Rick Janson Art Studio

What’s the point of making art if nobody ever looks at it?

Yesterday I spoke about four big changes in my work within the last year. This is the fifth: starting the process of developing an audience.

Sure, over the years people have collected my work (including the above piece) but I’ve never been able to take it to what I would conceive of as the next level. I’m wary of galleries that offer nothing but wall space, or worst still, charge you a fee for wall space. They do exist.

To sell a piece of work you need to be able to tell a story both about the piece and the artist. That makes it much more interesting. Art can speak for itself, but its better if someone skilled helps that process along.

The first strategy upon my “re-emergence” has been to respond to call for entries, and to anticipate such calls. Getting my work in front of curators is the name of the game, whether or not it leads to an exhibition opportunity. Yeah, I’ve already had polite letters telling me I didn’t make the cut, but to keep up the good work. Okay.

That strategy includes finding sources of call-for-entries. They can be call-outs for competitions or for entry into shows both virtual and in person.

Then there are calls for artist-in-residence positions. I noticed that Artnet posted a generous artist-in-residence position at a hotel in Mallorca. I dreamed about that for weeks.

The Oshawa Art Association recently put out a call for artists to paint in their tent during the city’s annual Convergence festival. The association works hard to open up opportunities, especially in a heavily populated region with next to no commercial galleries.

There is another site I visit regularly that looks at opportunities for public art commissions in the Greater Toronto Area, such as murals. I sometimes get overwhelmed doing a 30″ x 40″ painting, let alone a mural, but its nice to track what public opportunities are available.

Sometimes these calls are open, sometimes they require a prior membership in a group or gallery, or sometimes it is just a straight fee for entering into a competition or show. While an individual fee may be modest, it can add up, especially when the fee is per item being entered. Usually the fees are in the range of about $35 (Canadian) for the artist. I noticed one exhibition opportunity that offered a maximum of three entries at a cost $105 with no guarantee you’ll be chosen to participate in the show. Ouch.

Then there are the charitable opportunities, of which the cost to the artist is the painting or art work itself. By the time it is framed — and in some cases shipped — your direct costs can be in the range of about $150 or more to get in front of an audience. That doesn’t include your time. But it usually means someone will purchase the piece and hopefully take a greater interest in your work. These days I insert a promotional card in the back of the canvas to aid that process. The one drawback with charitable auctions is the bargain hunters can sometimes lower the value of your work. The price of your work is always based on what people are willing to pay for it, and a record of sales counts. Still, this is something that I have been pursuing, especially worthy charities I support that may also bring out the kind of crowd that values and collects art.

Years ago I participated in an event called “Paint The Town,” which was a fundraiser for the local arts centre in Annapolis Royal in Nova Scotia. What was unusual about this one is that the proceeds were actually split 50-50 between the charity and the artist. Back when I was living in Halifax, it meant my costs of travelling up the valley and staying overnight were offset by my share of the sales. The event itself involved artists working en plein air throughout the town, then their works were transported wet in pizza boxes back to the gallery. At night there would be a silent auction. The organizers also made sure to serve us a dinner. Charities often forget that some of the worst compensated people in the arts are visual artists. One estimate I recently came across was the average compensation works out to be $19 per hour in Canada (I find it hard to believe it would even be that much). Paint the Town is still going more than 25 years later using that model.

Sometimes the nod to the artists is much more modest. I used to participate in the Little Art Show, a fundraiser for the Riverdale Art Walk in Toronto. The organizers would send you a blank canvas, the show requiring all submitted pieces to be 7″ x 9″. They put on a terrific event in the BMW dealership overlooking the Don Valley Parkway but it eventually fizzled out for reasons unknown. Maybe the regular crowd had more than enough 7″ x 9″ paintings.

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While filling out the forms for call-for-entries (there are always forms), I did note that often there is a request for a website address. It had been something I had been avoiding.

Recently reading Austin Kleon’s upbeat book Show Your Work I noticed the emphasis he placed on not only having a site, but posting to it daily.

I used to write a BLOG in my last day job which attracted an influential audience and opened the doors to connections with new groups in the community. In this new endeavour, I didn’t want to put up a static site with a bunch of my images on it. I wanted it to tell that story both about the work, the artist and my relationship to the art community. I also wanted to be a source of information for both curators and other would-be artists as to what being an emerging artist (or re-emerging artist) is like. It’s hard, but as Kleon urges, just keep going. If you have been following this BLOG I haven’t quite hit the daily posting mark, but it has been regular.

A friend of mine is convinced that galleries are only looking for young emerging artists. Certainly the ones we saw at Art Toronto fit that category. The inference is that I might be wasting my time. Seniors are the last group where discrimination appears socially acceptable, so he might be right.

Looking at the initial data on hits for this BLOG, including where in the globe they are coming from, it is both encouraging and discouraging. But I know from the last time I blogged it takes some time to develop an audience, and when you do, it can be very rewarding. I’m hoping my past experience will accelerate that process at least a little.

It’s great to make connections, including, I noticed, two individuals who have returned to this site from Norway. Us northern artists need to stick together!

One of the things I did remember from last time is to ask your readers to subscribe, to assign likes, and if they can, post a comment (BTW: Kleon disagrees). I have also sent emails and texts to individuals who I thought might like what I’m doing and subscribe. Some have, some haven’t.

What’s the end goal? I would eventually like to work with a commercial gallery. Listening to a panel of emerging artists at Art Toronto, it was interesting to hear them speak about the kind of relationship they had with their galleries. Again, its about more than just wall space.

So, that’s the plan. We’ll see what transpires.

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