From re-title.com:

Ceres Gallery, a not-for-profit program of the New York Feminist Art Institute and dedicated to the promotion of women in the arts, invites women visual artists to apply for a complimentary two-year gallery membership culminating in a four-week solo exhibition at our premiere 2000+ sq. ft. Chelsea space. Women artists of all media except video, living anywhere in the United States and Canada will be considered. Accepted artists will enjoy all the benefits of Ceres membership which includes a four-week solo exhibition, at least one four-week group exhibition and other group exhibition opportunities. Interested applicants please visit http://is.gd/1zVWS

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A Most Interesting Story.....

A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin. It was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

Three minutes went by, and a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds - and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping - continued to walk.

A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

The one who paid the most attention, was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried - but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk - turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.

This is a real story.

Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were:

in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty?

Do we stop to appreciate it?

Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?

One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world - playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

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Great story don't you think? Getting back to my Jasper Johns analogy - I've seen some amazing art on the streets of New York and Berlin - how many of us have walked past a true artistic genius without even a thought? I'm sure I have.

Deep in the forest away from the grid, amongst giant trees, fast flowing water, mountain air, and sleeping close to the earth my whole physical, emotional, and mental being-ness starts to normalize and re-train with the natural rhythms of nature. I feel a natural sense of well-being and happiness for no particular reason and I wonder why I bother with many of the things that concern me in the city. Aches and stress in my body have left within a couple of days and I'm waking up with happy, visionary, creative thoughts and feelings and an overwhelming desire to live my life fully.

All this in just a few short days in the forest....

Many great artists chose to spend large amounts of their time in nature - whether in the crispness and beauty of the mountains, the serene ocean landscapes, or the harsh but beautiful red deserts. The works that came from those places are almost invariably stunning - because the artist was able to connect with the powerful primal forces of nature. There are so many examples but check out any of Georgia Okeeffe's desert paintings or the works of the Hudson River School if you need some inspiration.

Today's art marketing tip is a simple piece of advice:

If you want to create more stunning and truly original art which will wow art collectors - spend regular amounts of time in the wilds of nature. It could be as simple as lying on a beach when you have a spare hour - or walking in state or national parks. Maybe sitting on a rock in the desert with a cup of tea and a good book for a few hours. Ideally, try to take a few days away if you can so that you can really wind down and allow the powerful forces that created you to speak. Bring this into your work and see where it takes you.....

Albert Bierstadt: Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California 1868

Part 3 - After the Open Studio is Over

Relax and Have a Drink
You deserve it! Talk with your friends and find out what worked well and what could be improved. Take notes and make those changes to your next event.

Follow Up
You’ve just completed phase 1 of a multi-phase selling process. Make sure you follow-up:

• Send Thank you cards to all your visitors
• Follow-up by phone with potential buyers
• Call and personally thank any arts professionals who visited your event

Update Your Mailing List
The new contacts who signed your guestbook might be the most valuable result of your open studio – treat them like gold! Add their names to your mailing list and be sure to invite them to future events and keep them informed of your latest work.

Plan Your Next Event
No time to lose! Start planning your next event. You can use the same process we outlined here but updated based on your own experience.

Go Create
Marketing without great art behind it is just a big bag of wind. Go create masterpieces for a while so that you have something truly authentic to show next time!

Part 2 - On The Day Of The Event

Dress For Success
That might mean a breezy floral outfit if you are showing in Jacksonville, or a pair of ripped diesel jeans and a too-small t-shirt if you are exhibiting in Williamsburg. Wear what feels appropriate to your market and your art.

Engage Your Friends
Enlist your friends to help with the running of the show. That includes greeting visitors, offering drinks and snacks, and taking care of sales transactions and packing. Good friends will have a blast helping you succeed. Buy them dinner or return the favor!

Cater
No need to go overboard, but a simple selection of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks will always smooth the conversation and open up new connections for you. A tasteful selection of snacks (that don’t run out) also helps.

Be the artist
With your friends and family taking care of details, allow yourself to “be the artist”. Chat with visitors, talk about what motivates you, point out features of your work. You need to meet everyone at your open studio so enlist one of your friends to move you on to the next guest if your attention is being monopolized.

Guestbook
Everyone who walks through your door is a potential collector. So, be sure to invite all visitors to sign your guestbook. If possible, have them leave both an email and a regular mail address, and a phone number.

