Thanks to Sheika Lugtu, I learned about storenvy.com. It's just like etsy or ebay but.....it's FREE! And you can customize it a lot more than you can customize and etsy store. The biggest thing for me is that it's free, but I love that people can go to my storenvy store and there is a link to my website, my blog, my facebook page, and my twitter account.
I've put up two prints so far with more to come! The plan is to get some originals up soon. I'm so excited!
On another note, I am setting up an art show for October. So far I have 5 awesome artists collaborating on it, so it's going to be amazing! I am still trying to figure out the best location for it, which will be done within a month. Then 2 months of HEAVY promoting so we have a ton of people there. I want to have at least 100 people show up, but hopefully closer to 200.
Additionally, I have decided to start trying to paint portraits. So I have 4 people lined up so far to do a small photo shoot with me, then I will be painting pictures based off of the photos taken. I am also super excited about this. I love broadening my range of art. I've also been inspired recently to take up watercolor painting again. So more of that to come....
My new on-line store is http://meartist.storenvy.com/. Please check it out and let me know what you think! As it stands, I haven't decided if I'm ditching Etsy yet, but I'm pretty sure I will be. I'll let you guys know :)
Showing posts with label show. Show all posts
Showing posts with label show. Show all posts
Friday, July 16, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
How to throw your own art show
On the note of how to get your art shown, if you would like to have your own art show or an auction for your art (I have done both) here are some useful tips:
1. Pick the date and time you want to have your show. I would start planning about 4-6 months in advance from this date. Saturday nights usually work best so you don't have to contend with people's work schedule and Sunday family activities as much.
2. Find a space to borrow or rent for the amount of time you want. I recommend allotting 2 hours for the show, with an additional 1-2 hours for set-up/break-down. I would pick a studio type setting - a big empty space, usually with hardwood or cement floor, track lighting or otherwise good lighting, a way to play music and ample space to display everything you want. For my first couple art shows I rented a space for a day for $200 a pop. I recruited a few other artists who wanted to show their work and we all chipped in. For my auction I got the space donated.
I would recommend getting a few other local artists to do the show with you. That way it's cheaper and you get more promotion out of it (5 artists each bring 20 friends = 100 people. One artist = 20-40 people usually). But of course you can do a one-man show as well, you just have to work harder on promotion.
3. If you are attached to you art as I am, get everything scanned beforehand so you can keep them digitally forever and make prints if you want.
4. Decide if you want to charge for the show or not. I usually charge a $5 entry to my art shows and am charging a $10 entry fee for my auction, which is all going to charity. The entry fee will cover the food and some of your costs of renting a space (or if you're lucky it can cover all of your costs for the food and the space).
5. Plan your menu. I have always catered my own and I usually keep it pretty simple with finger sandwiches (tuna, egg salad, cream cheese and cucumber), fruit and vegetable platters, cheese and cracker platter, and some sort of desert (cookies or eclairs). I usually also have wine, champagne, juice and water. This is the most cost effective, but if you won't have the time you could always have it catered.
6. About 1 1/2 months in advance make or have made invitations and pass them out to your friends. Create an event page on facebook. Promote on twitter. Send out an evite to your email list. You can also post a free listing on craigslist in the community section (I haven't tried this before but I plan to do it for the next show). The biggest thing will be word of mouth, so get your friends and family to help promote you to their friends. You could also look into putting a posting in a local newspaper or magazine (I also haven't done this so am not sure how that would work).
7. Recruit a couple friends or family members to help you at the event. If you're charging you'll need a person at the door selling tickets. You'll also want to have another person in charge of the music, making sure the food is stocked, and any other random details. You want to leave yourself free to be the host and roam so you can answer any questions about your art as needed. You may also want to recruit someone to take photos, which you can then post on your blog, website, facebook page, etc.
8. Set up about 1-2 hours before hand (depending on how much art you have to set up). Make sure art work is fashionably shown, evenly spaced, at a good height if it's on the walls, and well lit. Put your price tags next to each piece (it's a good idea to have a master list already made with each piece of art work and the price listed so you can keep track). It is also a good idea to write a biography for yourself with a picture and post it next to your art. If you have business cards lay them out on the various tables. Set up food table in a logical location. Set up a play list for music or pick a good set of CDs to play and get the music rolling.
9. Greet your guests and have fun!
1. Pick the date and time you want to have your show. I would start planning about 4-6 months in advance from this date. Saturday nights usually work best so you don't have to contend with people's work schedule and Sunday family activities as much.
2. Find a space to borrow or rent for the amount of time you want. I recommend allotting 2 hours for the show, with an additional 1-2 hours for set-up/break-down. I would pick a studio type setting - a big empty space, usually with hardwood or cement floor, track lighting or otherwise good lighting, a way to play music and ample space to display everything you want. For my first couple art shows I rented a space for a day for $200 a pop. I recruited a few other artists who wanted to show their work and we all chipped in. For my auction I got the space donated.
