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check it out at

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Art Marketing – Part 2

Having an online presence is extremely important for artists who want to advertise their work and expand their patron base.  Using the web effectively to showcase your artwork can be an extraordinary marketing tool.  The following article was done in collaboration with Glenda Williams, a Graphic Designer and Fine Artist.   Here are some things to keep in mind as you set up your website:

 

-Make sure your web address is easy to spell and remember.  This will help avoid confusion and sending people to somebody else’s website.
-Put your website info on all of your printed documents and link to it on your myspace, facebook and twitter pages.  You’ll also want to add the web address to your email signature.
-Keep your website design a little neutral – you don’t want your website to compete with your artwork.  Have you ever visited a website that was too busy or the colors were too loud?  Your website should enhance the artwork, not distract the viewer from it.
-Think Simplicity – you don’t want your website to be difficult for visitors to navigate through. Keep things simple, post relevant information & directions, and your web visitors will enjoy their time looking through your work.
-Make sure that the photos of your work are top notch.  If you don’t have a good camera (10 mega pixels or more), you may want to look into hiring a photographer to capture your imagery for you.  If you can’t afford a photographer right now, maybe you can exchange artwork for photographs or set up a payment schedule.
-List your prices clearly on your website and make sure that your pricing is the same no matter where your artwork is.  For example, if a gallery is showing a painting of yours that is $400.00, make sure that it’s listed for the same price on your website.  If not, it has the appearance that you’re competing with the gallery, which will send mixed messages to the patron and the gallery.  Keep prices consistent, unless you are having a sale, and if you are, then make sure that the sale is well noted.
-Update your website with new work as often as possible.
-Once a painting sells, mark it as sold on the website, but don’t take down the pic.  Having an online history of your work will help you and your viewers to see the progression of your talent and themes over time.
-Have a special section that’s just about you and keep it updated.  This section can contain your artist resume or bio, personal info, info about your imagery and upcoming events.
-If you have a links page, you may want to check each link periodically to make sure that they’re all good and remove the ones that may not be working.
-Don’t forget to list your contact info on your website, such as an email address or cell number, but for safety purposes, please don’t list your home address.
-Web Crawlers (aka “spiders”) are sent out by search engines over the internet.  A web crawler is an automated computer program that browses the world wide web for the purpose of indexing websites to include in their search results.  Make sure your home page includes a brief description of yourself and your business, so it will be easier for your website to be categorized.  The text on your home page is where the crawlers look for relevant keywords – and how they come up with a description of your website to place under the link on the search results page.  Your web designer can add “meta tags”, which are search keywords that are hidden in the HTML code – but, the web crawlers are smart… if the “meta tags” don’t match any of the text on your home page, the keywords will most likely be ignored and won’t help to improve your search ranking.
-Improve your website’s search ranking by getting other quality websites to link to your website.  Your website will get visited more often and the web crawlers will take notice.  Ask other artists or art organizations to form partnership links with you (I’ll link to your website if you’ll link to mine…).
-If you have a “links” page on your site, ask your web designer to program those links to open a new browser window.  That way, when your visitor is finished looking at the other website, yours will still be open on their computer desktop, enticing them to go back and browse some more.
-Make sure your navigation buttons are on every page.  Don’t force your customers to hit the “back” button multiple times trying to find a link that will take them to another page! (More often than not, they will simply give up and try another website that’s easier to use.)
-Any elements on your web pages that are in constant movement (animated buttons, blinking text, etc) will draw the visitor’s eye away from what’s really important: your artwork.

Do you need a website, but don’t have a big budget?
You could hook up with graphic designer friend that would be willing to take monthly payments or exchange artwork for services rendered.

OR

Create a Myspace or Facebook account especially for your artwork.  Keep the layout design neutral/not busy and make sure that your artwork photos are good (in focus and cropped) and include the art info.  Example: “Oak Tree” 16×20, Oil on canvas $325.00

- Michelle McSpadden

Party at our offices

On Wednesday Night July 1st, we decided to throw a party at the artlovemagic offices. We’ve had a busy couple of months (8 events between May and June) and we decided it was time to kick back and celebrate our accomplishments.

The vibe in the room was incredible. About 30 people from all across the spectrum of folks who’ve been hanging with us showed up. We had a live acoustic music jam, interactive painting, a few poets, and even some live hip hop.

This was truly a wonderful night. Great people. Great times. Great shots by photographer Josh Dryk.