Taking Care of Sales
Have a friend take care of any sales paperwork and packing. Make sure that they have a current pricelist and understand how to calculate and add sales tax. You don’t want to ruin a friendship over a miscalculated price! Be sure that you have plenty of bubble-wrap and packing tape on hand too.

In Part 1 we'll talk about preparing for the event. In Parts 2 and 3 we'll go over important details for the day of the event and follow-up activities for when you have cleaned away all those empty champagne magnums!

Part 1 - Before The Event - Planning The Open Studio

Decide what a Successful Open Studio means to you
Understand what you want to achieve from your open studio and then plan accordingly. Success to one artist might mean the sale of works of art, whilst to another it could mean an expanded mailing list or a connection with a gallery or dealer.

Understand your existing Gallery/Dealer Relationships
This is very important. If you have an existing relationship with a gallery or dealer you need to check the fine print of your contract to understand if any commission payments are applicable to sales from your Studio. If so, have the gallery work with you to publicize the event. Make it a win-win as much as you can!

Choose a time that works for your visitors!
A good friend used to have a regular open studio in New York on Sunday afternoons with very few visitors. Then one day it dawned on her that most people in her area were in their Hamptons vacation homes on the weekends. She changed to weekday evenings and suddenly had lots more visitors. Find out what works in your area!

Promote your Open Studio Event
Start planning at least a month in advance and be creative! As a bare minimum you should use the following list:

• Press releases to local or arts related publications
• Announcements in local event listings
• Email announcements to your email list
• Postcard mailings to snail-mail list
• Postcard mailings to local galleries and museums
• Posters in cafes, health practitioners offices, clinics, libraries, etc
• Tell everyone you know

Curate and Hang the Artwork
Curating is an art in its own right! Don’t leave the placement of the art until the last minute – start staging the work at least a week prior to the show. If you feel comfortable, invite trusted friends and arts professionals to look critically at the placement of the work. A well-curated show will have a sense of “flow” and will give visitors a sense of the whole of your work rather than just a collection of individual parts.

Think about payment Methods
Many people will be happy to write you a check in the event of a purchase while others may prefer to use a credit card. If you are planning to have regular Open Studio events you might want to think about setting up a merchant account so that you can accept credit card payments. There are some very simple and cost effective solutions available, so be sure to do your research before signing up.

Tomorrow we'll publish Part 2 - "On The Day Of The Event". Until then... Happy Art Journeys!

When I lived in Prague, Michael put on a show before 500,000. 90 Days before the show, the Czechs tore down an 80' high statue of Stalin and replaced it with an 80' statue of Michael - clenched hand in the air from Thriller. It was so cool. MJ towering over all of Prague.

Art defines every age and a bright light has left the world with MJ's passing. Now would be a good time for all artists to step up to the plate and do what we came here to do - create, envision, inspire, & bring beauty and energy to the world. Lets all turn our lights on and brighten things up....

Best Wishes on your journey Michael - what a powerful amazing life you chose - I hope that all the love and appreciation from around the world has you smiling :)

“Credential building is important. You need to make yourself an artist of merit. It is important to make yourself unique and noticeable with techniques and passions that are distinctively yours.”

We totally agree! I've been saying for years that one of the most important things an artist must do is to communicate his or her unique artistic vision to galleries and collectors - you are the Art! Remember - every time you post on facebook or twitter, every time you add an update to your website you are sending a message. So make it relevant and true to your vision!

They are what they say they are – fully customized websites designed around you and your art. Effectively executed, these websites should:

• Showcase your art like an art museum or high-end commercial gallery

• Communicate your vision and motivation as an artist through effective choices of structure, layout, color, font, and copy.

• Capture the essence of you and your art in a way that collectors and arts-professionals will understand and appreciate.

The big advantage of a fully customized site is that it showcases you in a way that is hard or even impossible to achieve with a template or online slide-registry. If your site is well designed, it can and will communicate the essence of you and your art to collectors.

The problems with a fully customized website can be significant too. It is very important to do your research well and choose the right designer so be sure to ask the right questions:

Do you have any idea what the designer is going to create for you or how long it will take? Ask to see examples of their work and to see testimonials from other clients. Ask to be given a choice of initial layouts. Talk with the designer and find out what they will be like to work with.

