The Business of Art

It seems that business and art do not mix. An art enthusiast explained to me that an artist works during the day at a “regular” job, comes home to create at night, stores work in a closet then becomes famous when they finally die after an agonizing monotonous life. This is a common conception and I partially agree...an artist will always create no matter what obstacles are in the way. So, I encourage artists to recognize their creative talent as being a viable business because they need to know what to do with their work once created. Let me be clear...artists do not set out to create an art business. Instead, artists find their artistic passion evolves into a business after time. To keep things simple I define an artist in straightforward terms as one who creates a product and provides a service. This generalization helps break down the barrier between artists and business. We know that a career as an artist is far more complicated but this viewpoint helps ground artists providing a foundation to move toward creating an income from their craft. There is no doubt that art is a highly competitive field. The key is generating public awareness so others, including the artist, can enjoy and benefit from your unique creative abilities. Name recognition and credibility lead to sales which is the solution to successful business and that includes independent professional artists. The means by which an artist promotes the sale of their product and service is just as important as the time and labor put forth in creating. Making It As An Artist by JoA

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