Delphi is back. The lovely songstress has been overseas for the last 8 months. This party was the first time most of her friends got to see her since landing ashore. Here she jams with Jaimie and Josh Reeves.

Jeff Kiec brought boards and paint for an urban art assualt project. We did spontaneous paintings with the intent of placing them around Deep Ellum – in spots that cry for art.

DJ Dean Dillenger and Joel Chappel jump into the interactive painting.

Mimo Moralle keeps the beat while Zach jams.
A lot of talent in this picture.

The room was packed. ArtLoveMagic is relational at it’s heart. This is the single best place to meet new friends I’ve ever encountered.

This is how we end up recording the history of artlovemagic. Local photographers (like Alexandra Harris) show up and take great shots.Thirty years from now I’m still going to be finding new pics from these days.

Local rapper IZK struggles to remember a line as Khalid beatboxes.
This rhyme, titled Quality Control, was wonderful. Really inspiring.

Almost looks like I know how to play that thing, don’t it?

How cool was it to see Delphi jam with Mimo?

Deb’s beautiful harmonies add a lot to the sound.

Thanks to everyone for coming out.
It’s good to be surrounded by this kind of energy.

For those who want to be part of something like this, reach out to david@artlovemagic.com and find out how to get involved behind the scenes at artlovemagic. David runs meetings almost every Wednesday night to help plan and manage our activities. Anyone who has a giving spirit is welcome.

post by Michael Lagocki
photos by Josh Dryk

ArtLoveMagic Entry Image: Loungin’ Around

High

Five!

The top photo is the orinal image used in creating the new entry for ArtLoveMagic.com. I totally dig this new entry image, and not because I worked on it. The original photo was taken by Jenice Johnson at our Father’s Day event which was located at located at the Egg & I in Addison. To end the night right Justin found me within the collection and told me to follow him. He does this often at our events and this usually leads to an interview or a photo op or something amazing is going on at our event and he wants to make sure that I get a chance to see it. I’m concerned about the day that will come when I blindly follow him, as I do, and he leads me to my doom. That will be a sad day. Anyway, this was a photo op. Michael and Serena were already comfortable on the ground. Justin joined in and I quickly got what we were trying to accomplish. Sherry decided to join us and Jenice began to shoot.

About a day after the event a collection of photos began appear on Jenice’s facebook account and this image was among them. This is ArtLoveMagic. We are gathering up amazing talent, we are rockin’ out shows, we are making an impact in our communities, we are sharing the love, and we’re doing it our way and enjoying every minute of it. That’s what this pic represents to me. As well, it is a great reminder of our amazing poet and dear friend, Serena Wills, who will be incredibly missed when she moves to DC (but she’ll be back for girlShow!)

When I told Jenice I wanted to use the image for an entry image, she expressed how she liked the image as well but was not happy that the linen we were resting on did not travel to the edges of the frame and mentioned her dislike of viewing the electrical plug within the shot. Hearing stuff like that makes me smile because I know I can fix those things with ease, and completely enjoy doing so. I will Photoshop that image up and down until it begs for mercy!

After that conversation I knew what she wanted me to fix but I knew I still needed to add some element within it in order for it to be ready for the site but I didn’t know what it might need. Then it hit me. I always try and add the text ”artlovemagic” into the image somehow. In this one I could make the letters appear as though they were physically in the shot . And presto. Now I’m smilin’. Thanks Jenice for taking a beautiful shot of us (btw, I’m the one in the white button down). I think it’s another awesome piece, really… I’m trying not to be egotistical about this. If you have a concept that you think might be cool, let me know at david@artlovemagic.com.

post by David Rodriguez

Art Marketing – Part 1

Since marketing is such a crucial element in building up any business, we’re going to explore a lot of ideas, so grab a cup of java and prop up your feet…this is a long post!

In order to sell your art, it has to be seen. (It’s all about Exposure!!)

Now is a good time to start thinking about what steps you can take to draw attention to your work.  Here are some marketing ideas to help get the word out that you have unique art for sale.

Business Cards – this is the first marketing tool you need to get.  You can start out with a simple business card if that is what your budget allows, or you can get more extravagant and incorporate images and fancier cardstock.  You can go to Kinko’s, hire a graphic artist, or design your business card yourself.  The business card has many uses beyond attracting prospective clientele…it can be used as price tag if you have pieces in an art show/festival OR you can throw it in business card bowls at restaurants around town and win free meals so that you won’t be mistaken as a starving artist.  When you start planning a design for your card, think outside the box and create something that will standout.  When I got my first business cards, money was a little tight and I opted for a simple and cheap design. Do what you can afford to do for now; and when you’re financially able, upgrade!!