Custom sites are more expensive for obvious reasons – you are paying a talented designer for exclusive use of their time on a website that will only be used for your work. So, understand the cost before you sign any contracts and be willing to pay a reasonable sum for a really good site. Depending on the size of your vision that could be anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000. No question - it's a big investment but also potentially a big gift to your art career.

How will the site be supported? What will be the process and cost to make changes? Can you make changes yourself or will the designer handle that for you and at what cost? It’s no good if you end up with a beautiful site that takes months to update every time you want to add new work.

Our advice on fully-customized websites: It’s worth considering one if you are making a commitment to your career and want to showcase both your work and your artistic vision to arts professionals. Choose your designer carefully and you should be very pleased with the results.

This is the final article in this series - thanks for joining us! A parting thought: A website is not a silver bullet. By itself it is unlikely to create overnight success for an artist’s career, but when woven together with other elements into a marketing strategy, it can be very effective in promoting the artist’s work.

Part 3 - Template Art Portfolio Services

These services allow you to create an online portfolio of your work by choosing a website design based on an existing template library. Often these are hosted sites which allow the artist to add and edit their own work. Some good examples are qfolio and FolioLink.

The process works like this: You choose a template style from the vendor’s library of templates and upload photos of your work together with your bio, artist’s statement, resume, etc. Depending on the service provider, either you or they then put your images and text into the template and …. Voila!….. You have your website up and running.

The advantages of template-based portfolios are straightforward. The process is fast; you know exactly what you will get and how much it will cost; and the process of adding to or changing your site is fairly simple. In short, you have control. They are particularly good for commercial artists because its quite possible to have a very large body of your work online at a reasonable cost.

The disadvantages? The most basic one is that the website might never really reflect and communicate you as an artist because it was not built from the ground up to showcase you and your work. Secondly, it is important to check out the fee structure before you go in. With some template services you might be paying more than $500 for a simple site by the time you add up all the fees. It’s also important to look at the monthly hosting fees, which can be quite high.

Our advice on Template Portfolios: They work really well for some artists – particularly if your focus is on the commercial market – illustration, design, etc. Just be aware of the cost and ask yourself if the site is really showcasing you the way you would like - If you're primarily focused on Galleries and Collectors you might want to consider a more customized solution.

There are many great online gallery services available today. For a variable fee (typically $50 to $300 per year) these sites allow you to create your own portfolio by uploading images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. At the inexpensive end of the range this could be an arts organization site like mnartists.org which is free for Minnesota artists. At the high-end you might be looking at something like ArtNet.com which charges more than $2,000 per year.

The advantage of this type of site is that many people visit including dealers, galleries, etc. That doesn’t mean that they will actually see your work as there are thousands of artists represented by these services – but there is a chance.

The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees can be quite high. It is also very difficult to get a sense of the personality and motivations of the artist.

Our advice on on-line galleries: You should have your work displayed on at least a couple, so that you benefit from the high-volume of visitors to these sites. But you also need to have a personal site that showcases you and your work more intimately.

Tomorrow we'll look at low-cost template website options

Part 1 - Understand Your Audience (Who are you selling to?)

Your artist's website is the foundation on which you will build your complete online-marketing strategy. Every marketing tool and program will seek to draw attention to your website gallery. So, what is important in a website? What do arts professionals look for? What will give you the edge you need to be recognized?

The first question you need to answer is “Who is your audience”. Are you selling, or planning to sell to decorators, galleries, collectors, or art investors? Just what is your objective? – it’s important to be very clear about this.

If your primary focus is decorators (e.g. interior decorators, design consultants, etc) you should have a large body of your work online so that clients have as much work to choose from as possible. You may also want to be able to change and update the work regularly yourself because you are in a very dynamic commercial environment. Presentation, while important needs to be balanced with other requirements.

If your target art market includes galleries, collectors, or investors, five qualities stand out:

• Stunning presentation of your work – it should lift off the screen.

• Only your very best work can be shown – only those pieces that you would LOVE and be 200% proud to show to an arts professional. If that means only 5 pieces then your website should have only 5 pieces. In this market segment it’s all about quality – not quantity.

• The work should show consistency in theme and style – or if you show multiple styles or themes they need to be showcased in separate sub-gallery sections.

• The art must be the center of attention. The website should showcase beautifully but not distract from the art in any way.

• The website should communicate the essential YOU. Who are you? What motivates you? What are you passionate about? How is your personality and consciousness reflected in your work? What sort of statement are you making about life through your art? And ultimately - why are YOU worth collecting?

