For many artists the anticipation and anxiety around planning and promoting an art exhibition can be very daunting. These are very natural feelings, partly because it may be the first time you have shown your artwork to the public (maybe even your friends and family), and possibly the logistics of organizing an exhibition, planning an Opening Reception, and promoting the event are overwhelming.

Please check out our Facebook Live streams about selling your art on our Facebook page.

Finding the right market for your work

How to price your art for your market?

During my time working for Gamma Pro Imaging and Fidelis Art Prints, I have had the pleasure of planning and executing several solo and group art exhibitions for my clients. I have also been involved with several art events and fundraisers with guest numbers ranging from 30 to several hundreds.

I hope that this will serve as a through blueprint for planning your first (and future) exhibitions. You will need to dedicate at least 3-4 weeks to preparing for your exhibition, but I promise the experience and opportunities gained from exhibiting your art will be worth every effort.

How to Choose What to Exhibit

This is one of the first and most important steps to planning your exhibition.

Let’s assume that at this stage you have not secured a venue and you are not sure which pieces you will be featuring. At this point you have the choice of letting the venue dictate how many pieces you can show, or you can find a venue that best suits the quantity and size of the artwork you want to exhibit.

You should never feel pressured to “fill” a venue—always show only your very best work.

For the purpose of the guide we are going to begin with selecting your art first and finding a perfect venue second.

How Many Pieces Should I Exhibit?

This is determined by the physical scale of your artwork and your venue options (wall space, number of easels, etc). I suggest a minimum of 10 (mid to oversize) and maximum of 30 (if your artwork are 11×14” or smaller).

Organizing Your Images

Begin by choosing your best images/artworks from your archives. Sort them by “Theme Galleries”. The more concise and cohesive the images are within your theme galleries, the more sense the theme will make to your audience. Having a theme helps your audience understand your art. People buy art they can relate to and understand.

What are Your Themes?

You may not know it, but you are likely drawn to painting or photographing a common theme. For example: landscape, realism, abstract, colour, subject matter (people or objects), close-up or a specific location. I’ve been through this process with many artists and sometimes it is not as obvious to the artist as it is to another person. If you need help with this step, I suggest engaging a friend or another creative colleague to assist with the selection.

Many artists, particularly digital artists have a hard time editing their artworks as they often have several variations of the same image. Use themes to help narrow your selections based on colour, filter and effect used.

If this is your first exhibition, I suggest presenting one body of work—one theme. This will show your buyers and potential gallery representatives that your work is focused and that you are capable of creating more than one “great” piece based on a common theme, artistic style or genre.

If you don’t have enough pieces for one theme and/or you have a lot of wall space, you could consider presenting several themes—hanging each theme in separate groupings.

Determine Your “Heroes”

Edit your themes further by determining your “Heroes”. These are the final selections and will determine the art for your showing at your exhibition.

A “Hero” is defined as your VERY best piece(s) from a particular theme. “Best” is defined by how well the artwork meets your creative style, delivers or meets your theme and of course how well it has been executed. Each “Hero” should meet all three of these criteria.

Don’t be disappointed if this process has dropped your inventory of 30 images to 10, this often happens. The artworks not selected this time around, should be saved for a different show or re-worked to better meet your “Best” criteria.

I hope you found this post helpful. If you would like to learn more about art marketing be sure to subscribe and receive our FREE “Artists Guide to Exhibition Planning”. The sign-up box is at the bottom of this page.

If you are planning for an exhibition and need some immediate advice, please feel free to contact me. Good luck with your organizing!

We’d love to know if you found this post helpful. Please let is know by commenting or answering these questions:

How do you organize your images? Do you use a photo/image management software to keep your art organized?

Publishing a limited edition artwork places certain obligations on you as the Publisher, the most important of which are control of the production and monitoring the edition. The process of producing a limited edition requires some advance thought about the size of the edition and some knowledge about the printmaking process.

Please check out our Facebook Live streams about open and limited editions on our Facebook page.

Deciding between open and limited edition prints?

How to price your art for your market?

What is a Limited Edition?

Limited edition prints, also known as LE’s, have been standard in printmaking since the nineteenth century. Today limited editions can be found in as many as two or 1000. For the purpose of this post we’ll be speaking with reference to limited edition archival inkjet prints—which are more commonly below 25o per edition. Given today’s art market, smaller editions are more common, as it is assumed the lower the number in the edition, the more valuable and collectible the limited editions are likely to be. LE’s should to be distinguished from the original, they should be carefully produced directly from the original work and printed under the artist’s supervision. This is a distinction needed to separate them from mass produced offset prints, giclées and canvas transfers (which are made from offset paper prints). A limited edition is normally hand signed and numbered by the artist e.g. 16/100. With exception that the artist is deceased or lives a great distance from the printmaker. In this case, the LE often includes a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist, their estate, and/or the Master Printmaker.

