ART CAREER ESSENTIALS

No matter if you are just beginning your art career or are a seasoned professional artist, there are always new things to learn and lots of fine tuning to be done. Perhaps your goal is to get into your first juried show or gallery. Maybe you are at the point in your career where you would like to make a major museum presentation or explore the art licensing markets. Abundant Artist provides information and services to help along the way.

12 Essentials for Any Art Career, Anywhere Along the Way.

So Many things seem obvious when we see them written out, but the results come not just by knowing but by doing as well. Abundant Artist has been asked over and over, "What do I do to get my art career started?", as well as, "I've had some success (or even a lot of success by most standards) but what to I do to advance my art career - to take it to a new level?" The list below is the essence of "what you do". It may be a revelation to some, seem trite to others or seem like there has to be something more, a silver bullet that the insiders know about. Most of building an art career has to do with getting better and better about doing the fundamentals and enjoying the road along the way. If you're just starting or looking to go on to the bigger and/or better, DOING, this list will get you there.

Where is there? That is for you to envision - as well as your picture of abundance.

THE LIST

1. DECIDE! Yep, decide that you are an artist;

that you will call yourself and artist and that you are in business as an artist. in so doing you set up the elements of belief and image absolutely necessary for success. If you've been at it awhile and have lost some of your focus, recommit. If whatever you would like is truly what you would like, then don't sit on the fence, commit, recommit - DECIDE and DO.

2. Clear Beliefs, Vision and Goals - Everyone has a picture of what they think the artist's life, and their artist's career looks like. Develop and fine tune that vision. It is worth repeating that we generally get (in some form or fashion) what we think about and focus on most in life. Without getting all metaphysical here, give as much substance to your vision and goals as you possibly can - in your mind - "see it and feel it". Then give yourself a set of goals you'd like to see come to pass.

Volumes have been written on goal setting and envisioning. No whining about it "not working for you". It works. One last note on the subject; do not, don't, nada, zip - buy into the "starving artist" thing. We'll talk more about all of this in other areas of the site, for now though - drop that one.

3. Build a strong, cohesive body of art work. Do your very best, craft the work well, don't get precious about pieces that don't measure up, admit it, learn from it and move on. Put together(depending on your medium and its complexity) 5 to 12 pieces you really feel great about. It'll take some time. It'll be well worth it.

4. Document your work with high quality, high resolution digital photos of your art work, preferably in a "tif" format. Slides, web images, CDs print images can all be made from your master tifs as needed.

5. Update your bio, an artist statement and a resume that outlines all your previous exhibitions, education, collectors, and awards

6. Spend time building your art business infrastructure. This includes your business format (sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, corporation), tax IDs, accounting system, inventory system, legal stuff, pricing structure, etc. No fun for most artists, let alone most other business people, but it really is part of a success oriented program.

7. Create a marketing plan. This includes business cards, letterhead, brochures, presentation packs, postcards, newsletter, web site and all the necessary collateral material. It also includes markets you would like to get involved in. Are you interested in gallery sales, selling from your studio, on line markets, art and craft fairs,the limited edition market, licensing, grants, public art projects, It is your picture so build a plan you like. Look at a marketing budget as well.

8. Build, and keep building your resume by participating in relevant shows and exhibitions, publications, trade shows and other events that pertain to your particular market.

9. Get out and make contact with the world. It is very easy as artists to get wrapped up in our work and lose site of the world. Make a commitment to yourself to devote at least so many(?) number of hours per week to the business aspects of your career: visiting galleries and other potential venues, requesting submission guidelines, sending out artist presentation kits, making phone calls, researching opportunities, talking to other artists, looking at web sites and then contacting those you are interested in, networking....

10. Always be professional. Show up on time, craft your work well, make sure your presentations are great looking, show your work beautifully and smartly, send thank you notes. As they say, "the devil's in the details" and professionalism will always win out.

11. Stay Inspired. Continue to develop your skills in your medium. Learn about a new medium, basically, follow the, "Artist's Way" described in the book of the same name by Julia Cameron.

12. Love what you're doing, yes it is hard sometimes to keep it all going. It is your choice however, and you chose to do it because of the excitement and joy you found in it - return to that "first love" often.

Lists like this are generally simplistic and smack a bit of the "bumper sticker" mentality. At the same time if you come at it with a positive outlook it can be a springboard of inspiration. Throughout Abundant Artist you will find lots of expanded information on subjects touched on in this list. A note to those of you that read this far and are not beginning in the art business, the things on this list can very much be applied to your career efforts as well. Maybe you've gotten out of the networking habit, or your business practices have become a bit lax, or your presentation materials are not fresh. Always be willing to take a look and refine your career.

Do that something wonderful you've always dreamed of!
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