Art Biz Blog

Unofficial survey: Obstacles to art career success

Here are two big questions for you. The answers will also benefit me and the services I provide at ArtBizCoach.com.

1.
What is the biggest obstacle you face in promoting your art?
(examples: time to make art, time for the business stuff, lack of knowledge, lack of confidence, space, negative people, . . . )

2.
What change could you make in 2008 that would have the biggest positive impact on your art career?

Leave your answers by clicking on "Comments." I can't wait to read them!

Resource alert: So, you want to lead art tours around the world . . .

Ever dreamed of getting paid to travel the world? Maybe you've considered leading art and art-making tours to share your love of cultural travel with others. And, hey, you want to make some money at it, too.

Go For It! Leading Tours for Fun and Profit, by Cynthia Morris, shows you step-by-step how to design, market and lead tours abroad or in your own neck of the woods. Cynthia has led successful creativity tours in France and shares money and headache-saving tips to make it easy to launch your own tours.

Get this handy e-guide before the inaugural rate of $49 goes up to $69 on January 2nd!

Ho, ho, ho! I'm coming to Chicago!

Okay, I know that title will work only so much longer, so I have to use it while I can.

Monday, December 31 is the deadline for early registration for my workshop for Chicagoland artists. The basics:

"I'd Rather Be in the Studio! But I Have to Eat!"
A No-Excuses Art Marketing Workshop
Saturday, January 26
Lake Forest, IL
9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
$75 until Monday, $95 after Monday

Sponsored by the Deer Path Art League. Get the details and register.

(Assuming everything goes as planned, my book should make its debut at the workshop. You can order until the end of the year with a discount and with free shipping. Clock is ticking.)

Deep Thought Thursday: The Museum’s Responsibility to Local Artists

I spent the day after Christmas at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. It had recently been expanded and I hadn’t been down to see it. The experience--as usual--was a respite in the middle of the hectic holidays. And the expansion by Tryba Architects was just perfect for this historical structure.

What I noticed most was that the CSFAC does a fantastic job of showcasing Colorado artists. Not just from the Springs, but from all over the State. And not just deceased Colorado artists, but many who are still alive and kicking. I loved seeing this! I love getting local flavor when I visit a museum and hope that I do the same at other regional museums. However, I know this isn’t the case. In an effort to appear as a “big player,” most museums try to build up their collections to appear more national and international in scope. This often results in weaker collection. Not everyone can have the best examples from Mesopotamia, the Maya Kingdom, and ancient China. Those to hop on board the international train are often left with whatever is available, which isn't usually top drawer.

Why not be the BEST? Why not have a responsibility to interpreting and supporting the best artists in your community?

Admittedly, this was not my pure angle when I was a curator. I wanted to show the exotic and the new in my exhibitions. Collections, however, were different. I believe I was strongly supportive of adding local artists to the collections.

As a former museum professional, I must say that not every museum has (nor should they have) a part of their mission devoted to collecting and exhibiting work by local artists. However, we need some museums to take on this responsibility. What do you think?

(If you want to know more about how museums work, check out The Artist-Museum Relationship e-book and CD.)

PS: When will museum boards realize that if they have a Dale Chihuly chandelier in the entry they end up looking like every other museum entry in the country? I love a good Dale Chihuly as much as the next person, but let’s stop this cliché.

The artist's workspace

If you haven't been yet, you might want to spend a little bit of time at On My Desk, a site that reveals artists' desks and workspaces. Lots of photos.

Found on Lee Kottner's list of art blogs she reads.

Podcast: Plan your art career wins for 2008

Listen in on this week's podcast—an audio version of the Art Marketing Action newsletter.

This is my favorite action to share each year. Take time to write down all you have accomplished instead of focusing on what is yet to be done.

[4 min. 54 sec.]

Subscribe to the Art Marketing Action podcast at iTunes.

2007 Highlights

As promised, I sat down for two hours last Thursday and went over my 2007 accomplishments. Early in the year, I decided that the theme for 2007 would be The Big Leap. I even made some motivational cards and laminated them to help inspire me. You can check those out by clicking on “Continue Reading” at the end of this post.

Here is some of what I accomplished.

Presented 8 workshops in 6 states to about 330 artists.
Visited three additional states for pleasure and 11 new art institutions.
Began and kept up a yoga practice.
Led 7 month-long (or longer) online classes, 3 free teleseminars, and 7 other teleseminars. Led a one-week Web site makeover class. Clint Watson's Web site marketing teleseminars are still a favorite.
Had 2300 new subscribers to the Art Marketing Action newsletter.
Increased income 48%! (Joined “Rich Women” group to focus on finances.)
Opened high-yield money market.
Read 18 or so books and partially read numerous others.
Put weekly podcasts into place.
Created the Inner Circle (recently disbanded). Lasted 8 months and met some wonderful people through it.
Attended seven educational workshops and classes.
Met three clients face-to-face as they passed through Colorado: Gay Pogue, Ellen Soffer, and Tamara Burgh.
Caught the best early powder of the ski season in Crested Butte.