How many prints will be in the Edition?

Decide on the size of the edition, this determines how many prints can be made; there’s no standard amount. As few as 1 or 3, or as many as 1000 or more. Reflect on how the volume will affect the sales of your original works and consider that the smaller the edition, the higher price you can ask per print. Lastly ask yourself, how many you think you can sell?

How to do I choose a Printmaker?

Select a reputable printmaker to produce your editions. Do your homework, ask other artists, get referrals, do some testing, make studio visits, speak with technical staff and review current samples of their current work. Building a relationship with a printmaker is for the long term. Don’t let price determine your choice of printmaker. It is also not about who has the latest or greatest equipment. We all know that it is the artist behind the camera, who makes the art—not the model of the camera. Saying that, good quality, reliable equipment is a must for any printmaking studio. But most importantly, the technical talent of the printmaker is critical to the success of your Edition. If price is critical to your selling position, consider asking for a volume price and watch for special promotions by reputable printmakers.

What is an Artist’s Proof?

Now that you have a printmaker, you are ready to begin with the process of making an Artist’s Proof (a Printer’s Proof may also be made). This will require your artwork to be scanned (in the case of film) or digitally photographed (for painted artworks). In the case of digitally created artwork, you will need to supply your printer with a high-resolution file (usually 300dpi at the intended print size).

The Next Step

Once the Artist’s Proof is approved, a Production File is created for the Edition. This file has locked-in data pertaining to the colour and density adjustments made during the proofing process, it sets the print size and defines the border – the amount of white space – around the image. The Production File may also be tagged with additional information such as type of paper used and any special finishing options.

Who keeps track of the edition—monitoring print sales?

As prints are called off (sold) against the Edition, it is the publisher’s responsibility to log print sales and monitor the balance of the Edition still available. Determine how you will control the edition: you will need to keep track of each print number (e.g. “6 of 50″) as it is sold, and ideally the buyer’s details. In some cases, when an Edition is sold out the Production File and all proofing files for that print are destroyed to ensure the integrity of the Edition.

Notes: The conventions for numbering prints are well-established, but there are other marks to indicate that the print exists outside of an edition. Artist’s proofs are marked “A.P.” or “P/A”; monoprints and uniquely hand-altered prints are marked “unique”; prints that are gifted to someone, or are for some reason unsuitable for sale, are marked “H.C.” or “H/C”, meaning “hors de commerce”, not for sale – usually a print that is generally reserved for the publisher like an Artist’s Proof. The printer is also often allowed to take some impressions for themselves, these are marked with “PP”. Finally, a master image may be printed, against which the members of the edition are compared for quality; these are signed-off as “bon à tirer”, or “BAT” (“good to print” in French). Sometimes the number of the main, public, edition can be rather misleading – representing 50% or less of the total number of good impressions taken.If you have a question about making limited editions or self-publishing and can’t find the answer on our site, please let us know by commenting.

If you’re new to the art world, one of the first things you need to do it figure out how much your artwork is worth. There are no official rules on how to price your art, though here are a few helpful tips that might make your job easier.

Please check out our Facebook Live streams about pricing your art on our Facebook page.

How to price your art for your market?

You will need to do a little research and put some serious thought into a “pricing strategy”, so let’s get to it.

Do Your Research

Begin with investigating how other artists like you are pricing their work. You can do this by searching online for similar artists or by going to local art fairs and artist run galleries.

Pricing Original Art

There is no hard-fast rule for pricing originals, however, by following a few simple steps you can be confident that your pricing will be competitive and appropriate for your art and market.

1. Base your price on comparable artworks in your region. What buyers pay in New York will not be what they will pay here in Vancouver. Do your research online and visit local galleries.

2. Price by specific size or use a formula based on a per square foot or square inch (or square centimetre) basis.

3. If in doubt, “choose a price out of the air”. It’s not very scientific, but sometimes if your artwork is unique it will be hard to find comparables. Remember you can always go up, not down, so don’t set your prices above what your market can afford.

