Would you sell your work for a Volkswagen Bus? Find out how one artist chose to do so rather than make no sale at all. Selling your work out of your own studio is a common and often successful practice for many artists.  What are the best practices for doing so? If you do not have a gallery affiliation or if your gallery allows you to do so, this is a great way to earn money and expose your work to more people.

Open Studio / Studio Visit

Many artists share a studio in a building with other artists. These communal artist studios typically have a collective open studio once or twice a year. The big open studio event can be a great opportunity to expose your work to other artists, curators and collectors.  Other artists may work in a studio in their homes or in a studio apart from other artists. If you can find out when there are open studios in your area, it is a good idea to try to market your open studio with other artists or to schedule it for the same day and send out your invites so that you get more traffic. Other times you may meet with a collector privately in your studio. The best practices presented here can be applied to any open studio or studio visit.

Preparation

Make sure that your studio is clean and orderly. Some artists like to have their materials out as if they are working; others like to make their studio as much like a gallery as possible.

Brad Slaugh, "Running Out", Oil on Canvas, 1997, 24" x 36"

Create identification for your work. You may want to create labels with the title, medium, size, and year completed next to the work of art or you can create a list of works that people can pick up and take around with them. If you want to sell the work it is a good idea to include the prices.

Keep an updated mailing list and create an invitation for the open studio as an email invitation or as a printed invitation. The invitation should look well designed. Make sure you have someone proofread it before sending it. Encourage your contacts to bring others to the open studio. You can also use ArtBistro or other social networking sites to announce your open studio.

A word about mailing lists: It is usually best practice to send the email to yourself and BCC (blind copy) everyone on your list when sending a mass email. That way people know that you have kept their email address private.

Supply some drink and/or food for the occasion to make the event special.

During the Open Studio

Greet your guests and engage them in conversation. Be open and accessible about your work. You don’t need to tell them everything (and don’t go on and on so that they want to get away.) but answer their questions and ask them about themselves.  Do not be intimidating or standoffish.

Open studios are a great opportunity to network too. Meet the new faces. Don’t get so wrapped up in your friends that you do not meet people that who you do not know that come to your studio.

If someone expresses interest in your work or suggests that you should invite someone to your studio or contact someone, follow up with that person.

Brad Slaugh, "Night Chess", Oil on Canvas, 2005, 38" x 50"

Have a mailing list out on which people can write their email or mailing address. If someone signs that is from a gallery or a curator, follow up with them and invite them back for another studio visit when you have new work. Ask them if there may be an opportunity to show your work. If not in their gallery, ask for recommendations. They may have a friend who is curating a  group show that your work would be perfect for.

Brad Slaugh, "Cocktail Hour", 2002, Oil on Canvas, 46" x 96"

Brad Slaugh is my studio landlord. He is an expert on selling artwork out of your studio. He says: “Its about the list of people. Send it to your professional contacts and your friends and family. They will bring their friends and year after year they will bring their friends. Designers are a great resource they often know and bring great clients.”

Regarding selling your work, Slaugh says: “Just chat up the person looking at your work. Tell them the story of that piece. For example, ‘I painted that when I was in Italy last year….’ If they seem interested but say it is a little more than they’d like to pay, you could come down a bit, but you might want to try bartering. Ask them what they do. I’ve sold work for a Volkswagen bus, a scooter, 50 hours of legal work, and I have not had to pay for Great Harvest Bread for years.  There can be great benefits to bartering. Or of course you can barter for money.”

I have a friend who barters art for dental with a dentist that collects art. So there are lots of ways to make money from selling your work out of your studio. In our forum we have some threads for bartering artwork for goods or services.

When a price is agreed upon, and you have received payment make sure that the piece is delivered safely and packed well if they are not taking it with them.

Brad Slaugh, "Night Crawler", Oil on Canvas, 1997, 14" x 11"

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