These have been dark days in the art world. Artists everywhere are trying to find some limelight. For these artists as well as their patrons, art shows are like beacons shining in the night.
Art shows are the only times that the public can see artists' works other than at museums and peoples homes or offices. For artists, shows are such critically important marketing tools that many artists on Vashon Island often ask me for advice when it comes time for their own shows. They know that I have a 'global' perspective on the art market based on my own experiences as an illustrator selling limited edition giclée prints in galleries, and as the proprietor of Vashon Island Imaging, a fine-arts printing and publishing company. Their questions generally fall into three categories:
1.) What to show
2.) How to show it
3.) What to charge
What to show is probably the easiest question to answer... only show your very best. A show is a strong as its weakest picture. Better to show only a few than to load it up with less than your best (a common mistake).
Go through the show space and plan your work selection to coincide with the physical possibilities and any special opportunities. Size your pieces to fit into specific spots on the walls. Here on Vashon I just finished a show at a Books By The Way, which featured extra-wide panoramas over the book cases. However our current show at the Vashon Intuitive Arts center is 90% verticals because of their unique room layouts with lots of old-fashioned windows chopping up the wall space.
If your show is in a special location try to find subject matter that coincides. Last year I had a show at an Indian restaurant and at it presented only illustrations of India.
Try to have a variety of colors. I always include a picture that is primarily blue, and others that are red/yellow, orange and green. That is because some people like one color and others another and most want their art to 'go with the couch'.
From research at Ikea (where I was 'allowed' into their sales computer for 1/2 hour last year) I discovered that the two most popular sizes are 30 X 50 centimeters (about 12 X 18 inches) and 50 X 70 centimeters ( roughly 20 X 30 inches). The most popular subjects are landscapes, seascapes, flowers, abstracts and monuments like the Eiffel Tower and Statue of Liberty.
The Ikea statistics are geared to Ikea customers, of course... young people starting new households. They are a great target audience because older people have already collected so much art they have no wall space left (for them, think miniatures).
Half of my own illustration work is aimed at urbane. My target buyer has a 1,000 square foot condo in Vancouver's, is between 30 and 45 and on the way up, and drives a Tesla or other hot car. These people have money to burn and they fully embrace artworks made from 'New Media'.
The other half of my artwork is aimed at the local Vashon market, which is entirely different. My style and giclée art in general doesn't sell well on Vashon actually because there are so many traditionalists who have a grudge against New Media anything. In their mindset these (generally old) people feel that if it isn't made with traditional media (oils, pastels, watercolors, etc.) it isn't art. However they are a dying breed being replaced by young retirees with a more modern take on art. For those more enlightened patrons I produce works that bear the Vashon brand in one way or another... a flower picture includes a local landmark in the background, for example. Localizing scenes really helps sell pieces. Every local has it's equivalent on the Empire State Building. Here on Vashon we have our Point Robinson Light House (pictured above).
To summarize, the work you show should be your best work which is appropriate to the locale where it is being shown and the intended audience.
How to show your art is of course dependent on your esthetic and the ability of your prospective patrons to buy and show it. We'd all love to have big framed versions of our work hanging in shows but that may not be the best way to go these days.
At Vashon Island Imaging the most popular presentation is called 'gallery wrap' which most people know has the picture wrapping around the edges of the canvas stretcher, stapled on the back side instead of the edges. This presentation style does not require frames which saves the typical customer a small fortune. I have always found it ironic that frames often cost more than the art they contain.
That said, frames can add a lot to the total look and value of a piece. However a related problem is frame style. As the artist you have your own ideas about what is 'right' ...but your customers will probably not agree. Why do you think there are so many frame-type samples at framing shops? People spend hours agonizing over which frame to choose... seems harder than choosing the art sometimes.
Gallery wrap stretching techniques are just one of the thirteen steps to producing giclée art that are described in my book Giclée Prepress - The Art of Giclée.
Although frequently less expensive than framing, canvas stretching can still be costly. I am amazed at how much frame shops charge for this most elementary of services.
We have a customer in Alberta, Canada who ordered two very large giclées of my illustrations. One was a 60 X 40 and the other a 96 X 18. We sent the canvases rolled for local stretching (at the customer's request). Then a desperate email arrived asking for help... the local frame shop in Canada wanted $350 to stretch one and even more for the other. 'Wow', I said to myself... 'I better move back to Canada if I want to get rich'. At Vashon Island Imaging we charge $5.00 a linear foot so the most expensive of those two would have cost $95 (96 X 18 = 19 linear feet). We make money on that price so you can imagine the profit at that Alberta frame shop!
The other 'problem' with gallery wrap is that it requires a more considerable portion of the picture and canvas to be 'wasted' for the wrap. Further, many artists don't take the wrap into consideration when making their pictures. If it's a giant print there's probably enough picture to make the wrap without impinging on the total image in a significant way. But smaller pieces can suffer badly giving up picture area for gallery wrapping. For these situations we offer 'Faux Wrap' at Vashon Island Imaging. A sliver of the picture area is copied and stretched to fill the wrap zone. How this is done is described in detail in the book. I do it all the time with my own work, especially older pieces that I made long before the giclée printing process ever existed.