(If you’re unable to buy business cards at this time, you can make half page flyers for yourself that contain all of your contact info, website info, etc., to hand out to people.)

Bookmarks are another creative way to get your name and images seen and into the hands of people.  You can do this by getting bookmarks made with 2 or more images of your work on them. Bookmarks are a great way for people to continually see your artwork as they’re reading their books, looking through their planner, etc.  You can hand them out to your friends, new people you meet and even leave them around town for people to pick up.  (Everyone loves free stuff they can use.)

Make a brochure.   This is another way to get examples of your imagery into the hands of prospective patrons.  Your brochure should contain 6-8 good quality, full color images, and info about your work, you and your creative process.

Make some postcards.  You can have the postcard made with one image, divided for two images or have a quadrant.  Please be sure to put all of your contact info on the back of the postcard.

If you don’t know what images to use for bookmarks, brochures, or postcards, you can host a little art dessert party for some of your closest friends and present them with several images to choose from and ask them to pick their top 3-4 choices.  This will help you to get some feedback and help make your decision making process a little easier.

Create your artist statement – which is a written statement by you about what your artwork represents and/or why you do it.  This should be 1-2 paragraphs long.

Create your artist bio – it should contain the year, date and city of your birth, your education or who you have studied with and your history in art.

Create your artist resume – this is a chronological list of where you have displayed works previously, awards that you’ve won, and who you’ve studied with.

(You can google artist statement, artist bio and artist resume to get some examples.  Once you have these docs set up, all you need to do is update them periodically to reflect any changes in your art career.  These docs are important for you to have in your portfolio and on your website.)

Write about your art.
Did you know that you can raise the value and interest of your art by simply writing about it?   When somebody is viewing a piece of art, they are bringing all of themselves into it….maybe they’ve had a horrible day or maybe they just won the lottery, but as the saying goes: ”wherever you go, there you are.”   Viewers can easily misinterpret your intentions so if you have additional info about your work it can build a deeper connection with your viewers as you invite them to experience the art through your eyes and heart.  (Any compositions you write about your work need to be posted on your website, myspace, or blog or wherever you happen to have your work.)

Get a website started.
I’ve sold several paintings with the help of my website and every year it pays for itself.  It’s an excellent and easy way to show your work AND you can add personal info about yourself, creative inspiration, future plans, etc.  (More info about websites coming soon!)

Advertise your upcoming shows and new artwork.
Keeping your family, friends & customers (patrons) informed about your upcoming shows or new artwork should be a vital part of your marketing strategy.  You may decide that you want to inform your patrons monthly, quarterly or bi-annually to keep them updated on all the new things you have going on.  You could do this by starting a small e-newsletter to send out, or it could be a postcard or a personal letter.  This will help you to foster future business relationships and opportunities as your patrons may be inclined to spread the word about your work and invite others to your upcoming shows.  Keep your communications with your patrons short and sweet (2-4 paragraphs) and always offer to answer any questions they may have.  Please be careful to not to contact your patrons too much or saturate them with excessive info all at once.

Offer Incentives
Another thing you can do to encourage future sales from your patrons is to offer a discount on future purchases.  Example: Patron X buys their first piece from you and as a “thank you” to them you offer 10-15% off their next purchase.   OR You offer a free small print with their next purchase.  Look for creative ways to offer your customers incentives to continue buying from you in the future.

Keep in mind that your marketing costs, which may be from business cards, bookmarks, brochures, postcards, website design fees, yearly domain registration and hosting fees, etc., are all tax deductible, so please keep your receipts.

Marketing Part 2 will focus on how to create a successful website with ANY budget!

-Michelle McSpadden

What does the board do again?

The artlovemagic board met for a marathon session yesterday to answer some outstanding questions for the pursuit of our national 501c3 application. We recently accomplished the first step, getting our Texas not-for-profit registration.

Our board is made up of Justin Nygren, Michael Lagocki, Melody Hay, Cathy Huchison, and Chris Kutach (not pictured). Also pictured above is Mario Cauley who handles finance and business ops for us.

