I'll Show You Mine...

Your assignment, should you wish to accept it, is as follows:

#1 Create an inventory of twenty things that you have put “on display” in your home – that is, things that you have expressly made visible for guests to see in your living space.

#2 Write an insightful and compelling piece about the function of domestic display, explaining the function your displayed items have in your domestic environment.

#3 Choose five items from the inventory of twenty items you chose, and write a brief paragraph explaining exactly why you have each particular item on display. Of the five items chosen, at least one (but no more than two) should be your own work that is on display in your own home.

I have been teaching a course called The Business of Art through the Continuing Studies Department at Emily Carr University for the past several terms. Another course of six three-hour sessions starts March 1, 2010 – join me if you like, by contacting ECU’s Continuing Studies department. I have to cover a lot of ground in the course, so there is not enough time to go too deeply into the numerous subject areas included in the course. In fact, when I first started teaching the course there was no time at all to teach about sales and marketing (two important areas of concern for self-employed artists), so last term six hours were added to the course in order to include these two subject areas.

Even with the extra time available, however, I cannot justify including the assignment above in the curriculum. There just isn’t enough time. But I wish I could because I know, having done it in workshops with visual artists, it helps us to re-discover the mindset of the consumer.

The longer we have been artists and the more friends we have who are part of the visual arts community, the harder it is for us to remember what it is to be an “art innocent.” It becomes difficult for us to remember a time when art was not central to our lives and when we did not “understand” art and the creative personality. In other words, it becomes difficult for us to empathize with the mindset of many of our customers.

The insight you gain from the assignment above can become a valuable tool with which to engage potential customers when you are in a sales environment. Asking potential customers, “Why do you buy art?” is a non-threatening question that puts the focus on them, their desires and not on you, your work and sales. Their answer can sometimes provide you with the language and concepts with which you can best present your work to a potential customer.

When I have done this exercise with students, the outcome never fails to achieve my objective and impress my students. What becomes obvious very quickly to everyone is that there is a strong narrative attached to each object; for every item, there is a story and the story is very often a compelling and deeply personal one. The assignment reveals the preeminent requirement of objects that we wish to display: the story.

Artists, therefore, are wise to consider what story we provide to the buyer when we offer our work for sale. Is a curator telling your story? Or is it in the subject material of your work? Is it in the inspiration for your work or might it be in its development or process? Is it in your interaction with the buyer? And how do you provide this story that is a prerequisite of display? Is it in your artist statement? Is it on a blog where you relate the history of all your work? Somewhere, somehow, a narrative has to be part of every artwork and it could be considered a part of your job to make a story accessible to your buyers for every item you create – that is, if you want to make decent sales.

Perhaps no better medium exists for an artist to record the stories of their career than a blog. Were an artist to maintain a blog about inspiration, motivation, creation and the ups and downs – all the experiences – of a career, matched with good work, I have no doubt that the blog would be a valuable sales and marketing tool. Obviously, like the artwork itself, the more thoroughly and thoughtfully it is done, the better your blog will work. In a perfect world, buyers would be able to reference their specific purchases on your blog to add to the story they tell about your work when it goes on display in their home or office.

Blogging is fun, simple and free. Blogs can be interactive and constantly and easily updated. I have several, each serving a different function, but then I am a writer. And because I am a writer, my favourite blog is largely visual – a relief and respite from words. My blog is here: www.artistsurvivalskills.com/blog. I have slowed down my posting of late because I am writing a book.

MyArtClub.com undertook a valuable and thoughtful (but not completely scientific) survey in British Columbia that revealed that 70% of art sales were between creators and consumers who had a pre-existing relationship. This means the buyers knew the artist either because they were friends, family, acquaintances or previous buyers with whom some semblance of a relationship existed. For them, the story attached to their purchase may be nothing more than their relationship with the artist.

“It’s by a friend of mine!” is a favourite way for new owners of art to be able to respond to someone who compliments their item on display. And so begins the story they can tell about their new work. Often, the emotional fulfillment they get from the purchase of your work comes in the telling of the story – and it can be quite a story if they have your blog with which to augment their knowledge of their purchase.