholesale) buyers automatically think we are unreliable
just because we are “artists”? They have been burned so many
times because someone “didn’t know any better”… Why is it
always such a struggle? Survival of the fittest? I wonder…
sigh I think I’m just tired of the stress of the Holiday
season…and the whole WTO thing. Thanks for letting me vent. I
feel better now.
Marlo M.
Seattle, WA
(aren’t you glad the WTO didn’t come to your city? )
Marlo…Artists for the most part have trouble marketing their
work for the same reason that a lot of atrocious design
reaches a wide market. Artists tend not to be great
entrepreneurs, and talented entrepreneurs aren’t always the
best artists. Lucky is the person who has a natural ability in
both areas. If you don’t have a business head, all the
courses in the world won’t put one on your shoulders. But you
could try finding a partner with the necessary skill and
training to market your product. D.
why aren't there more resources or classes that teach the
basics of marketing artwork ?
Mario, A large gallery operator once commented to me, “Art IS
marketing !” I define art as sensual stimulus, especially with
reference to the visual arts. Potentially the cinema is the
richest art form of all because it involves the widest array of
senses, combined with ideological concepts. Surprisingly enough,
some of the most successful artists in the past have succeded
primarily because they were good marketers. Heironymus Bosch
used to send his wife out selling at village fairs. Moreover, he
did not take art very seriously or he wouldn’t have stuck rose
buds into anal orifices. Nonetheless, he captured everyone’s
attention by virtue of his capable draftsmanship and outrageous
imagination. Ultimatly the huckstering of art is all about
psychology and demographics. If you want to sell, you have to
get into the mind of the buying public. Your private perception
of art may or may not sell depending on how it appeals to a
given segment of the market…you had better damned well not
sit about starving waiting to be “recognized” Rather, you might
well put your energies into studying human nature and
experimentation and be prepared to admit that art is ephemeral.
Ron at Mills Gem, Los Osos, CA.
)