PAA Artist Summit – Day 3

Day 3 has completed! Today’s theme was “selling your art.” Here are my takeaways from today’s four speakers:

Jason Horejs:

• Selling art is about exposure and building relationships. Keeping pushing and both will eventually happen;
• Find creative ways to network;
• Thing about the story you’re telling and the experience you’re creating in your art;
• Look for any and all opportunities to gain customers and make sales (i.e. email lists, newsletters, reaching out to individuals who browse your work, social media/reels/shorts, networking);
• If you want consistent sales, you need regular consistent marketing;
• You need to invest time and money in your craft – it will be slow, but you will eventually get traffic and sales if you are consistent.

Peter Schipperheyn:

• When you are negotiating with art dealers, there are four main things every artist should know: know your costs, have confidence, be prepared (know your budget and bottom line), and stand strong.

Krista Schumacher:

• Commissions are important – work within creative constraints/parameters to push your craft forward;
• Collector/customer relationships are extremely important. They should get the first response from the artist almost every time. Make sure to be responsive, nurturing, and communicative, and they will continue to support you;
• Social media is vital/important if you want to represent yourself.

Sofia Sáenz de Santa Maria:

• It is important to connect with galleries, but make sure to feel a clear connection with them;
• It is not recommended for artists to make the first contact in a artist/gallery relationship – let them come to you;
• If an artist is interested in working with a particular gallery, do research on them beforehand to ensure it is a good fit;
• Artists should have some kind of technical proficiency in order to make the right impression with customers and their professional network (i.e. have a dedicated email, a website domain, use correct grammar/no typos in professional communication, etc.)