A disappointing show is not enough to make me re-think my trinket philosophy, but a discussion with a fellow AFI-er may have come up with a compromise.
First, the show. Arts in the Gardens, Canandaigua, NY. (Finger Lakes region). There is no shortage of shows in this area and they run the gamut from stick art to fine art and everything in between. The settings are usually lovely which has little to do with sales. This is one of the better ones, with an awesome organization, amenities, etc. But there are drawbacks. A substantial gate fee and the secluded setting come to mind, so the attendance is affected, but this show is well-juried (is that a real term?) and the attendees are serious. Or one would think.
My sales were below average, even with the sales of my entire rack of journals to one person. (I hope this keeps happening to me.) Some folks had a really good day, many were disappointed. The artist dinner with the bottomless wine glasses helped a bit.
So, Sunday morning a member of this group stopped by to say Hi and talk about my "no more trinkets" post. I don't like to use names without permission. She is a wonderful jeweler with distinctive designs. And somehow, in our talks, the idea of putting scans or photos of my collage on cards came up. Selling them as reproductions of original work just might be a money maker.
Eureka. I paced the show looking at the different ways other artists did this.
My collage all use quotes on them, so they translate perfectly to cards. And once I get the image looking good and choose the right settings to print them, they looked pretty nice. Well, good enough to try them out this weekend. If they sell, I'll figure out a way to do it better. Right now I'm printing them on heavy mixed media paper, using our home photo printer, but we do have a professional grade printer in house and my guy has a camera that would have paid our mortgage for several months. I may put him to work. I used spray mount to attach them to card stock.
They will reflect the work I really like to do and will not be the time-consuming operation of creating teeny collages for 5 bucks.
And if I sell even 25 of them I'll have some gas money for our upcoming vacation. Enough to get me from Buffalo to, say, South Buffalo. Maybe enough for one night at a Motel 6.
I'll report back Monday. I really hope this works. I hate sleeping in rest areas.
Comments
Pat, thanks for the kind words about my work! I still think that small, high quality reproductions of the collages are a good compromise between original art and "trinkets." The art has already been created and you get to maximize on that by reproducing it. This is not much of a revelation since artists have been selling reproductions forever. I think the high quality is the key. I also think you should raise the prices on your original art. But you've heard that one before! It was great to meet you and I look forward to our paths crossing again down the road.
Congratulations on selling your whole rack of journals! Pity everything else didn't come into alignment. Lovely setting for a show though :)
Pat, I'm also a collage artist. I make cards using my Epson archival ink printer - and they usually sell quite well at shows. (At my last show, they were really all that sold! Ugh.) I make sets of 6 with a different image on each card. Here's an example: https://www.etsy.com/listing/85465571/set-of-6-greeting-cards-the-s...
Good luck!
I think that is a great idea! Hope it does just what you need.