Artsy Shark
A Site for Emerging Artists
A Day in the Life of an Artist’s Agent
Jan 14th
By Carolyn Edlund
LeJarie Noguchi works with Artas1, a licensing agency for Japanese artists. She spoke with Artsy Shark recently about her job, the challenges she faces and what’s hot in the business.
AS: How many artists do you represent?
LN: I represent over 40 Japanese artists. Most live in Japan, but a few are in the United States.
AS: What is your process for reaching prospective clients for your artists?
LN: I use a combination of cold calling and email submissions. I submit artwork after reviewing the guidelines on the company’s website. If there aren’t any details, I’ll either call or contact customer service for contact information, for their licensing director if available. I then email them directly or call based on the contact information given.
Generally, I submit four image samples initially as a PDF with simple artist’s bios. If there is a request for more images, I’ll follow up with larger jpgs depending on the specifics of the request via zip files. We also mail out free copies of our latest catalogs upon request, which helps to give the client a good overview of the artists we represent.
AS: What is your follow up procedure?
LN: I usually follow up with an email three to five days later and only occasionally with a phone call. From my experience, I find I email usually, and calling is mostly done with smaller companies and small book publishers for book cover art. I email follow ups mostly for larger established companies like in decor or print publishers.
Artist: Hiromitsu Yokota
AS: Are there any trends you are noticing as far as what companies want to license?
LN: There is a popular trend right now toward cute and small Japanese types of items like dolls, stickers and erasers spurred on by the huge popularity among kids for Japanese erasers that come in fun shapes like sushi, cupcakes, hamburgers . . . you name it and there is a cute eraser for it. So there are some companies looking for cute bright art similar to anime.
AS: What are you working on now?
LN: Currently, the artwork of two of our popular Japanese artists is on exhibition at UMAMI Burger’s new restaurant location in Hermosa Beach, California. Also, two of our artists create amazing artwork for calendars, so I’m contacting calendar and stationery publishers. One of our artists has created the sweetest children’s book about an octopus that I’m actively submitting to publishers.
AS: What is your biggest challenge?
LN: Time zones. Being based in Los Angeles with the majority of licensing companies based on the East Coast is a big challenge when trying to contact and follow up.
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Featured Artist Jane Houghton
Jan 12th
Featured artist Jane Houghton creates delightfully whimsical mixed media images. Enjoy her work and visit her website for more from this artist.
Jane is a Massachusetts artist who has been known in her community for teaching private art lessons to children for eleven years. Her students inspired her to return to her creative roots and begin to make her own art again. Jane is a graduate of Skidmore College with a degree in Studio Art. “The children’s spirit of making art reminded me of why I have loved being creative since I was a small child . . . they make art to please themselves and if someone else sees something special – well, then that is a bonus.” She started showing her work in 2006 and has not looked back since.
The images in Jane’s work often come from subconscious places. The gum-drop shaped hills she is most well known for are reminiscent of the ancient Celtic hill forts of Wales, where Jane did part of her undergraduate studies. Circles, dots and letters have all played parts in her imagination and continue to pop up sometimes in unexpected places in her compositions. She invites the viewer to take a closer look for details as a way to bring them in and make them feel a deeper connection to the piece beyond the initial glance.
Her technique of layering altered tissue paper on top of acrylic is influenced by her fascination with the encaustic painting technique (painting with a pigment and melted wax mixture.) “I love the layered effects that the wax can lend itself to.” Instead of the translucent beeswax she layers thin layers of tissue paper that she has drawn on with oil stick, colored pencil, ink and or acrylic paint to achieve a similar result. Jane prefers to work on square wood panels.
Jane is currently working on a new series, titled, “Nurture” This series of mixed media paintings features large seed pods in various stages of development. From the meditative and dormant seed to the bursting open of the blossom, the series seeks to address the tension that is inherent as we grow in the roles in our lives (friend, spouse, parent, community member) while maintaining a sense of our core self. The seed pods and bursting plants are metaphors for our souls bursting open and becoming. The majority of these new pieces are larger squares forcing the viewer to be confronted by the delicate process. Recently, the blossoming images have become quite popular and the demand for smaller, more affordable pieces has allowed Jane to develop this theme in a variety of compositions and color relationships.
Jane has an active commission practice creating individualized pieces for children and families. “Commissioned works are a welcome challenge of creating something that a patron’s family will feel connected to and cherish for generations. It is an honor to craft an original piece of art, originating from a parents’ vision, wanting to celebrate their family and child in a tangible and meaningful way.” Jane has developed a multiple panel concept that holds a plan for the changes a family faces when children grow and leave the nest.
These multi-paneled pieces can stand as a group or individually. The center panel depicts the family as a whole and may include imagery that speaks to the family unit and include quotes about the families’ shared experiences or values. The additional side panels represent individual children. The idea is that while the children are living at home the painting remains a unit, but when a child leaves the home their individual panel can be displayed in their new home as an independent piece.
Holy Cow! How to Succeed at Selling to a Niche Market
Jan 10th
By Carolyn Edlund
Kathy Swift is a full-time mom, part-time cattle veterinarian and a jewelry artist – with a popular retail website specializing in cow art. She is a busy lady, which is why catching her for an interview means having a phone conversation with her while she is driving around in her truck (to the next farm, I believe.)
How did she get involved in all of these seemingly unrelated activities? She’s lived on farms all her life and loves the lifestyle and the people involved in “Ag” whom she describes as the best people on earth. At a friend’s barbecue, she met an artist and got into a conversation which intrigued her enough to start classes in jewelry making, which she fell in love with.
