By Jayne Behman
We don’t think of art as a business or artists as savvy commerce moguls. Creativity as a business is a concept that just doesn’t seem to be a comfortable fit. However, the reality is that artists want their creative efforts to be purchased. To accomplish this end, artists must treat their products as business inventory and its sales as the business. This may sound callous but it is art’s commercial side.
Creativity is considered a right brain attribute while logic skills belong to the left side of the brain. Regardless of books written on this subject, people are not pigeonholed to either left-brained or right-brained. The two brain sides can work together, and when they do, it is magical.
The act of planning makes one think things through and develop options. In the art world it is similar to planning out a composition. Pre-planned compositions (artistic creations) consider many aspects prior to arriving at the final arrangement. The first step is to conceive a plan.
There are E-books available online that offer a brief and simple way to develop business plans. It is unfortunate that higher education art curriculums do not incorporate business courses.
A business plan incorporates economic trends. Art buys are considered “luxury” purchases. Highs and lows in the stock market impact money spent on luxury items. Topics to consider in developing a business plan are products and services, management and organization, expenses and capitalization, and marketing.
A strategic marketing plan identifies and targets the consumer who best fits the Artist’s creative trends. Artwork that fits a recognized market attracts those niche collectors. Thomas Kinkade, artist, is best remembered as his brand–The Painter of Light. His business model manufactured a recognizable product. That was his successful marketing strategy.
Artists that think seriously about selling their inventory know that they must be involved in marketing themselves and their work. Of course this can work both ways, to the positive and to the negative. If the artist has the financial backing to hire a marketing person or firm that can build a brand around the artist and create a market to purchase the inventory, the artist has that much more time to devote to creating art. Most of us don’t have the financial resources to hire a marketing firm.
Pinterest, Snatchat, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, are free social media advertising venues. These encourage the artist to create a platform to be discovered and viewed by thousands of people, nationally and internationally. These are interactive advertising platforms. When utilizing these platforms with a goal in mind, and being consistent with posting, you will develop an audience. Your viewers could morf into buyers.
Press releases, announcements, and responding to Call for Artists, increase exposure. Current Calls for Artists include the 2017 Strawberry Festival’s poster art contest and “Brushstrokes” the annual juried painters group showcase at SLOMA.
More than 100 billion dollars annually changes hands in the international art marketplace. This past June, Sotheby’s sold an early Picasso cubist painting for $63.4 million. Art is a business.
