Artists Who THRIVE has relaunched with a fresh, and easier to navigate, format.
And I’m excited to announce two new initiatives including an upcoming eBook and an online course on Marketing Art.
Now is a good time to share my inspriation for founding Artists Who THRIVE…
Determined to make a decent living as a painter, over $100,000 within the first year, I quit my job and moved to the beach in San Francisco in 2005.
Guess what? I did it. I actually grossed $125,000 in my first year painting full time.
As a result I received significant national press recognition and artists began seeking out my advice. At first I shooed them away. “I’m too busy working on my own thing.”
Then someone made an astute observation. “You just LOVE to talk about marketing art. Why don’t you blog about it?”
I thought, “Why not!? Maybe I can help lead a revolution against the senseless art establishment and kill the tedious starving artist mythology which I find so very disrespectful and destructive.”
How? Just share what I know. While making art is obviously art, selling art is business, BIG business, and these pursuits are not in opposition.
Artists do not need permission from any gate keepers to advance their careers. Why? Because being a full time artist is actually not a “career”, it is a business.
If art making was a career, you would be receiving a paycheck. The gatekeepers know this, that’s the; art galleries, the record labels, the film studios, the publishers, you get the picture.
What are the first things the gatekeepers ask, “How much have you sold? How many fans or followers do you have? Who have you sold to? How much money have you made?”
So artists do not need to manage a “career”, artists need to take charge of their business.
The good news. Growing a business is ten times easier than trying to manage a so called “career” as an artist. Why? Because you are free of the constraints of representation and you are in full control of your own enterprise, not the gatekeepers.
When you side step the traditional art market you have complete creative freedom and you do not need permission to sell your art. The gatekeepers will argue that artists need their credibility. My response, “That’s nice. But what I need is to get paid.”
Please note, creative and economic freedom comes at a price, responsibility. But do you know what? I don’t have a business degree, I have a fine art degree, and my professional experience does not lend itself to being an entrepreneur.
Yet I built an art business, so maybe you can to? Or maybe you can build a bigger art enterprise than the one you have now?
But you will need to start with these first few steps:
- make a solid commitment to building an art business
-
take planned and relentless action towards a clear goal
- and despite what you have been told, it’s not about you, it’s about creating unique value for a target market
My hope is that I may make it easier for you to maintain your creative freedom and thrive by learning from my insights and my mistakes, all laid out here openly at Artists Who THRIVE.
Here’s to your growing business savvy!
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thank you!
Your art is BEAUTIFUL Ann! I am really excited to learn more about the ebook and course. Your story is great and motivating! Thank you!
You’re welcome and thank YOU for sharing.
I want to thank you for sharing your experiences…I stumbled upon yoir site right after taking a couple of years off of painting after having my third baby, and I was relaunching everything…new paintings, new website, new energy. I had wanted to just try sell on my own but was was a little hesitant because all you hear is how much you need a gallery. I dont have anything against galleries…but I like knowjng there is another way. Your article really helped to give me inspiration to head up my own art business and I have already been successfull…so thanks for showing another path.
Thank you for sharing. Artists Who THRIVE does not represent artists, we empower them to represent themselves.
Hello, my name is Muller Jean Francois. I’am a artist, who art represents the world. My inspiration for my artwork comes from my dreams, and feelings. Images you can’t see, I can transfer those images in my artwork. My styles of paintings are: abstract, oil, acylic. If you want to represent my work .