Artsy Shark
A Site for Emerging Artists
Be S.M.A.R.T. about your Art Business
Sep 19th
Artsy Shark is pleased to present a guest blog article written by Aletta de Wal, a career coach and consultant. Her company Artist Career Training has helped many emerging artists plan and execute strategies to build their businesses and put their careers on the fast track! Aletta de Wal inspires fine artists to make a better living making art in any economy. She makes art marketing easier and the business of art simpler.
- Please join me on a FREE teleconference call with Aletta coming up in October.
- ART MARKETING Q & A – Use Marketing Effectively to Grow Your Business!
- October 13, 2010, at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time
- Register HERE to join us and be part of the conversation!
- Aletta de Wall
Be S.M.A.R.T. about your Art Business
New Year’s resolutions typically fizzle out as fast as the champagne bubbles from the holiday celebrations. You will get more lasting results from a little planning.
It helps to have a system. Artists in the A.C.T. Community learn how to set S.M.A.R.T. goals to focus their business instincts. The acronym S.M.A.R.T. describes how to write your goals so that you have a better chance of succeeding. Each letter directs you to one of the five elements of getting things done.
Just follow the template and soon you will get the hang of it.
| Write S.M.A.R.T. Goals | ||
| S | = Specific | Set your intention and describe precisely what you will do; |
| M | = Measurable | Decide how you will know you have been successful; |
| A | = Attainable | Stretch your comfort zone but not too far that you scare yourself; |
| R | = Realistic | Assess whether you have the skills and the resources required; |
| T | = Timed | Set a time frame to take these actions and review your results. |
Three Rewards to reap for your efforts
Writing S.M.A.R.T. goals has its own rewards, aside from creating a way to manage your year.
- You increase your results. You find previously overlooked opportunities to bring yourself closer to the achievement of your goals.
- You decrease your distractions. You filter out activities, obstacles and people who do not support your desired direction.
- You increase your confidence and your competence. You develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to achieve what you want. Nothing reinforces your motivation better than getting results.
Three Mistakes to avoid a planning hangover
Every system has the possibility of “operator error.”
- Setting goals beyond your abilities or resources. Being impatient acts like retardant and slows your progress on all counts. What’s worse is that you usually berate yourself for not achieving them even though they were unachievable in the first place.
- Setting goals too low for your career stage. Playing safe sends you (and others) the message that you aren’t very capable or confident.
Growth requires “stretch” goals. - Setting goals without scheduling action. Without an end point, the commitment is too vague. It tends not to happen because you feel you can start at any time. Nothing is achieved without action.
Research has proven that it really does help to write down what you want to achieve. Make sure to add enough sizzle to make it worth giving up chocolate, shopping or whatever else distracts you. Put in enough sensory details that your artist mind can enjoy the process of mining your resolutions for goals. And remember to monitor your progress – it’s half the fun of getting there.
Here’s to your success!
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Featured Artist Jason Woodson
Sep 17th
Artsy Shark presents the work of artist Jason Woodson. He describes himself as an “Anglo-austral-african-american artist, which is a hyphenated way of saying I was born in New York, raised in Australia and am now a citizen of the United Kingdom.” See more of his work by visiting his website.
Through my work I attempt to examine the complexities of our shared sexual and racial identities as a means to explore my own self-portrayal. What began as a personal journey, my own looking glass if you will, has translated into images of complex sexuality and at times rage, yet through employing familiar imagery allows for a greater connection between minority and majority, the marginal and the mainstream.
While my work is spread across many different types of media, my methodology remains the same. I enjoy deconstructing the overlapping mythologies of the places that I have called home. Through my exploration of the American Dream, the British Commonwealth and their shared histories, faerie tales and urban legends, I am able to come to a greater understanding of my own idiosyncratic view of the world and the way in which it has shaped my identity, both sexually and as an ethnic minority.
The audience’s interpretation of my work is as important to me as the original concept, as I believe that a work of art is not something that exists in its own right, but is brought to life through interaction. As such I often embellish my work with text from poems, songs and advertising slogans, in effort to provide clues and create conflict within an image.
Primarily of late I have been working in the field of photography, as I find the immediacy of the medium quite exciting. Photography has a mythology all its own and although we live in the world of retouching and Photoshop, generally speaking we still believe a photo never lies.
