The economy

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Permalink Reply by Linda Anderson on July 13, 2011 at 4:36pm

Halfway thru my season - May thru October - I must once again respectifully disagree.  I got into a show this past weekend, replacing a pricier Amdur Gold Coast show.  A painter friend of mine did over $25,000 and has three additional commissions.  A photographer friend of mine did over $20,000 easy and I didn't do too badly either.  Attendees did not hesitate at any price range.  Where - recessed ? Michigan.  Here is the bottom line.  The last couple of years made me reassess what shows I would do and the need to keep the work fresh - new ideas, new images, new presentations.  I try to now stay away from the shows that in past years bring in the less affluent middle class.  Nearly any show this year will take late applicants.  I'm bringing new work, using new marketing skills and going places I didn't think about in prior years.  It's a constant thought process - it's working 24/7 analyzing what the buying public wants.  If you are presenting work you've made for many years and participating in an event that in 2010 brought you less than 2009...... well, let's just say you are getting what you should be expecting. 

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Permalink Reply by Linda A Shields on July 13, 2011 at 5:34pm

You know we are all trying to ignore the elephant in the room here.

Let's be truthful: we are in a severe recession.

If some artists are making it, well, people prospered through the great depression also.

Research, spredsheets, MSPs.... use them all, if you think it works. Wisper secret codes, call promoters, use voodoo.....LOL

Read the life of the great artists. They all suffered. Why not we of lesser greatness?

This is our life.

Endure.

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Permalink Reply by Carla Bank on July 13, 2011 at 11:15pm

Mmmm, just did the Chicago Tribune show...I did good but my neighbor did GREAT. His most inexpensive painting was 2,300.00 ("small") and his most expensive 3,900.00 ("big") I saw him selling at least 4 big ones and 4 smalls. His sells gorgeous peaceful abstracts, he told me he quit his corporate job to de what he loves to do and he is making a good living. He has been doing shows for 2 years. He did Wells St show and did great too. This keeps me inspired. Linda Anderson, I'm with you :)

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Permalink Reply by Leslie Christopher Bookout on July 13, 2011 at 11:50pm

Wow! My first show barely covered the gas money to get home. My second one cleared about a hundred bucks. I gotta get out of Wyoming.

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Permalink Reply by Megan Martin on July 13, 2011 at 10:48pm

Hmmm... As of the end of April my gross sales had totaled my entire 2010... I think it has very much become about making sure you are putting yourself in the right places for your work - and I'm new enough at this that I don't make all the right choices yet - but I get a little smarter each and every show/month.  People are thinking more about their purchases, so making a personal connection to your buyers has become even more important.

 

And pulling back local isn't necessarily a bad strategy - neither is spending some of that time/money/energy you would have spent traveling to improve your web presence....

 

Oh, I also probably should mention that my husband's income has decreased to 25% of what it was just four years ago - so if my art business doesn't make a profit, I can't make art. We can't afford to float credit to keep it going while things are tough....

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Permalink Reply by Annette Piper on August 1, 2011 at 9:24am

Thought you might be interested in this article that arrived in my inbox today

The Luxury Consumption Index (LCI) dropped 16.8 points to 66 points in the second quarter, down from 82.8 points in the first quarter and closer to the level seen at the onset of the recession, the latest data from Unity Marketing shows.....

 

Read it at http://www.nationaljeweler.com/nj/independents/retail-surveys/artic...

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Permalink Reply by Robin Chard on Tuesday

I've been reading this thread with a lot of interest as I dropped out last year to take a year off until the economy turned around.

I think everyone has good points about the situation, and yes, if you have the right product you will always sell.

I just hit a series of shows that I just broke even and then had to remake stock. I've been having shows that people will appoligize and say, "I'm the only one in my family still working." Yeah, like I'm going to press that lady hard?!#?$%?.

I'm a silversmith that uses real gems and the coments on my work are just so strange. Everyone thinks they are pretty. But dispite signage, people don't know the difference between silver and silver-tone, They don't know the difference between crystals, glass and topaz.

I have my rings set up in trays that are organized in sizes, each has a tag with the price on one side and the size on the other. I can not tell you how many people have handed me a ten dollar bill for a size 8 ring that is sixty five dollars. Then they become embarrased and run from the booth. One time I even made a sign showing the pricing on the rings and how it worked. I had a big tag drawn, and put an 8 on one side and a 60 on the other and the next six people asked if they were all sixty dollars. My sister was helping me and she said, "I don't know how you do it."

And on top of that the competition to get into shows when you make jewelry is very bad. I tried to plan a february trip to South Florida and did not get into one of the 4 shows I applied to. This was just after I finished St. James Court in Louisville.

 

Sorry, I know I've gone on,, I just miss the shows. and making more art. Somebody tell me it's good out there and I should continue.....

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Permalink Reply by Annette Piper on Tuesday

Hi Robin,

Re: people not knowing the difference between sterling/silver tone and crystal/glass/topaz - I so know where you're coming from.  If the normal (as in uneducated in jewellery) goes to a jewellery store they believe everything is "real" - even the synthetic stones and I'm sure a lot of jewellery store staff don't always enlighten them on the synthetics!   But if they go anywhere else to buy their jewellery they assume it must be costume jewellery - glass/resin etc., they really don't care.    There is a boutique in a town not that far from me that sells $250 manufactured (from China!) resin necklaces - I'm selling a necklace made from gemstones for the same price (or less) and people hesitate!?   I've found signage doesn't work most of the time, you have to enlighten people - when people come into my booth and say how lovely something is, I often tell them that everything is gemstones, pearls and sterling silver.  With the rings - could you put a SZ in front of the ring size and a $ sign in front of the price?

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