Build A Better Career

Assuming you are a competent fine artist or fine crafter, and that you create your art with an intention to communicate to others, art shows may be a way you can actually quit your day job and make a living as an artist.

At first glance the art show circuit may look like an idyllic life for an artist – traveling from festival to festival, public appreciating and buying your artwork, supporting yourself and family as an artist while seeing new cities and areas. The modern gypsy life.

The truth is it is hard work. You can make enough to pay the bills, support your family and pay for art materials and show fees. But if you can put up with the travel and slave labor of setting up and tearing down a booth, it is a way to make a living as an artist and gain the satisfaction of having your paintings hanging in someone’s living room.

This article and the ones that follow will give you the information you need to figure out if you can make a living at art shows and if you want to. If you want to try it, we will try to give you ways to start out without investing a tremendous amount of money on displays and show fees.

If you know an artist who makes a living doing shows, apprentice yourself to him or her. That’s the easiest way to start. Propose to help that artist set up and sell and take down in exchange for showing you the ropes. You’ll learn that it is a business – you keep records and pay sales tax and get licenses, etc. You’ll get a feel for everything involved.

If you do not know an artist you can apprentice with, visit some art shows, talk to the artists who are doing the show and gather information from them. Most artists are very friendly and willing to talk to someone who is just beginning. And that way you can also see what kinds of artwork is selling and get the feel what an art show is like. Are you willing to stay outside for 2, 3 or 4 days in a crowd of people?

When you observe what is selling and how much is selling, you will be able to determine what you have to produce to make it worthwhile for you to do art shows. A few years ago it wasn’t unusual for people to buy paintings for $1,000 or more. Since the recession, that doesn’t happen very often. You need to have items for sale for $20 or less – small prints, or jewelry, etc. Can you produce such an item and in the quantity needed to sell enough to make up for that $1,000 painting that now rarely sells? Observe the public that attends art shows – are they the kinds of people who buy your art?

Read some magazines about art shows and check out information online. There are several different magazines that cater to art show artists – Sunshine Artist and Where It’s At come to mind, but there are some others. Www.zapplication.org lists hundreds of art shows and provides a way to apply to art shows online. If you know of art shows in your local area, look them up on the web and read all you can about them.

These things are your first step – get the feel of what it’s like to do art shows. The next step will be to choose an art show near where you live, apply and get accepted and thereby launch your career. But we will explore that in a future article.

Find out more marketing tips for your creative endeavors at Help 2 Succeed.