Our definition is someone who has chosen to create through an artistic medium and to craft a lifestyle. Today’s artists must be entrepreneurs and wear multiple hats – creators, marketers, managers, and businesspeople. Only a few artists reach the point of selling enough art to provide a steady income.
Art brings us joy, inspires us, and fosters our creativity. It’s worth considering the challenges of sustaining work and artistic passion. Artists/creators can be taken for granted and not always supported in their efforts. Learning more about what it takes for artists to share their creative talents can increase our appreciation of their work.
Artist Shaney Watters, a member of Over the Moon Gallery and Quorum Gallery in Laguna Beach, explained that being a working artist takes a lot of balancing between making art in her studio and wearing her selling art hat.
“It’s work to keep all the pieces together from social media, doing shows, creating inventory lists, maintaining gallery relationships, and even bookkeeping and tax time,” said Watters. “It’s an amorphous career, and it isn’t 9 to 5. Some days, I’ll go into the studio for hours and not succeed. I may hate what I did and start over the next time. I always learn something, but that doesn’t mean I get closer to finishing, and those hours are gone. It’s what I love about creating, but it makes it hard.”
While many artists would feel it a luxury to be able to paint/sculpt/build/draw, more must be done to garner success. They often must choose what to create. The work they find personally fulfilling isn’t always the same as what their buyers purchase.
Watters believes this is one of the many challenges of working artists. “I have decided not to alter what I paint to increase my sales. It must be me first. I don’t feel comfortable selling something that isn’t good in my eyes. When things don’t sell, this can be disheartening- ing, but I’m willing to accept the rejections and failures to be true to my art.”
For their art to be discovered, artists must promote, including having and maintaining a website, creating content, posting regularly on social media, attending art fairs, and networking with galleries.
Watters turns to art shows to help promote her work. She participates in several a year, looking for events that bring art lovers rather than just the general public. Doing shows can be costly in terms of time and money, but she sees their value.
“I consider shows a long game as far as selling my work. I may do a show, meet the customers, and sell nothing. If I have a good crowd and lots of interactions, I consider it a success, even if my sales are not great,” said Watters. “Many times, I’ll hear from a customer months down the road regarding a particular piece or even a commission.”
Creating and selling art requires an ability to navigate the art market. This includes knowledge of pricing, negotiating, managing inventory, and sales. All this takes away precious time from creating art.
Fortunately, many artists find ways around these challenges and still make art for us through collaboration with others, staying resilient, and prioritizing time to create and hone their work. This is done through dedication and hard work.
Hats off to our artists! We acknowledge and appreciate them for the value they bring to our lives.
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Categories: Arts, Local Business, Local News
Starting from the null hypothesis, art is not copying other works of art using an overhead projector and it is not tracing over others drawings. Art is not stating to others “I am an artist. Skill coupled with the rare ex nihilo moment creates art. The artist is a person who creates something not seen before but has always been there.