art making + marketing :: an interview with brandi strickland

:: intertidal . 12 x 12" mixed media on board 2009

i am beyond excited to post this art making + marketing interview with brandi strickland ~ one of the first artists i hearted on etsy {way back at the start of 2008!}.
i hope you love it.

does marketing your work come naturally to you, or do you find it to be a task that is always lives dangerously at the top of your to-do list?
Marketing is not my game. But I definitely like sharing my work. Participating in the flickr/facebook/twitter communities, blogging, and sending out monthly newsletters are things that feel good and come naturally. I think of these outlets as fun show 'n tell activities, not ways to make a buck. I'm naturally excited about my work, so I want to share it in ways that keep me enthusiastic instead of dragging me down. Anything I dread never gets done anyway, so if I'm doing it you can bet I'm having fun. Mostly I just want to share my work on my own terms, and enjoy whatever audience or success that it brings. My coffee cup has a great quote, one I try to keep in mind: "If it doesn't absorb you, if it isn't any fun, don't do it." - D.H. Lawrence


:: secret password . 12 x 12" mixed media on board 2007

does knowing that you will be marketing affect the way you work?
Knowing that I'll be sharing my work, that it will be seen, has an extremely positive effect . . . I certainly don't function well in a vacuum. The communities I've come to be a part of over the last several years are inspiring, encouraging, outright helpful and kind. Slowly gaining an audience of friends, fellow artists, and people who enjoy my work pushes me to do my personal best every day.
Paper Whistle itself is a huge motivator. Having a great outlet for my creativity challenges me to keep steady making work that I'm truly excited about. It's a perfect platform to share and sell my artwork on my own terms and it also allows me to be fully involved with the process. Everything is 100% hands on and created with so much love!
Marketing always has the potential to poison a good thing. I see some artists who find a style of work that is highly marketable and then seem to stick to it unflinchingly because it has mass appeal. I don't ever want to feel afraid to grow and change. If something sells well, great. If it doesn't, that's fine too. I am absolutely intent on making work that I love and am proud of, regardless of it's marketability. I never want to create artwork that feels stale or hurts my eyes to look at, just to make a buck.
Neil Young, Ani Difranco and 'Lil Wayne are huge inspirations because they share this notion of 'always do what you want to do the way you want to do it'. Not what you're expected to do, not what's most marketable, but what you really feel and love. I think if more people shared this idealism the whole world would be a better, more authentic place.

:: mountain house . 12 x 12" mixed media on board 2010

i love your new{ish} website {and shop front/logo} that you and robert have set up. has your working partnership helped your confidence in terms of marketing your work?
Definitely. Robert is very creative, but he also has the marketing, technical, and analytical skills that I struggle with. We overlap where it's important and also have really helpful, balancing differences. He's way more easy-going! I've learned so much from him over the last four years, and I think we make a good team. We try to keep it pushing--always surprising, challenging and inspiring each other . . . I know he brings out the best in me. We've had lots of challenges over the years and have overcome all of them together.


:: nine billion names of god . 12 x 12" mixed media on board 2009

has exhibiting your work taken any pressure off self-promotion?
It hasn't taken the pressure off, it's just a different kind of pressure. I think if I had really strong or exclusive gallery representation, or if I showed more often, it might be different. Right now I'm walking the middle path between self-representation and gallery representation. I have a DIY spirit and want to be involved in the process of sharing and selling my own work. But I view galleries as invaluable magical spaces dedicated to putting the physical artwork in front of people's faces, and I hope to move towards showing more in the future.

:: sunken treasure . 12 x 12" mixed media on board 2008

do you have a best selling piece or series? is this piece/series your personal favourite?
Secret Source seems to be the crowd-pleaser and also happens to be a personal favorite. She's probably the most circulated around the internet and is one of my best selling prints. She belongs to the Dark Crystals series, which felt like a pretty big breakthrough in my work.

:: secret source . 12 x 12" mixed media on board 2009

what are your tips for marketing fine art?
Make work that you're excited about, share it in ways that make you feel good, and you'll naturally connect with others who are excited about what you're doing too. People can smell a rat if you do operate only for money, popularity or obligation, so be authentic and use your powers/energy for good not evil! Connect with these like minds and become part of communities that will offer sincere feedback (not just back-patting).

Some practical things, of course:
1. Invest in a D-SLR and learn to take good pictures of your artwork.
2. Keep a solid up-to-date online portfolio of your work, with an easy way for people to get in touch (contact forms are great).
3. Be professional and communicative with customers, clients and people who offer good opportunities.
4. Don't underestimate the power of bloggers and word of mouth.
5. Use social media but don't be skeezy or spammy.
6. Research, learn, seek advice.
7. Do what you want to do how you want to do it :)

thanks so much Brandi for taking part and sharing your thoughts.

www.paperwhistle.com
www.brandistrickland.com
www.brandistrickland.etsy.com

art making + marketing :: an interview with nancy mungcal

the second interview in the 'art-making and marketing' series is with the lovely nancy of prettylittle thieves. i hope you enjoy her responses, and her specially drawn illustration as much as i did :)



does marketing your work come naturally to you, or do you find it to be a task that is always lives dangersously at the top of your to-do list?
Marketing does not come naturally to me at all. It also sadly does
not come close to being at the top of a very long to do list. It's
honestly something that I have to make a conscious effort about. I'm
trying to become friends with marketing.

