Make your art your living.

Make your art your living.

 

Deciding that you wish to push your art career further can be a brave decision, but if you're well prepared for what lays ahead you'll be ready for the trip. There are many things to consider when starting your artistic career, not just working hard on your studio practice but building your online presence, creating a network and establishing your name. 

 

Firstly, have a body of work that truly represents your practice, a series that you can talk of confidently and is evident of progression. Once you've done that uploading your portfolio to sites such as Saatchi online, Behance, tumblr and blog spot becomes a breeze and stands alone as a solid practice. Alongside have ready a c.v that should have a brief statement about your work (i'll come back to this), your education and exhibitions listed separately. Maybe consider an info@ email address as a contact detail to keep some privacy whilst making yourself available and professional.

 

Now, the statement is paramount. Keep it relatively short at about 300 words maximum, so you'll have to be concise. Break it into three sections 1) Your discipline 2) Your rationale 3) How these come together in objectives and with influences. The best piece of advice I have been given is to not see yourself as working in a medium, but what it is that you are interested in, such as a tactile artist. Please avoid overcomplicated long wordy sentences. Although some people may love picking these apart, you have seconds to grasp someone so don't  push  them away with your words. Think of your statement as a 30 second pitch. For more advice read the Guardian's blog on writing an artist statement .

 

So now that you're ready to throw yourself to the masses, get onto social media. A Facebook artist page is necessary, as is a twitter account and the up and coming ArtStack. With these accounts let  your personality through, respond to tweets that come through your feed and familiarise yourself with tweet deck so that you maintain a presence, with a few tweets a day. Photographs will always be popular posts, and therefore a great way to connect with new followers and cement your name with existing ones.

 

Networking in person is just as valuable, if not more so. Keep up to date with gallery private views by signing up to mailing lists, checking exhibition listings, and Facebook invites will serve you well. Just as good opportunities are artists talks, conferences, evening classes, art events in cafés and community projects. Look at Hundred Years gallery and Rio cinema for one off and well attended art events. These occasions will be a hotspot for artists, gallerists and people looking to collaborate even a few collectors. Just be friendly and willing to talk to anyone and everyone, and the evening will create the contacts for you.

 

Be sure to follow up on the people you met, either through email, Twitter or Facebook. This way your Twitter presence becomes more active, and in turn making people aware of your name. Also your Facebook event invites won't get lost in the post as they recognise the sender.

 

Most importantly find a gallery. Now not every artist feels it necessary to work with a gallery, but I am of the belief that gaining gallery representation gives you a platform, a better chance of sales through an established collectors group and leaves you to focus on your work a tad more, but this isn't the best option for everyone. Look for galleries who sell work similar to your own in medium and price range as they'll have the relevant collectors and know how to market your work. Once you've chosen the galleries to contact do send out emails, but phone the gallery beforehand to ask for the relevant address and name. Keep it brief, give your name, a quick introduction and attach your C.V and a few images so that they can decide whether to contact you for further information. Don't live up to your given artist stereotype. Be quick to reply with all relevant information, such as prices, dimensions, and weight should there be the option of sending your work out- answer all questions posed to you.

 

If you need a bit more guidance and knowledge, then I recommend Be Smart About Art. Susan Mumford runs events to help artists find their feet in the art world with courses such as the 3 day Artists Bootcamp and Dos and Don'ts for Artists seeking representation, more info here.

 

Good Luck!- Sinéad