Don’t ever underestimate the value of you in the marketing of your art. Roger Ailes wrote a great book on public speaking several years ago titled, “You are The Message”. Similarly, as an artist, “You are the Art”. Collectors know it – you need to know it. Be sure to choose marketing materials that effectively showcase you as well as your art – your website in particular.

In the next post we'll look at some of the various artist website options available and how they serve the needs of these art market segments we just discussed. Stay tuned....

New York, NY – There is a light at the end of the tunnel for 134 artists living and working in New York State. The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has just announced the recipients for its annual fellowship grants of $7,000 apiece to 134 artists recognized for excellence in their given disciplines. The grants total $917,000 and are intended for unrestricted use, meaning that they can be utilized for everything from art materials to rent – which is welcome news for recipients. Artists have been strongly impacted by the economic crisis. A recent survey conducted by NYFA suggested that almost half of the artists living in New York State make less than $25,000 per annum.

Read Press Release....

The webinar was excellent and acknowledged that Twitter is in its early stages for business use. They focused on its relative abilities to help businesses increase revenue and equity, and lower cost.

The biggest take home for us was the importance of using Twitter to help build a solid brand. The quality of the images, bio, logo, etc must reflect the direction and inspiration of the business. Examples were given of well known companies who are using Twitter well for branding and others who are not. Kodak and Fuji were given as good and bad examples of effective use. One thing which was interesting is that Microsoft's presence on Twitter is really bad - almost non-existent. They didn't even have a logo on their account. I bet they have someone working on that this afternoon :)

Another important point was to only follow a highly targeted list appropriate to your industry. The businesses with the higher quality presences tended to have large followings but fewer followers. I guess what that means is that you are judged by the company you choose to keep!

Similarly, the quality and content of your posts is really important. If you spam a lot of noisy personal stuff about going to the bathroom and having to mow the lawn this afternoon - well that's not going to contribute to branding your business as quality.

I felt more positive about Twitter by the end of the session - it seems like it has really valid applications in selling, marketing & branding, as well as customer service. I felt like there is an opportunity for real businesses to grow and I'm looking forward to learning more.

We really recommend Marketing Experiments. They have great webinars on many facets of online marketing and are always exploring the impacts and opportunities for businesses of all shapes and sizes. And remember - Artists are businesses too! I'll post a link to the recorded webinar as soon as it is posted.

Two articles particularly dear to our design hearts are "How to Work with a Professional Website Designer" and "Design Tips for Artist Websites" in which Gay Jervey gives some excellent tips on achieving successful results with high-quality art websites. At our sister site, "Beautiful Artist websites" It has long been our contention that the single most important factor in an artist website is excellent showcasing. Artists need to be careful of some of the self-design and inexpensive portfolio solutions because in many cases the work just doesn't showcase well.

Take a good look at your website and ask yourself honesty - does the work look compelling enough to evoke serious interest from a buyer?? If not, you need to decide on a new online strategy.

While we love Gay's articles we do have a few points of disagreement, having designed a lot of artist websites in the last few years. Let me make those points here:

Color Schemes: It is true that for most websites placing light-color text on a dark background is a mistake because it becomes just too hard to read. This is particularly true in news sites with large amounts of text content. An artist's website is different though - in many cases the text content is quite small and the quality of art showcasing given by a dark background overshadows this requirement. As examples take a look at Rick Clarence Art and Decor-American Fine Art.

Self Maintaining: Most artists want to be able to maintain their websites themselves for obvious reasons. However there are drawbacks to this - the most important one being that sometimes the updates (especially images) don't look as good as when they are made by a professional designer. There is an alternative to self-maintaining - talk with your designer about a simple maintenance plan with a flat-rate price per image and price per text page change.

Hosting: Gay's article suggests that it's very important that the artist manages their own website hosting. Our Perspective: After designing many art websites with different technical hosting requirements we actually require our clients to host with us. Why? Not for profit - but simply that we can guarantee the performance of our sites. With anything beyond a very simple website (especially Content Management Systems) we need to have a controlled software environment where we know exactly what hosting software versions are in use and variations in their implementation. We also need to have excellent support relationships with the hosting company so that we know when potentially performance-affecting changes are being planned or made. Bottom line - at least be willing to host your website with a company that your designer recommends. Don't just insist on the cheapest solution you can find - you may regret it.

Thanks for a great issue Art Calendar!