The board’s role is to set and work toward the overall strategic vision of the organization. That means looking at it from 50,000 feet (rather than the 5 feet you have to look at it from to produce an event). We meet monthly to determine artlovemagic’s big BIG goals, and what needs to be done to make them happen. Throw us a blessing if you got it. This is big stuff we’re trying to tackle.

Wild Sky Tribal

This beautiful pic of the Wild Sky Tribal dancers was taken by Jenice Johnson. This was part of our event at the Bath House Cultural Center this weekend. More pics and report coming soon.

More images from Father’s Day

These Father’s Day pics were taken by audience member Josh Dyrk from our Father’s Day event (6/20/09) at the Egg  I Restaurant.

The evening was well attended and enjoyed by many families. This had a very different feel from most artlovemagic events. It was more chill, with the environment providing a laid back atmosphere. The Egg & I put out a beautiful buffet spread and we left open space for people to sit down and just enjoy dinner. The rest of the room was taken up by art displays and live artists working.

We set potter Conor Muldoon dead center in the middle of the room so that attendees could walk 360 degrees around him as he worked. Meanwhile, airbrush artist Eddie Walker worked live on a special Father’s Day inspired piece.

Architectural designer Jim Thompson brought a truly cool setup. He transported an entire office to the show, setting up an environment just like he works in professionally.

We also set up one room as a performance area where musicians and poets entertained the crowd. Jacob Reeves, a new Father himself, brought his Dad, Bart with him to back him up on Harmonica.

Local writer Jay Bookworm was the first one who suggested we do a Father’s Day event. Poets Michael Lagocki, Kylun Rodriguez, and Serena Wills also performed, along with musicians Parallel Play, Something In The Wheel, and Jaimie Reeves.

Joe Townson, who usually does abstract paintings at our events, tried his hand at a figure portrait, even bringing a live model with him to work from. Joe and painter David Rodriguez set up outside on the Egg & I’s porch. Parallel Play went outside late in the night to entertain them since they missed most of the inside performances.

It really was a wonderful night.  This one really didn’t feel like any other I can recall. Different locations, different themes, and different selections of artists create utterly unique experiences each time we go out the door. I think it’s important as an organization that we keep getting new people involved, keep doing new things.

Revolutions take creativity.

photos by Josh Dyrk
post by Michael Lagocki

for more on this event, see our previous post
love-and-family-on-fathers-day

Getting Into A Gallery

Do you dream about getting into a gallery, but are unsure of the steps you need to take to reach your goal?  The information below is from an interview I did with Art Professor Barry Benton on how artists can get their work shown in galleries.

Your 1st Visit To A Prospective Gallery
Visit galleries and scope them out.  When you’re going from gallery to gallery, keep the following in mind:
- Dress for success – think of this as a pre-interview of the gallery.  Have you ever visited a gallery wearing shorts or jeans and sandals?  Were you ignored a little?  Have you visited a gallery when you were dressed up?   Were you engaged by the gallery reps?  Unfortunately, people size us up by our wardrobe choices, so you may want to do a wardrobe check before setting out to explore potential galleries.
- During your first visit to each gallery, try not to mention anything about showing your work, but feel free to engage them about the artwork on display and their artists.  This is a pre-interview process and you need to check the gallery out and see if it’s suitable for you to show in.
- Would your artwork “fit” in with the other work there?
- Do you like the gallery space and atmosphere?  Is it welcoming?
- Notice the size of the artwork currently being displayed.  How is it in relation to yours?
- What is the price range of the pieces on display?  Are they comparable to yours?  Do you need raise or lower your prices?
- Are all of the artworks framed?
- Is there a predominant subject matter throughout the gallery?  Would the subject matter add or take away from your artwork?
- Is the gallery rep nice and pleasant?  Do you think you would be able to work with them well?  Your relationship with whatever gallery takes in your work is a business relationship, so it’s important to feel at ease with the gallery, since the two of you will be working to sell your artwork.  If someone brushes you off or ignores you, that may be a good indication that you shouldn’t show your work at that location.
- Take a trusted artist friend along with you for additional feedback. They may notice things that you overlook and be able to give you a different perspective about the gallery.  (Make sure they dress up a little too!)
- Weed out the galleries that you know you don’t want to show in and start preparing for a 2nd visit to the galleries that looked promising.