Obviously you can't really 'wrap' paper giclée prints... so you are back to framing, or mounting on any number of substrates. These methods are also described in the book but are also familiar to most artists already so I won't bother going into them here and now.
However one way of presenting paper or canvas giclées that is popular and relatively inexpensive is done by using large bulldog clips to attach the giclées to Foamcore ®, Astrofoam ®, Gator Board ®, Sintra ® and/or other substrates. The picture below called Stargazers shows how the clip arrangement looks.
The way we hang them is to tack two very thin brads to the ceiling molding. From those the piece is hung by two 'mono- filament' (invisible) fishing lines (we use 20lb.test fishing line unless it is a much heavier piece like a 10-footer for which we'd up the test to 50-pound strength).
It's a clean and simple look that presents the canvas (or paper print) and places the decision about how to stretch or frame the art in the hands of the customer, where it belongs.
Size is another consideration. Remember that at IKEA the top selling sizes are 12 X 18 and 20 X 24 inches. Makes sense since most buyers there live in smaller homes, condos or apartments. More affluent shoppers with larger digs don't dig IKEA. Who are your customers? Here on Vashon most artists are making 'miniatures' and shows of these little masterpieces are very popular at the Blue Heron Art Center, Heron's Nest, Silverwood Gallery and other galleries here on Vashon Island.
On the other hand, knowing that giclées are considered 'second class citizens' in the Vashon art world I go to the other extreme and concentrate on making big ones that will only fit in rich peoples' homes. I am not interested in small money when it comes to my own illustrations... I get enough of that at the printing company. That said, my prices are lower than most... so my patrons get nice big pieces at even nicer small prices. The question you should ask yourself is, 'how much wall space do my customers have and what sizes will fit?'
If you are making a limited edition, consider creating an 'S' class for 'Special' sizes. My own editions are made up of five or six 'standard sizes' and an open class that allows customers to order pictures in the sizes they want but still 'fit' in a limited edition.
The size of the edition impacts the perceived value in the eyes of shoppers. Make your edition sizes as small as possible to get the money you need out of the picture. An edition of 6 pieces is way better than 16 or 60.The best marketing tool is a sold out edition! That pushes demand and sales for your other work. In my case editions are set at 44 and these days 23 of those are reserves for the 'S' class. Furthermore, sizes below 20 inches on the long side are generally left out of the edition.
Finally, what to write on the little labile next to each piece that states its name and price. The name of the piece is easy... finding the right price may be harder. Here are some suggestions and a little theory to boot:
As artists we always over-value our work. What matters is the value perceived by the intended customer.
When I make a new illustration I unceremoniously leave a print of it on display in the studio and wait to see if it catches peoples' eyes. Those who notice it are asked, 'how much would you like to pay for it?'. Opinions don't involve money so most folks will be 'kind' to you and give you a figure that is too high... about 33% too high usually.
You have to ask yourself, 'do I really want to sell this?' Many artists say they do but really don't and one way to succeed at that is to keep your prices high. But if you really want to sell you have to go for the values that customers perceive in your work.
To establish a 'floor' for your pricing, consider your living costs. Every business and household has an annual operating cost. You need to get that amount of money within the year to survive. Now, how many pieces can you make during the year? By doing the math you will eventually come up with an hourly 'fee' that your work needs to earn to keep you afloat financially. The realism you apply to this math is important for you (and your customers).
Let's say you need to earn $50 an hour and a piece takes you 10 hours... that piece needs to generate $500 to pay its way. Depending on where you live, $500 might be a lot for a typical customer... it sure is here on Vashon Island despite the million dollar haciendas you see going up all over.
The picture called Vashon Christmas Snow (above) provides an example. By itself it generates lots of interest on the Island just because of its subject... the annual Christmas Tree in the Village Square. I featured it at our studio open house during the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour, which we participate in every December and May. A gallery-wrapped 20X20-inch giclée was on positioned on a display tripod with pride of place in the showroom. Discounting the price-opinion polling results by 33% (most people said $150 when asked) arrived at a selling price of $95. At that low price we thought prints would fly out the door. How wrong we were. In the end I reduced the price to $75 and sold three.
Since we are the printing company we could sell Vashon Christmas Snow at that low price because we can produce it extra cheap. In fact, these days I sell my own illustrations at printing cost + 25%. If I need to make $500 from a piece, I turn it into a limited edition of 5 at $100 each. It is easier to find five $100 customers than one $500 buyer. Even though you may not print your own work, you can still apply these principles.
Next time you decide to shine some light on your work at an art show, a little 'due diligence' in the way of market and location research can pay for itself in extra sales. It's a question of showing the right thing to the right people at the right time... giving them something they desire at a price that is compatible with their own perception of your work's value.
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