I have exhibited work in solo and group shows in the US, Australia, Europe and Asia. I have work in private collections around the world and have been featured in both print and digital media, such as Pink Mince, LightLeaks, Spank!, GT, Attitude, QX and Boyz. I divide my time between my homes in London and Barcelona with my boyfriend, our dog and a wealth of Apple products.
Yoda Teaches Art Marketing
Sep 14th
- Artwork courtesy Matt Sterbenz
By Carolyn Edlund
Yes, it’s true. Yoda is a little creepy. Practically hairless, with rubbery skin, all-knowing eyes and about two feet tall, he is definitely on the wrong side of cute. But this 900-year-old alien guru has some timeless advice which artists can use to stay on course and grow their businesses.
“Do or do not. There is no try.”
You can talk about it. You can think about it. But until you actually do it, nothing gets accomplished. “Trying” doesn’t count. This applies to producing work in your studio, getting a cohesive body of work together, having it professionally photographed, and promoting yourself and your art. Until that is done, you aren’t selling work and moving your career forward. If you want to be successful, you have to take action.
It doesn’t matter if you haven’t ever promoted yourself before, or if you are introverted, shy or petrified. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but nobody else is judging you – they are all too worried about themselves to be aware of the fact that it’s a leap for you to engage in marketing. Make a commitment and get started, using the many resources out there to guide you, and make a splash. Sure you’ll make mistakes, but that’s how you will learn. Just do it. (Oh, wait, that’s not Yoda, that’s Nike!)
“Size matters not.”
Yoda knows the internet is “the great equalizer,” which means that even though you are a small company of, say, one person, you can have an online presence that is so professional, you rival the big companies. And best of all, being a smart, creative, and artistic person gives you a major edge at making your website look totally appealing.
It also matters not that you might be a little technically challenged, because there are talented webmasters available who are able to help you get a killer website designed to present your art to the universe. Shop around and find someone you can really work with and who shares your vision, and get started on the website of your dreams. Present your work to its best advantage, as if you are applying to the greatest art exhibition in the world – because you are!
“Always in motion is the future”
Life is about change, and change is always happening. If you want to be successful in selling your work, keep Yoda’s sage advice in mind, and never stop learning about ways that you can promote and sell your art. Markets, trends and opportunities are always evolving and improving. Read as much as you can from the experts to track what’s new, and choose those methods that work best for your business.
“May the Force Be with You”
Once you throw yourself out into the online universe, and persistently make connections through social networking, linking and contributing to the conversation, your hard work will pay off and become a force of its own. This creates a “buzz” about you and your work, and you will start seeing results. Compliment your virtual efforts by networking in person the old-fashioned way, using proven methods to stay in front of your audience, and taking advantage of every opportunity. Stay on the cutting edge with your marketing efforts and blast your art sales into hyperspace!
Digital painting of Yoda by Matt Sterbenz. He can be reached at matt_sterbenz@yahoo.com
Featured Artist George Teseleanu
Sep 13th
Artsy Shark presents the collage work of emerging artist, George Teseleanu. His fascinating portfolio can be seen on his page at Deviant Art.
My name is Teseleanu George and I’m a young artist from the Eastern European country, Romania. Currently, I’m a master student at the Faculty of Mathematics.
My art style is collage and my influences come from the Surreal, Dada and Cubism art movements. The reason why I chosen collage, is that although I don’t draw or paint, it allows me to express myself and to give a form to my imagination.
My long term goals are to perfect myself as an artist and to spread my imagination to the world. I don’t sell my works, mostly because I have worked so hard on them and I feel that I have left a part of me in them.
Art Website Basics – What Every Artist Should Know!
Sep 11th
Artsy Shark is pleased to present guest blogger John R. Math. He is a successful art marketing consultant who helps artists market and brand their art and themselves. John approaches art as a business and strives to get other artists to do this as well. He is also the owner of www.lightspacetime.com online art gallery, which holds monthly themed art competitions and the winners are promoted with a group exhibition in the following month.
Today, an artist must have a well designed website in order to present their art work to prospects, gallery owners and other interested parties. At the minimum, an artist website should provide to the viewer a sample of the artist’s art, an overview of their experience and their contact information.