Your 2nd Visit To A Prospective Gallery
The pre-interview process is over…you’re interviewing the gallery and they’ll be interviewing you for future business potential, so you’ll need to go alone.
Since you’re selling yourself, please consider the following:
- Dress for success – like you would if you were going on a corporate job interview.
- Smile often
- Make and maintain eye contact
- Be mindful of your posture – don’t twitch, slouch or twiddle your thumbs
- Pop in a couple of Tic Tacs when you’re on the way there to make sure that your breath isn’t offensive.
- Take a small notebook or planner with you to take notes
- Introduce yourself and ask the gallery rep “How do you like to have artwork submitted to your gallery for review?”  This question will get the ball rolling and they’ll start telling you what you need to do or bring.     Take notes.
- If they don’t mention the commission rate, you’ll need to ask. (For most galleries, it’s a 50/50 ratio.)
- Ask them how they go about promoting shows and the artwork of their artists.   THIS IS IMPORTANT!!    You want your artwork to sell and if the gallery isn’t into heavy promos, your sales success rate decreases considerably.
- If you’re comfortable with the interaction of the gallery rep and think that this gallery is a place that you want to show in, ask them if you can schedule an appointment for the review of your work.  (Keep it within a couple of weeks of this 2nd visit so that they don’t forget you before they see you again.)
- If you have any marketing/promotional items such as a business card, postcard, or brochure that contains some of your images, you’ll want to give it to them before you leave, but only after you’ve engaged in conversation with them.

Your 3rd Visit To The Gallery – Presentation/Submission of Artwork

Make sure that you’ve had time to prepare everything that you need. Some galleries require that you bring examples of your artwork in a portfolio, on slides, or on a CD.  A selection of 15-20 pieces is a good number of works for them to review.

The gallery may require an artist statement – which is a written statement by you about what your artwork represents and/or why you do it.
The gallery may require an artist bio – it should contain the year, date and city of your birth, your education or who you have studied with and your history in art.
The gallery may require an artist resume – this is a chronological list of where you have displayed works previously, awards that you’ve won, and who you’ve studied with.

Make sure that you keep all the originals of anything the gallery requests for reviewing your work…just in case you don’t get it back, you don’t want to have to do everything all over again.
- Dress for success and don’t forget your Tic Tacs!
- Arrive 3-5 minutes before your appointment
- Smile often
- Make and maintain eye contact
- Pay attention to your posture
- Hand them the materials they have requested
- If the gallery rep starts to review your work in your presence, try not to talk too much, if at all.   Let your work talk for itself.   They are trying to decide if your work would “fit” in their gallery.
- Let them take time to go through your work.  If they ask you questions, answer them as precisely as possible without being too wordy.
- If you have any questions, wait till they’re done reviewing your work.
- If they make a decision to show your work or to review it later, don’t forget to thank them for their time and make sure that they have your contact info so that the preparations can begin.
- If they decide not to show your work at that particular time, thank them for their time and consideration and make sure they have your contact info for future reference if they need it.  Don’t take it too hard or too personal if a gallery decides not to show your work.  There’s a reason for everything and perhaps this gallery isn’t the best place for you to be right now.  The thing is to keep on trying until you find that perfect venue where you should be showing your art.

Next week, we’ll start on marketing for artists.  

-Michelle McSpadden

Love and Family on Father’s Day

This post comes from Erica Davis, a painter who showed at our recent Father’s Day event at the Egg & I.

Last Saturday night Art Love Magic hosted a show at the Egg and I restaurant in Addison. The atmosphere was full of art…love…and magic (what a fitting name for the nonprofit). True to the spirit of the organization, all of the artists (visual, poetic, graphic, music, culinary, etc.) joined together to share their talents with the DFW community honoring fathers for the holiday.

Matt Barron set the tone with passionate pieces on guitar. Serena Wills (poet and soror) stirred audience members to tears with her spoken word piece, “His Voice”. Jay Bookworm pulled back the petals of the heart and soul to reveal the depths to which fatherly love can go. Miss Deb stood atop a chair and stunned the room silent in awe as she belted a powerful a capella selection to close the night.

As music played, paint/air brushes danced across canvas, balls of clay were transformed into original artistic pottery and the guests dined on some of the MOST amazing cuisine to hit the North Dallas area…people were changed. Life and art intersected in a way that the founders of this organization dreamed and saw manifested. One night. Many ARTists. Lots of LOVE and lots of MAGIC.

I feel blessed to have been a part of it.

-text by Erica Davis
photography by Jenice Johsnon
all of Jenice’s shots can be seen here