And some more highlights . . .

Best nonfiction book read: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Best fiction book read: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (I’m not much of a fiction reader. My goal was two novels this year and I read four.)
By the way, both of those books had stellar covers!

Best biz books that would also be good for artists to read(I can’t choose just one): The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott; Pop! Stand Out in Any Crowd by Sam Horn; Your Attention, Please. by Paul B. Brown and Alison Davis; and BRAG! by Peggy Klaus.

Best cookbook discovery that will save you time with easy menus: Glorious One-Pot Meals by Elizabeth Yarnell

Favorite Ecstatic Art Encounters: Morris Louis exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta; Kiki Smith installation at the de Young Museum in San Francisco; Deborah Oropallo exhibit also at the de Young; and the recently mentioned Larry Poons painting at the Denver Art Museum

Favorite Ecstatic Architecture Encounter: The Sea Ranch Chapel, designed by James T. Hubbell.

Oh, yeah, and I finished I'd Rather Be in the Studio!, my 250-page book!

Have you made your list?

Been tagged: 5 Things You Don’t Know About Me

Kesha Bruce recently tagged me. I’ve been tagged before, but it was early on in the “tagging” phenomenon and I never participated. So, this is for all of those that have tagged me.

5 Things You Don’t Know About Me

1. I worked in the U.S. Senate from 1986 to 1988. Okay, you may know that, but you probably didn’t know that I shook the hands of these people: Lesley Stahl, Bob Woodward, William H. Webster (CIA director), Elizabeth Dole (then Secretary of Transportation) and too many others to mention. George Tenet (recently “retired” CIA director) was then my boss’s point-man on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was in my office all of the time (along with all of the other Intelligence whisperers). One year, my boss gave me his one ticket to the State of the Union address and I sat two rows behind Nancy Reagan.

I also appeared on the front page of the New York Times--sitting behind Robert Gates (now the Defense Secretary) during his first confirmation hearing to become head of the CIA (didn’t work for him at that time). My boss was Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, which was why I got the front-row seat.

2. I sew. Not so much anymore, but now I sew when I need something. Like this giant “kimono” (it isn’t functional) I made for our stairwell. I always wanted a huge kimono on the wall.

3. My dream adventure is to Egypt.

4. I’m a devotee of acupuncture.

After my 19 1/2-year-old cat died last year, I experienced depression for the first time in my life. Always trying to avoid any kind of medication, I got through it in just two acupuncture treatments. I can highly recommend Renae Einspahr, my friend and healer.

5. I have a healthy (not a word my husband would use here) appetite for any book or documentary about Hitler, Stalin, or other dictator. I took a ton of history in college, including a lot of Russian history. And I guess I’m just fascinated with power and those who abuse it.

bonus: #6. I have known my husband (Robert J. Harrington) since we were eleven. We went to the same elementary, junior high, and high schools and graduated in the same class.

We never dated through school, but we both went to the University of Oklahoma and then to graduate school at the University of Texas. He was in the math and physics departments and I was in the art department. Somehow, we never knew the other one was on campus. There were no physics-art mixers! But we re-met at our 10-year high school reunion and then again at our 20-year reunion.

We were married 4 years ago (12/26) at the Congregational Church in Crested Butte, Colorado. (We're kinda slow.)

Oh, yeah, now I have to tag 5 others. I tag Cynthia Morris, Rachelle Disbennett-Lee, Casey Klahn, Deb Chaney, and Jamie Lindholm.

 

Christmas Eggnog: Not for the faint of heart

A holiday gift for you to prepare in advance. Make sure you let the flavors come together at least overnight.

A couple of years ago I shared this eggnog recipe with readers. This stuff is the nectar of the gods.

Those who were raised on eggnog from a carton won't like it. Those who despise eggnog because they think real eggnog tastes like that from a carton will be shocked. I've made many an eggnog convert with this amazing recipe. The story of how it came to be part of our holiday tradition is on the document.

Also, I'm throwing in my favorite gingersnap recipe. I no longer eat wheat flour, but this was a staple for years. Enjoy these recipes and get your eggnog ready!

Deep Thought Thursday: Great art and time

This just in . . .

Great art doesn't resist time so much as seem spookily exempt from its course, as if the artist foresaw the future and, unimpressed, simply snubbed it.

--Peter Schjeldahl