Pricing Reproductions and Limited Editions

The standard rule of thumb is to simply double the production price by marking it up 100%. Tweak your pricing as you learn more about your market. If the artwork is a limited edition (an edition of 1 or up to 100), you may consider marking it up by 200-300% to reflect its “originality”, limited quantity or if you are an established artist. Limited editions are usually signed by the artist and/or include a Certificate of Authenticity, signed by the artist.

Pricing Photo-based Art

When selling photo-based works, establish a business policy for the number of prints you plan to print of each image, including the size. You may decide to keep the edition “open” or make it a “limited edition”. Put this information in writing on your pricelist and on your website. This will help your buyers understand your pricing and eliminate future problems when (if) you decide to sell more of the same image.

Don’t Forget Your Add Your Material Costs

If your artwork needs to be framed, add these costs in to your pricing. Framing is a big investment. It is worth applying for your tax number (PST—Provincial Sales Tax number in Canada) which will allow you to open an wholesale account at a reputable frame supplier.

If your artworks are a common size, consider “exhibition frames”. These usually have special hardware for removing the art easily so the frames can be recycled for future shows if the art does not sell.

Unless very unique, avoid home-made stretcher bars and wood frames. Instead, save money by doing the assembly yourself. A frame nail gun (for wood frames) is about $150 CAD. Metal frames and floating frames for canvas works need only a screwdriver. There are several good “how-to” videos on YouTube to help you get through the production. The savings can be over $15-50 per piece.

Note: Exceptions to this bit of advice would be artworks that are specialty mounted to acrylic or aluminum and artworks. This service needs to be done by an d experienced technician with some heavy duty equipment.

If you are planning for an exhibition and need some immediate advice, please feel free to contact me.

I’ve received lots of inquiries about how to sell art through consignment. Partially because retailers do not have the cash to purchase art anymore, but mostly because we live in an area that has a high volume of tourists (would-be art buyers) throughout the summer months.

If you’ve considered selling your art on consignment, there are a few considerations that will help make this a profitable experience.

Please check out our Facebook Live streams about selling on consignment and pricing your art on our Facebook page.

Selling your artwork on consignment

How to price your art for your market?

This post is intended for artists selling their own work, not for collectors wanting to sell someone else’s art work.

How consignment works?

You provide artwork(s) to a retailer or gallery in hopes that they sell. When your work sells, you get part of the retail price, and the seller gets the rest.

For retailers, which could include coffee shops, restaurants, etc—it’s not unusual to see something around a 30/70 split, where the retailer keeps 30%. Whether it’s more or less, it really depends on the amount of marketing and sales support they provide. If you’re a more establish artist, do hesitate to ask for a better percentage, but remember they probably have dozens of other artists asking to get into their venue…

For galleries, specifically commercial galleries, a 50/50 split is still fair, since they’re showcasing your work and providing valuable wall space—the difference is worth the exposure. Anything higher than this should be avoided.

Choosing a consignment venue

Always try to choose a retailer or gallery that has a good chance of selling your art. Best case scenario, they have experience in selling art similar to your’s and in the same price range. Avoid venues that might be looking for free art to hang on their walls—these retailers will not be motivated to sell your work. Try to select retailers that have good lighting and a steady flow of traffic, most tourist districts are usually great places to start.

Make sure you have a good contract in place

To avoid misunderstandings, I recommend having a contract listing each artwork. It doesn’t need to be crafted by a lawyer, however there are some specific items that should be addressed. Here is a list of some key elements:

• Include your name and full contact details

• Name of contact at the shop and their telephone and email address

• Term of the contract—drop-off date and when you need to pick up the art, if it doesn’t sell

• Name, title, size, edition number (if applicable) and description of the artwork

• Retail price—set a reasonable and fair market price. Do your research in advance.

• The agreed commission and specify the split, indicating who gets what percent.

• How will you get paid. The standard is no more than 30 days from when the artwork sells. There is no reason why you couldn’t receive payment by electronic transfer within the week.

• Short statement about ownership of the artwork and copyright (so that this can be made clear to the buyer)

• Insurance requirements—the gallery, you (or both) should have insurance for the artwork in the case of fire, theft or any kind of damage that might occur while it is on their premises.

There are lots of great examples out there for contracts. Modify, cut and paste and build a contract that fits your needs.

Consignment doesn’t work for everyone, as it can consume a lot of time moving and dropping artwork amongst different venues. However, if you aren’t a “sales person”, consigning your work is a great alternative to attending art markets, while allowing you to experiment in different venues throughout your area (seeing what sells where). It also allows you to stay in your studio and produce more work—your favourite thing!

Let me know your experiences in consigning art. Do you have a good contract that you would like to share?

Best of luck!