I would recommend getting a few other local artists to do the show with you. That way it's cheaper and you get more promotion out of it (5 artists each bring 20 friends = 100 people. One artist = 20-40 people usually). But of course you can do a one-man show as well, you just have to work harder on promotion.
3. If you are attached to you art as I am, get everything scanned beforehand so you can keep them digitally forever and make prints if you want.
4. Decide if you want to charge for the show or not. I usually charge a $5 entry to my art shows and am charging a $10 entry fee for my auction, which is all going to charity. The entry fee will cover the food and some of your costs of renting a space (or if you're lucky it can cover all of your costs for the food and the space).
5. Plan your menu. I have always catered my own and I usually keep it pretty simple with finger sandwiches (tuna, egg salad, cream cheese and cucumber), fruit and vegetable platters, cheese and cracker platter, and some sort of desert (cookies or eclairs). I usually also have wine, champagne, juice and water. This is the most cost effective, but if you won't have the time you could always have it catered.
6. About 1 1/2 months in advance make or have made invitations and pass them out to your friends. Create an event page on facebook. Promote on twitter. Send out an evite to your email list. You can also post a free listing on craigslist in the community section (I haven't tried this before but I plan to do it for the next show). The biggest thing will be word of mouth, so get your friends and family to help promote you to their friends. You could also look into putting a posting in a local newspaper or magazine (I also haven't done this so am not sure how that would work).
7. Recruit a couple friends or family members to help you at the event. If you're charging you'll need a person at the door selling tickets. You'll also want to have another person in charge of the music, making sure the food is stocked, and any other random details. You want to leave yourself free to be the host and roam so you can answer any questions about your art as needed. You may also want to recruit someone to take photos, which you can then post on your blog, website, facebook page, etc.
8. Set up about 1-2 hours before hand (depending on how much art you have to set up). Make sure art work is fashionably shown, evenly spaced, at a good height if it's on the walls, and well lit. Put your price tags next to each piece (it's a good idea to have a master list already made with each piece of art work and the price listed so you can keep track). It is also a good idea to write a biography for yourself with a picture and post it next to your art. If you have business cards lay them out on the various tables. Set up food table in a logical location. Set up a play list for music or pick a good set of CDs to play and get the music rolling.
9. Greet your guests and have fun!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Documenting my progress as an artist
This blog will be completely devoted to my art and everything involving my art. I will be documenting my work, my struggles to figure out how to get myself out there, my ideas and solutions to artist problems, etc. Maybe this blog will be able to help other artists, or just be something I can come back and refer to if I forget what I wrote.
Problem #1: How do you get prints made of your art? I have this one pretty much solved, I will go into detail on a separate blog.
Problem #2: How to get a good website without paying a month's salary for it. This is what I'm working on currently.
Problem #3: How to promote yourself, make your work known. Also working on this one.
Problem #4: How to get your art in galleries, have art shows, and have your art displayed. Also working on this one.
Problem #5. How to actually make money from your art and hopefully transition it into a full time job (if that's what you want). I figure this one will hopefully fall into place after I figure out the first 4.
There are obviously other situations that artists run into, which I will go into as they come up. My most recent issue has been finding the time to paint after my baby was born. We have a tiny, tiny, I mean TINY apartment with no storage space and only 1 bedroom. We also have two cats. There is really no space to paint, and no safe place to put a painting to dry. But a couple days ago I threw all that out the window and began painting a picture at our coffee table after the baby went to sleep. The picture in now on the cleaned off dresser, and I just hope one of the cats doesn't jump on it!
So this is what this blog is about. If this blog helps even just one other artist besides myself, then I will consider it a success.
Problem #1: How do you get prints made of your art? I have this one pretty much solved, I will go into detail on a separate blog.
Problem #2: How to get a good website without paying a month's salary for it. This is what I'm working on currently.
Problem #3: How to promote yourself, make your work known. Also working on this one.
Problem #4: How to get your art in galleries, have art shows, and have your art displayed. Also working on this one.
Problem #5. How to actually make money from your art and hopefully transition it into a full time job (if that's what you want). I figure this one will hopefully fall into place after I figure out the first 4.
There are obviously other situations that artists run into, which I will go into as they come up. My most recent issue has been finding the time to paint after my baby was born. We have a tiny, tiny, I mean TINY apartment with no storage space and only 1 bedroom. We also have two cats. There is really no space to paint, and no safe place to put a painting to dry. But a couple days ago I threw all that out the window and began painting a picture at our coffee table after the baby went to sleep. The picture in now on the cleaned off dresser, and I just hope one of the cats doesn't jump on it!
So this is what this blog is about. If this blog helps even just one other artist besides myself, then I will consider it a success.
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