I've been scanning AFI for months now searching for clues as to what to expect from the shows out there. I started in this racket back in 1985 with a hard-to-sell form of sculpture that was informed by "minimalism" aesthetics and nearly invisible to a non-initiate of this type of art. I later added to my oeuvre with another hard-to-sell body of work based on B+W photography, in a sort of collage format with a labor-intensive frame structure and special hangers for wall installation. Both types of art did very well for years and then did nothing until I threw in the towel and quit the "circuit" back in 2009 with a freezing cold Bethesda Row engagement being my swan song.
After contemplating my navel for five years and working various day jobs, searching for a new path in art, I found my direction hidden in plain view (as per normal) and tapped into my primal abilities with pen and ink drawing. More specifically, I'm pulling from a background I have in biology, morphology to be exact, where I draw extremely accurate and detailed illustrations of all sorts of natural subjects I collect with my camera.
I've taken these out to a few local "arts and crafts" shows at libraries, schools, and churches, and have received a good response and some sales but now it's time to hit the road. I'm a bit apprehensive due to the hints I pick up on this sight and word of mouth that "things are different" (already believed that) and many of my former peers are nowhere to be found so something ain't right.
Shows I've visited indicate a new and younger artist cadre (to be expected and much appreciated by me) and a far lower set of expectations, a realistic and healthy attitude I believe.
My new work will probably sell in the $400 to $600 range for the originals framed, and under $50 for matted high quality prints that I have lots of fun making with my Pro1 Canon printer.
So let me see. Here's my question: Has this field turned into an avocation with lots of ancillary baggage in the way of expenses and labor or is it something we can depend on like in the old days? I don't need a lot to live on, the farm is paid for, the kids are grown, and I have a new lawnmower. I truly can't tell if the participants on this site are really making a living or is it a labor of love and many or most have other jobs, a full-time working spouse, live in someone's basement, have a trust fund, all of the above or whatever. What's it like out there?
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Hi Peter, Connie and all,
Well Peter, I too am planning to be reborn this fall and go slowly dip my toes into some regional shows here in Florida.. having stopped shows since the mid 80's! The China import trade killed my wholesale artworks of the 80's - 90's. Now, I have a very great challenge to create enough inventory in the next few hot summer months. I create realistic sculptures and wanted to debut another idea of bas-relief. So feedback and new clients is the initial goal [besides lots of sales of course! ;-)] . I have some veteran art show friends I'm consulting with and enjoying lurking around ArtFairInsiders.com also. Seems you gotta go to shows that are well marketed and suit your style; is also ok to stand out in the right smaller shows..but what do I know [yet], LOL.
I do know a bit about the internet. I built my bloated site in the late 90's and they came..now dynamics have changed. wierd stuff stands out online [just google "alligator sculpture"] after the paid ads you will find me! Etsy was hit and miss till I figured I might as well pay to play and set an ad budget and boom getting orders every month. Maybe the $hows that cost lot$ are not for everyone but if they sell your style; probably worth the gamble.
Another thing I need to do is continue gathering client contact lists and start an email campaign. Going to shows is a newsworthy excuse to send those emails. I already have the free Google calendar on my website so that may be a good tool to ad to your free Blogger site you can get.
Well gotta go back to work creating a lifesize Magellanic Penguin family.
My first post here so Nice to meet all you wonderful fellow artists, take care.
~CD
Good luck, Chris, with your new life and efforts! My wife, too, suffered the China onslaught after the 80s. She's moved into the dollhouse miniatures world and sells like crazy on ETSY. I'm waiting on shows I've applied for summer/fall and so far so good. My "inventory" is fast growing and I'm truly looking forward to hitting the streets. My objectives are modest,....I'm gonna maintain a flexible teaching schedule (subbing) for routine cash and my numbers tell me I only need to clear between $500 to $2000 per show in most cases and it will work (something I wouldn't have gotten out of bed for back in the "good ol days"). I guess it's far from optimal but I miss "show biz"...
I've only been doing shows since 2011, so I can't really comment on the old days. Nor can I really comment on how the market is since my work is rather... unusual compared to the other art I typically see at shows. Most of the time I'm in the black, and I do a few knock out shows a year (usually local shows where everyone knows me and comes to see what I've been up to), but if I had to make a living doing JUST outdoor fairs, it wouldn't work. Online sales pretty much sustain me, and I do the art fair circuit mostly for fun. Traveling around and popping up a gallery for a few days in a new town is just about the coolest thing in the world to me, but I'm a pretty simple person. My average is about $1500 (mostly prints sold with a handful of small originals), which I consider pretty decent for my work and current notoriety, but some of my peers would probably collapse in tears if they pulled in that amount.
WOW, A.L.: You actually gone and done it! You answered my question straight forward: You ain't making a living on the street. Frankly, I doubt I can either, hence, the subbing gig. It's not the same out there and honestly I don't see it improving enough to make it even half the way it was. It was fluke, those years. But here we go anyway! Now here's a more important question I have for you: How the heck do you do so well with online sales? I've tried a few things, ETSY for instance, and it truly stinks. I know of no body who is making the web really work for them aside from being a very cool business card/brochure. What's your secret?
