Karen Kane, Mary Jo Krolewski & Brenda Plastridge at a recent Artists' Learning Circle
|
By Amanda Riesmeyer
A group of women in the arts from weavers and painters to musicians and writers-- gather together monthly to exchange ideas and set goals for their art-focused businesses. These Artists' Learning Circles, hosted by the Vermont Women's Business Center (VWBC), began in March of 2003 with seven artists.
Women travel from all corners of Vermont to spend time networking and getting business ideas for marketing and selling their work. Challenges as well as successes are revealed, goals are set, and valuable connections are established thus meeting an essential need for artists where the very nature of their work tends to isolate them. The monthly meetings give artists the opportunity to literally "come out of the woods" from their studios--so often tucked away in idyllic woodland settings--and meet fellow artists in order to gain support and encouragement as well as discovering valuable community resources and events.
A facilitator from the VWBC gathers feedback from the group and speakers are invited to come and talk on a variety of topics providing an atmosphere ripe for lively brainstorming as participants readily bring to the discussion their own experiences.
Past speakers have included well-known artist Sabra Field who spoke on "Perfecting your Pricing." Artists gained insight on how to price individual pieces of work as well as learned strategies for working with commissioned pieces and ways to bill for hours spent creating commission work. At another meeting, Sarah-Lee Terrat, owner of YeloDog Design, came to speak on how to assemble and use a portfolio effectively.
Lisa Buell, owner of Createjoy Coaching, was the speaker this past October. Her topic "Work from Your Passion" centered on creating a vision for one's art as a springboard for marketing. She challenged artists to expand their vision of themselves as "artists" to that of "artist/business person."
"As women we are accustomed to multi-tasking and pleasing everyone and we bring this to our art," Buell remarked. She went on to encourage participants to create a vision of what they are passionate about and then from that vision to plan their marketing strategy. "The ultimate goal is to find out what your passion is and the more specific you get, the clearer you get and the sooner you'll start taking steps to achieve that goal."
It comes as no surprise that artists are passionate about their work but getting the business part in place, getting out there in the community to market and sell their work is a different and often difficult shift for artists to make.
As a follow-up to one month's discussion, the topic for another Artists' Circle was "Gallery Entry:How?" Mary Johnson, former owner of Prints & Patches in Stowe for twenty-eight years, faciliated. Selling for over 50+ artists, Johnson shared tips on how she found artists, how artists found her and why she choose certain artists' work. An artist as well as a gallery owner herself, Johnson spoke from experience on both ends.
"Stay in your passion," Johnson encouraged, "as a business owner and artist, spend as much time in your passion as you can. Ask yourself what are you doing that is eating away too much of your time and draining your energy levels. If you can delegate that which drains you all the better. Focus on your passion and know who you are marketing to."
Some of Mary's tips included checking out the gallery first before approaching the owner to make sure it's the best place for their work; she reminded participants of the importance of mutual respect between artist and gallery owner. She went on to emphasize the importance of knowing who they are marketing to and pricing their work accordingly. "Pricing is very important. You need to be aware that sometimes things sell better at a higher price," Mary stressed. Yvonne Baab, owner of Flying Fish Studio, agreed saying, "By lowering the price, it creates a lower perceived value on it."
As the Circle came to a close, participants expressed appreciation for the timely topic and the opportunity to get input from each other. "In Vermont there is not a huge population base for selling one's art, so the need to be creative with marketing is very important and the Artists' Circle provides a place to do this," remarked one participant.
Now in its seventh year, the Artists Learning Circle meets the first Wednesday of the month from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the "Firehouse at Barre" where the VWBC offices are located. Everyone is welcome.
Back to Articles
|