does knowing that you will be marketing affect the way you work?
I don't think about marketing when I'm working. For me, this would
not be a good approach for my work. My priorities tend to be with
being happy with the work and to feel I've interpreted my thoughts
and inspirations.

do you have a best selling piece or series? is this piece/series your personal favourite?
My personal favorites sometimes find new homes and sometimes stay
in mine. I do have certain recurring themes in my work that seem to
resonate with people more than others.

do you find it tricky to single out one piece to represent your shop/work as a whole?
If I had to pick a piece to represent my work as a whole, my
anxiety level would greatly increase. This would be followed by my
head hurting from thinking too much. It would be a daunting task as
I feel my work is a constantly evolving process.

what are your tips for marketing fine art?
Please pass the marketing tips over here. I like to think of
marketing as introducing my work, saying a friendly "hello". There
are many great online sources such as design sponge, modish,
pikaland, bakery, and the storque, which is etsy's blog, to name a
few with lots of ideas for getting your work out there. I tend to
read a lot and do lots of research especially for shops, galleries,
and shows I might be considering. It's important to be open and
fearless in the experiences that your work could bring. I'm also a
list maker and like to document the progress of any effort I make in
this area...such as lists of people to contact.. I also do my best
to set goals, even if they are small steps to try to expand my world
everyday. I also think that it's important to try different things
(blog, flickr, twitter, facebook, etc..) but to also remember that
not all things work for everyone and that's ok. Find the ones that
work for you and share what you love to do.

prettylittlethieves.com
www.prettylittlethieves.etsy.com

thanks so much nancy :)

art making + marketing :: an interview with jess gonacha swift

'art making + marketing' is a new interview feature for my blog!
the lovely and talented jess gonacha swift is the first artist/maker interviewee.
enjoy!

:::: working as a successful indie artist/maker is becoming easier for lots of us, thanks to the option of selling work online. in most cases, it's the behind-the-scenes tasks like marketing that contribute to success {or at least turn a hobby into a business!}. this series of interviews with artists and makers will hopefully shine a little light on stepping in and out of the varied roles required to make a living, creatively ::::


does marketing your work come naturally to you, or do you find it to be a task that is always lives dangersously at the top of your to-do list?
Marketing my work is both hard and easy at the same time. A lot of the things I do to market my work have become second nature-- updating my etsy shop regularly, adding images to my flickr page, writing about what I'm doing on my blog, etc. But advertising on other blogs/sites, participating in marketplaces, submitting new work to bloggers... I always procrastinate on these types of things. I know marketing is important, but it's definitely not my favorite part of what I do, so it's always a bit of a struggle, something I could be doing more of, better, etc. Another thing that I know is fantastic marketing is having gorgeous photographs, and this might be the biggest challenge for me. I'm not a natural photographer, so it's very difficult for me to want to style my work and spend a lot of time photographing it.

does knowing that you will be marketing affect the way you work?
I think it does affect my work somewhat. Sometimes I'll be thinking "will I be able to sell this?" right at the beginning of a piece, which is a sure-fire inspiration killer! I find I need to strike a balance between doing my work for myself while I'm creating it, but also thinking about how I can present it in an appealing way after I'm finished. It's hard to not get caught up in the selling aspect of it, but it's so important not to! Because ultimately I want to be making things that make ME happy, first and foremost.


do you have a best selling piece or series? is this piece/series your personal favourite? if not, how do you balance with working for your 'market' and holding onto your creative freedom?
I have a few pieces that have sold well over the past couple of years-- and yes, strangely enough, the ones that do well are often my favorite pieces. Or pieces that I feel more of a connection with than others. I think that energy is infused in a piece of artwork and people can feel it when they're looking at it. I just can't think of another way to explain it!
** {see pics included }


i admire your ability to work on lots of concurrent projects and to apply your work to the development of various products ~ while keeping your unique style and fingerprint. do you find it tricky to single out one piece to represent your shop/work as a whole?
Oh my goodness, Yes. I feel like I have several different styles going on and lots of different products/projects, so it's hard to see for me to see how it all fits together. I like having a lot of different things happening, because it keeps it interesting for me, but I definitely struggle with how to best represent myself. What I'm discovering within myself, though, is that there's no "right way" to do things. There's only MY way. And THAT'S what I should be focused on-- making sure I'm being true to what I want to do and how I want to put myself out there in the world. If that means changing how I represent myself regularly, then that's ok with me! I don't think there's any way that one image could represent all the things that I do, so I think I try to go for an overall FEELING. I want my work to make people happy, so if I'm conveying that, then I think it's cohesive.


what are your tips for marketing fine art?
Take good photographs (arghhhhh), connect with bloggers who write about the type of thing that you do, update your blog regularly (and if you don't have a blog, start one!!), update your shop/flickr page/other sites where you have your work as often as you can, comment on other people's blogs (with useful, thoughtful comments!)... those are the things that have worked for me so far. Having my work written about on blogs has really been the best marketing for me up to this point-- I think just being in as many places as you can be is a great way to market your work. Oh! And twitter, too-- twitter is a very powerful tool that I highly recommend. It's easy to build a community of people, get news out quickly and efficiently, and connect with people instantaneously. I love twitter.

thanks so much for sharing jess :)
:: shop
:: blog