My fanbase was raised by the internet, so that helps. I'm active on tumblr and instagram. I post things that I'm working on with links to my shop (etsy and personal site). I also use Kickstarter for my illustration projects. I've found that the elements of my work that turn people off at shows help me stand out online. I also try to be friendly and engaging all of the time, talking with people, posting advice and tips, constantly thanking people for buying/sharing, etc, which I've unfortunately noticed that a lot of artists don't do. On the internet, it helps to be seen as a person rather than a shop or business entity... people are constantly being bombarded by hard sales pitches and ads and it gets tiring. Actually, that's just good advice in general. I hate browsing through other booths at festivals and the only words out of the artists' mouths are prices and sales (if they bother to speak to me at all). But now I'm off topic.
This is just my limited experience, though. I do know a few people who are really booming and making a living doing art fairs and gallery stuff. I could probably do much better if I expanded my subject matter, but I like what I do and it's worth a smaller paycheck to me.
I'm going to try and do a composite reply to all the posts that arrived all in a row. I'm really glad to see this is striking a chord. After all the changes that have happened over the last 10 years it seems we need this stuff aired. And it's giving me some strength to carry on with my plans so I want to thank everyone, again, for diving in. Before I started this post I really wasn't sure of what I was going to do even though my question was, in a sense, rhetorical insofar as I already knew making a full living off the street was becoming more difficult if not impossible. Hearing from the "frontline" somehow made it easier for me to cut the crap and get going again. I finally do have enough of a new body of work to begin and I've applied to a bunch of shows with two acceptances, no rejections, and lots I'm waiting on. Next is finding if my new stuff has a market, of course. This is probably a good time for the launch because we are probably at a "top" (again) in the economic cycle and with that comes some "consumer" strength (hate that term) but it also means when you are at the crest all directions are down from here (yup I'm gonna rain on my parade for a minute). So, ok, we'll ride it down again but it's best to have a sled (art) and enjoy the trip rather than just a crap job (which may go bye-bye anyway).
I told Norm about your idea that the "good years" were just a fluke to get his take on it. He didn't agree, said there was always going to be a market for the good work. I know people who came through all of the last ten years relatively unscathed. I'm thinking of a friend with price points of around $500-$20,000. He did see a dip, but continues to do well and has built up a solid base of collectors who come looking for him. He is 70, but still enthused about creating.
Maybe he is the exception. I'll think about this.
Yes, I do believe there is a market for original work that is picking up steam again and it is a good time to get in. What has changed though is that there is a lot of cool work available in other places, more art fairs too, and the strategy of earning a living at this has to be well honed.
Hi Connie: Please don't over labor my "fluke" remark. I will try to elaborate what I'm getting at: The "fluke" aspect of the market from 1980 onwards was actually reflecting a groundswell shift that was taking place in the economy at large, namely, we shifted from a production based economy to a debt based economy. It's an old story but our money was unleashed from the "gold standard" in 1971 and shifted to a debt based currency and by 1982 this lit a match under the economy that drove EVERYTHING until debt saturation started to kick in around 2000 and got worse in 2008 and is now about to totally implode. It's a known cycle, about 60 years, and we're at the end of it. What I'm saying is the 1980 to 2000 period reflected a rather ephemeral economic dispensation and made the consumer economy quite hot and eventually fragile. We all profited by it while it lasted. Now, here is where my optimism (sort of) comes in: I grew up in Ann Arbor and worked for the U of M Grounds summers while in college in the 1970s and walked the Art Fairs every year (couldn't do much else with all the people). And you remember the 1970s in Michigan,....some areas had 40% unemployment,...Detroit was still smoldering from the 60s riots,....things in Michigan were worse than almost anywhere in the USA. And yet, the ArtFair BOOMED,...it got bigger and bigger and, frankly, the crowds were larger back then than anytime I experienced doing the show in the 80s and onward. All this while the economy was crummy. So, I DO agree with Norm, art can do well at all situations, maybe even better when things are crummy because people aren't spending on the really big ticket stuff so a few hundred bucks on art is a "bargain". My Mom and Dad were retail jewelers in the Arcade during all this and they did fine through it all. However, and this is a big "however", things may really shatter in the years ahead, I just don't know, but the people running things have made a fine mess of everything and it's global, so we are thinking of getting chickens just in case.
I use Etsy as a shopping cart and that works well for me. My online sales have been growing ever so slowly over the years. They are still not enough to keep me in coffee for a year let alone rent. I just added Etsy after my last shows last year so I am looking forward to seeing some more results when I start with my shows this year (April 18). To avoid getting lost in Etsy I have my own website and when people click on images it takes them to the Etsy sale page for that image. So I direct people to my website rather than Etsy. I suggest Peter, it you don't already, have a website ready to go before you do your first show. Every other show or so I get an order after the show. I'm hoping that adding a workable shopping cart will increase that.
Peter,
I can tell you that my husband is full time with our business, and i am working a job primarily for the benefits - health insurance and such.
We are very committed to growing our business into more than just a hobby - in fact this past year we can say we made enough to say my husband's previous job salary was replaced.
But we are also committed to better shows, and avoid the church shows unless they are notorious for being exceptional. I wish i could give you a comparison to the "good old days", but i have only the last 5 years of experience.... and that has been not always predictable. In my humble opinion the answer to your question really depends on where you pitch your tent. Better shows draw the artists making their living at it, whereas local schools and church events tend to be more hobby level.
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