LEARNING HOW TO SELL YOUR ART - Tips from a successful Art Rep

[brightwater03]

Hello,

I'm a recently retired, full-time, art rep and artist with more than twenty years experience selling art work to galleries, interior designers and architects. The art marketplace supported my family for all those years and the artists and customers I worked with were some of the finest, most talented folks one could meet. I'd like to "give back" some of what I learned to other artists. To do so, I've recorded a series of podcasts (talkcasts) FREE to anyone with an iPod, MP3 player or computer. Please listen and, perhaps, learn some tips to better market your art. Here's how:
THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK – Part I This podcast is the first of three articles published in AMERICAN ARTIST MAGAZINE on how to sell your art to THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web...pisodeId=13728

THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK – Part II This podcast is the second in the art marketing series THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OVERLOOK. If you are an artist this information will help you sell art and build a solid customer base.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web...pisodeId=13925

THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK – Part III This podcast concludes the three part series for artists who want information on how to sell their work to THE MAMMOTH MARKET ARTISTS OFTEN OVERLOOK, based on my twenty years experience as a full time artists' rep and producing artist.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web...pisodeId=14271

ARE THERE SECRETS TO SELLING ART? In this podcast I share the SECRETS OF SELLING ART based on 20 years as a producing artist and full time art rep to hundreds of Interior Designers, Decorators, Architects and Galleries.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web...pisodeId=11313

ARE THERE SECRETS TO SELLING ART? Part 2 In this podcast I'll talk about marketing techniques I used to sell thousnds of dollars worth of my own art and art produced by others. This is a "must listen" for artists who want to sell their own work.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web...pisodeId=12502

Listen in by copying and pasting the http address into the URL box on your computer.
All podcasts by Richard Harrison may be accessed by logging on to www.talkshoe.com and typing: Dick Harrison in the Search Box.
I hope these are useful.
Thanks for listening,
Dick Harrison

[Kendraad]

I'm not sure what this had to do with Art School & Education, but thanks for sharing.

[Maxine Schacker]

I'm looking forward to listening to your podcasts and will definitely get in touch afterwards. Many thanks for caring enough to do this. The concept of sharing knowledge and passing on the skills we've acquired (without monetary gain) is in itself something of great value that we need to foster, and we can only do that by example. Do think your thread might also be placed under employment opportunities?

[Maxine Schacker]

I'm sure everything you share in these podcasts is dead on. It should be helpful for what I'd call commercial fine artists, those who can and are willing to produce in the right colors and give the market the product it wants (easy viewing). I personally think it would be more fun to be a concept artist. Oh, for Paris in the late 19th and early 20th century! When a sophisticated audience cared enough about art to throw eggs at Manet! I think they were wrong about his painting, but at least they cared. Art mattered. People didn't buy painting as wall candy. For those of us who are really driven to paint, may the ghosts of the great painters of the past comfort us and guide us. Being independently wealthy would also help.

[brightwater03]

Originally Posted by Kendraad

I'm not sure what this had to do with Art School & Education, but thanks for sharing.

When you have graduated from art school, the real world begins. You have become an artist and will soon learn you must also become a " marketer" - Who will buy my art? Where will I find them? How do I reach them? How much should I charge? How does "the art market work"?

I'm not aware of an art school that teaches that - If you are an art student please respond if your school teaches "how to sell" as well as "how to create."

I hope you'll look in on www.talkshoe.com and type my name, Dick Harrison, in the Search box. No tuition, just straight from the shoulder truth.

Good luck and much success - artists are great people,
Dick Harrison

[brightwater03]

Originally Posted by Maxine Schacker

I'm sure everything you share in these podcasts is dead on. It should be helpful for what I'd call commercial fine artists, those who can and are willing to produce in the right colors and give the market the product it wants (easy viewing). I personally think it would be more fun to be a concept artist. Oh, for Paris in the late 19th and early 20th century! When a sophisticated audience cared enough about art to throw eggs at Manet! I think they were wrong about his painting, but at least they cared. Art mattered. People didn't buy painting as wall candy. For those of us who are really driven to paint, may the ghosts of the great painters of the past comfort us and guide us. Being independently wealthy would also help.

Maxine,
Thanks for your fine comments! As an Art Rep I did not sell "commercial art" (illustration), I sold Fine Art to people who loved what I sold enough to live with it and cherish it. They placed it on their walls where they could appreciate it everyday. If that's "wall candy," I plead guilty. I sold to fine galleries as well as to the Interior Design and Architectural trades (skilled, knowledgeable professionals, many real artists in their own right) who placed more good art in a week than all the galleries in my state sold in a month. And, yes, some of it was selected because it color matched the $8,000 sofa the buyer had just purchased, and, yes, many of the artists I represented who understood the importance of color and color trends painted to "specs," enjoyed doing it and fed their families well, because making art was their living, not a hobby.
Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Pissaro and the impressionists (now called "Masters") held their own Art Show in order to find buyers - that's called "marketing."
I hope you'll look in on www.talkshoe.com and type my name, Dick Harrison, in the Search box. No tuition, just straight from the shoulder truth. Please pass the link on to your artist friends.

Good luck and much success - artists are great people,
Dick Harrison

[Maxine Schacker]

I listened to your podcasts, and I readily admit one has to eat. I painted seriously for years and sold my work and taught a day or two a week to make ends meet. Luckily for me Canada has universal health care. If I'd stayed in the USA, I couldn't have done it.

The difference between fine art and commercial art used to be that the fine artist is expessing his/her vision, while the commercial artist usually is putting his/her skills to use helping to fulfill the client's need. That's a pretty general statement and definitely doesn't hold true in many cases- Daumier and Rockwell, for example. At any rate, given the quality of art I see in hotels, motels and conference halls, I'd rather be a concept artist (which I'm not).

[Kendraad]

Originally Posted by brightwater03

When you have graduated from art school, the real world begins. You have become an artist and will soon learn you must also become a " marketer" - Who will buy my art? Where will I find them? How do I reach them? How much should I charge? How does "the art market work"?

Well first off, I don't plan on becomming a freelance artist. I hope my post come off the wrong way, but I did say 'thanks for sharing', and I really did mean it

I had a chance to listen to your podcast and it was great! Hopefully when I'm not so pressed with time I'll be able to listen to more. Again, thanks for sharing.