It seemed natural to make what she loved, which means cow-related jewelry for the most part. Her website Cow Art and More features the work of about 25 artists who also produce art and giftware for the bovine-inclined of the world. About half of those artists live on farms or ranches, so they have a direct connection with the theme.
Cow art is definitely a niche – and we love niche marketing! Kathy has great tips on how artists can grab more market share for their work by using some smart strategies to reach their targeted audience. Her opinion is that all artists have a niche, even though they may not realize it. Is your niche a theme, a medium, or a process? Then you have fans out there who are crazy about what you do. Your job is to find ways to reach out to them and promote your work.
Kathy recommends:
- Start with who you know. If you create work in a niche that you know and love well (like those cow artists who are living on farms and ranches), you are in a community of like-minded people. This is your first network. Let friends, relatives and neighbors know what you are doing, and reach out to them with your art, to help spread the word. And word-of-mouth is about the best recommendation you can get!
- Cross-promote with other artists. Yes, your niche has other people in it who create art and other wonderful things. Get to know them and create a strategic alliance where you can each refer business to the other. That’s one of the ideas behind Cow Art and More. Kathy’s frequent newsletters to her fans celebrate the gallery openings, awards and other news of her artists. They in turn direct traffic to her fun website which has everything a cow lover could ever want.
- Network like you’re trying to infiltrate the mob. Yes, that’s a quote. Kathy’s plan is to approach a group or organization within your niche in an authentic way. Show them that you are truly interested in what they care about. Build rapport and start relationships with those who respond to you. Eventually you can share your art with them, and since you are right up their alley, you will most likely get a very warm response. Which means you’ve successfully infiltrated!
- Give and you shall receive. She shared a story of how she spread the word about partnering with organizations which promote the future of farming. A big industry publication picked up on it and contacted her for an interview. Thousands of dollars in sales later, she is still raving about the tremendous boost in publicity and revenue that came due to her support of good causes.
Cow Art and More is currently seeking more work from artists in the US, Canada and the UK who are interested in joining her in offering a barn full of wonderful cow products to raving cow fans everywhere.
Featured Artist Cathy Hunt
Jan 8th
Artsy Shark presents the portfolio of featured artist and watercolorist Cathy Hunt. Enjoy her inspired colors and soft compositions, and see more of her work here.
What are your goals?
I love working with color and texture which is what motivates me to create art. But I am also very interested in product development. I am currently developing a line of scarves that feature my abstract watercolors.
I am exploring other ways to incorporate my art into products, as well as seeking opportunities to license my art. An ongoing goal of mine is to keep a good balance between creating my art and marketing my art.
What are you working on now?
I just returned from a trip to Italy and I am so inspired to start a new series of watercolors based on the texture and colors of the buildings in Venice. I fell in love with all the ancient, weathered walls and window shutters in beautiful pinks, corals, ochres, and earthy grays and browns. I have just started mixing my palette and I am excited to get started.
What inspires you?
Color. Texture. Shape. It is the focus of everything I create. I like to surround myself with beautiful things and I find my inspiration in a variety of sources.
This can include trends that catch my eye in home decor, textiles and fashion, things I clip out of magazines, sights I see in my travels, and, of course, the pure beauty of the outdoors.
Why I Closed My Studio
Jan 6th
By Carolyn Edlund
I’ve been reminded lately of why I closed my studio – and painfully so. The joint in the thumb of my right hand is so sore that grasping even small things is uncomfortable, and turning a doorknob is agony. The arthritis in the base of my thumb is the latest remnant of a life spent in repetitive motion, during long hours in the studio using my hands as tools. Three years ago, the joint in my left thumb was replaced. After a few cortisone shots, the right one will probably be under the knife in the next year or so.
I closed my studio more than ten years ago. Besides general burnout from traveling all over the country flying to trade shows and driving to retail shows, my body had begun to give out. Twenty years of studio work. Leaning forward to paint and do close-up work, and hauling 50 lb. boxes of clay, tents and exhibit equipment had caused a lot of back and neck pain and sciatica. I knew my chiropractor on a first-name basis. And even though I’d hired studio assistants, the damage was done.
During my college years, a book came out that got a lot of students talking. It was called “Artist Beware.” Our chain-smoking ceramics instructor, who already had emphysema at the time, referred to it and called our attention to the dangers of silicosis and breathing dangerous fumes. We all had respirators; thank God I started out in my own studio with some safety gear. But I still wonder.
These days I see other artists are concerned about breathing toxic fumes, and the side-effects of solvents, which can be career-changing. I don’t blame them.
And so, after a couple of decades in the business, I decided to pack it in. In late summer of 2001, I started applying for jobs, thinking that it would take several months to get one. To my surprise, I was hired very quickly as a rep for an art publishing company. I had planned to go out of business at the end of that year, so I rounded up my studio helpers and parceled out the rest of our wholesale orders for them to complete while I started my new career.
On September 13, 2001, two days after the towers fell, I walked through an eerily silent airport and boarded a nearly empty, heavily-guarded airplane to San Francisco for job training during a watershed moment for my country and for myself.
It wasn’t a tough decision, at the end. I knew I was finished in the studio. We’d talked it over endlessly, and I have never regretted it. I had met not only my goals, but some great friends as well. I still see some of them and fondly remember others. But things had changed, and I needed to move on to the next chapter in my life. It was time to close the studio.
Featured Artist Leah Jay
