Monday, March 2, 2009

Bring the Art to THEM!

Huh?

I saw a post on wetcanvas where someone was doing plein air painting at a garden tour. FABULOUS idea! Bring the art to the potential buyer's area of interest, not try to get them to come to wherever your art is being sold.

For lower and midpriced artists who self represent, this can be a giant untapped resource!

A year and a half ago, I did a couple Halloween doggy parades. The tables were free, I met a lot of nice folks and got several commissions from it. What I decided I needed to do in the meantime, was having something for sale that day. If I do that kind of thing again, I'm going to think about gift cards and maybe mugs...cafe press kind of things, which would have my site as part of the graphic...a semi-permanent business card.

Anyway, whatever you do, think about bringing art to an unusual venue. I read that less than half of Americans have EVER been inside an art gallery...yet they buy SOMETHING to put on their walls.

I saw a woman spend over $300 at Michaels for a frame for a poster. C'mon, we can do better than we are in bringing art to THEM!

I really love the potential of the upcoming spring planting season. Get your gardening friends to pot up perennial clumps, divy up those seeds, root houseplants and overwintered annuals, dig out those old unused containers and get your painter friends over for a "Garden Party Sale". Split your backyard into zones, put the garden stuff on one side, the art on another and paint while you enjoy the morning.

In the meantime, how about making some garden art? I've seen really cute hummingbird feeders, painted bird/bee houses, etc., that will NOT detract from your "real art".

Put an ad in the paper, make some pretty signs for the big day, and I bet you sell art! And you will build up your mailing list and have a great time marketing your art...almost for free.

3 comments:

Tina Mammoser said...

Great idea! And I know what you mean about the framing at Michael's, yikes!

Think a bit broader too - topical events or places that may not have art. Dog shows? Garden shows? Or perhaps go paint at a local botanical garden? Boat shows/car shows? etc.

Robin said...

Yes! The possibilities are endless! Depends on what you're doing.

One of my online art buddies does fabulous "portraits" of classic cars. He goes to their shows, not marketing to the world hoping to find the few of every 1,000 who would be interested in his art.

twincedar said...

Good idea. I have seen a lot of painted gourds for bird houses and they look great!