Because of the overwhelming amount of artists who want to be represented by art galleries or who want to sell their art on their own, they must have a website that is easy to navigate and that will load quickly. If a visitor to their website requires too many “clicks” to a slow in loading and difficult to navigate website, the artist will risk losing that visitor.
Though an art website is the beginning of the selling process, a poorly designed and ineffective website can stop a prospect from investigating that artist’s work further. A professional artist website should have the following 10 basics for a visitor to evaluate whether they want additional information about the artist, their art work and experience;
- Biography: An artist should have a summary of experience that will provide to the reader, at a quick glance, an overview of the artist’s education, experience, awards and honors. In addition this area would detail any related art experience and finally any article/publishing experience that the artist may have had
- Artist Statement: The artist should have a statement that will explain in a concise manner what their artwork means to them and their reasons for creating their artwork. Always, this information should be presented in plain English and in non-technical artistic terms to the reader.
- Gallery or Portfolio: This area of the website is the most important section for the viewer. The artist should not overload this section with too much art work, but rather it should have a good representation of their overall work which demonstrates their artistic skills. The images should load quickly and if the artist is selling on their own, pricing should be listed.
- Representation: The artist should detail any current galleries, individuals and firms who represent them. This section has a two-fold purpose of letting the viewer know where they can see the artist’s work in person, but it also subliminally states to the viewer that there are other professionals who think that their art is worthy. It is a form of a third party endorsement of their art work.
- Contact Information: Believe it or not, I see artists who omit this information on their websites! At the very least, an artist should provide, street address, telephone number and email address. In addition, provide, IM, fax and any secondary means of contacting the artist. Search engines like addresses! If possible, have the contact and address information in several areas on the website. This will help with the artist’s page rank.
- Lead Capture: Have a section in the website or better yet, in a sidebar that appears on all pages for a viewer to sign up for additional information, newsletter, blog, mailing list, future shows etc. Make it easy for the viewer to do this too, otherwise most people will not make the effort to contact you on their own.
- Social Media: The artist should provide links to various social media sites that they belong to and communicate through. In addition to providing the viewer with additional means to communicate with the artist, Social Media provides a means for the artist to develop and build their brand. At the very least, the artist should be promoting their art work on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin.
- Press Releases & News: Any news of interest should be posted and showcased for any viewers to the website. This information can be about a gallery opening, sale of artwork or a donation of artwork to a local charity event. There are many free Press Release sites that artists can use to do this. These PR sites are looking for newsworthy information, not full out promotional pieces.
- Links of Interest: Links should be industry related (not personal family and friend’s links). Links can include galleries where the artist has shown their art in the past, suppliers, museums and art related websites. When linking to someone, it is wise to always contact them and inform them that you are linking and the artist should always ask for a reciprocal link back to the artist website. Websites also get ranked based on the amount and the quality of backlinks.
- Blog/Newsletter: If the artist has a blog or newsletter that is industry related (and the artist should have this to help drive traffic to their website) this should be included with any reprints or at least links to these publications.
Overall, these are the most important sections that an artist should have for their art website. If their current website does not have the capacity to allow the artist to have this information, then they should find a website hosting firm that can provide this. Speaking of web hosting, the artist should have a URL named after themselves. This makes it easy for any prospects, art galleries and any interested parties to find the artist on the internet. If the artist’s website is with a package hosting/website company, then they should spend the extra money to register their name separately for their URL name too.
One other critical component that an artist should have is Google Analytics. This is a free service that you can have a with a free Google account. Google Analytics will show the artist exactly where their website traffic is coming from (search, links & direct traffic), how many visitors are new vs. how many are returning, what keywords are being used to find the website, what page they were on when they entered the website, how much time they spent on the site and provide to the website owner with an overall analysis of who their viewers are. Google explains in simple terms how a website owner can use this information to their advantage and how to fine tune their website and presentation for more traffic. Remember, this is free information that is provided by Google.
Besides the quality of their art, an artist website is one of the most important elements that an artist can have when it comes to showcasing, promoting and presenting their art. The website should be designed well for the viewer to evaluate the artist’s artwork and conversely, it should be designed for the artist to be able to evaluate who and why they are interested in the artist’s work.
Featured Artist Julia Hacker
