In the Art Marketing Minute Podcast, you’ll learn how to sell your art, how to market your paintings, and everything else you need to know in order to have a successful art career. Each episode answers questions from artists by host Eric Rhoads, author of “Make More Money Selling Your Art,” publisher of several art magazines and newsletters, and author of ArtMarketing.com. 

In this Art Marketing Minute, Eric Rhoads explains how to find the right society or group to fit your style; and if artists should have any direct contact with collectors when working with an art gallery.

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 101 >

 

Submit Your Art Marketing Question:

What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

FULL TRANSCRIPT of the Art Marketing Minute:
DISCLAIMER: The following is the output of a transcription from an audio recording of the Art Marketing Minute. Although the transcription is mostly correct, in some cases it is slightly inaccurate due to the recording and/or software transcription.

Announcer:
This is the Art Marketing Minute with Eric Rhoads, author of the Amazon best selling book, “Make More Money Selling Your Art.” In the marketing minute we answer your questions to help your art career brought to you by artmarketing.com, the place to go to learn more about marketing. Now, here’s your host, arts magazine publisher, Eric Rhoads.

Eric Rhoads:

In the marketing minute I try to answer your marketing questions. You can email me, [email protected] with your questions like this one from Dylan, in Homer Alaska, what if it’s getting cold up there yet? Dylan says, I feel like I should network with other artists more? How do I find the right society or the group for me and my style? Well, Dylan, you’re right, you should, that’s a good thing. There’s tremendous value in networking with others, no matter what you’re doing. But it’s fun, it’s nice to know others around you, it’s nice to know that they have the same challenges you have, they may paint differently than you do. But that’s okay, because you’re going to learn something from everybody you meet. And they will stimulate your ideas, they’ll give you critiques and instruction. And it’s just nice to be part of something bigger part of a community. Now, I’m not very active in the local community here in Austin, Texas. I know a lot of people here, but I just don’t have a lot of time because I travel so much. But I do have my own Paint group on Wednesday nights when I’m in town. And everybody comes over to the studio. And it’s my chance for local networking. And it’s great because I hear things that are going on, I feel like a part of the community. And then you know, if like, I’m struggling with something, I could say, what would you do here with this, with this year, usually I bring a model into the studio. So it’s my form of networking. So I learned a lot from them. And I kind of created that myself. So in Homer, Alaska, if you can’t find anybody, and I’m sure there’s lots of artists there. But if you can’t start digging around, find, you know, start your own thing, go to the local art supply place, if there is one, I assure there is and post something, you know, on a bulletin board, maybe you look for something on Google or meetup or something, you’re gonna find them. People tell me all the time that they didn’t know other painters were around their area, and then they found them that connect to go painting together. I have a lot of fun. So if you haven’t got one, just start your own. That’s what it goes gets to do.

The next question is from Paul in Los Angeles. Paul talks, Paul says, I’ve heard many people say that the artist should never have contact with collectors, because that’s the galleries job. Is that true? Well, the galleries job is to help you your job is to help them. Is it true? Well, I’ll probably get some arrows through my head for answering this one. But it depends on who you ask. Right? Some gallery people will tell you absolutely. We want artists engaged. Others will tell you no, they don’t. It depends on the individual gallery owners and they have their reasons. And usually the reason is because they’ve been burned with some kind of a problem in the past. And artists doing something inappropriate, saying something inappropriate going around them, etc. But let me tell you this, a gallery owner once said to me that she had an opening invited a bunch of artists that were in the show, and instead of mingling well with the collectors, and sometimes that’s why they come to meet the artists. They all got drunk and loud and didn’t engage with other people. And one actually got so loud and so drunk that she was embarrassed and later fired that artists from the gallery. Now, the artist told me about this. And he said, Well, that’s my persona. You know, I’m a creative an artist, he said, but it turned him off and I got fired. Yep, happens. I’ve been to hundreds of art openings. And I’ve seen every imaginable horror story of inappropriate behavior. Somebody saying telling a dirty joke to a mixed crowd and and you know, somebody who’s about to buy a painting and gets disgusted and turns away. I watched an artist come on to a beautiful woman. It turned out to be a collectors wife. Not a good idea, really bad stuff. So it’s no wonder they want them to stay away in some cases. Once an artist told her I heard about had the guts to undermine a gallery the artist told the collector that he met at the gallery opening that he’d give him a better price if the painting had not sold by the end of the week. Well, how foolish was that? The guy probably would have bought it but instead, he decided to wait nobody else bought it. He contacted the guy or the artist context of the guy tried to sell it the guy was ethical and said, I’m going to call the gallery owner and gallery owner fire the artist. You just can’t do stuff like that. gallery owners need to see you as a partner to help them sell, to create create publicity to make people feel good about your work and the work in the gallery. My gallery held a reception for me recently sold two paintings during the reception. They weren’t my paintings either, but I had pointed out to a collector a couple of paintings that I really like loved, and they bought those. How cool is that? You know, may I hope another artists would do that for me someday, your gallery can tell you how they want you to be, how they want you to act, what they want you to wear, how they want you to behave, you know, you have to decide if you want to participate in that. And if not, you should probably stay away. Now, some artists are really good at interacting with collectors. They know how to be engaging and appropriate how to be tasteful, others are not good at it. Jon Stewart said that, you know, he was good at buttering people up right. So some galleries keep artists far away because they hurt sales. The key is knowing having an open dialogue and being trustworthy having a discussion with a gallery. Be a trusted partner, you’re not there to party. You’re there in a professional capacity to help them sell, be professional. I hope that helps.

Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me. Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists to help your dreams actually come true. So if you want to submit questions, simply email [email protected]. And to learn more about marketing ideas, you can visit Artmarketing.com. Thanks for listening.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

> Visit EricRhoads.com (Publisher of ArtMarketing.com) to learn about opportunities for artists and art collectors, including:

  • Art retreats
  • International art trips
  • Art conventions
  • Art workshops (in person and online)
  • And more!