One thing that I am always trying to look for is additional ways to increase sales. While most of my sales come from art festivals, I do generate sales from gallerys and what I call "annual" shows. I know many artists don't like showing in gallerys, mainly for the high commission cost associated with these types of sales, and that is understandable. I guess I look at it not as losing 40-50% when I sell in a gallery, but I make 40-50% more when I sell otherwise. But that's not really what I want to focus on here.
I wanted to look at these so called annual type shows. I currently participate in 4 of these sort of shows per year, 3 are in retail art galleries, and 1 at another venue. The great thing about these shows is that my sole responsibility is creating the work, and making sure it's there on time. Everything else is handled by the show. These types of shows tend to be large, group shows with many artists invloved. Thus, for the most part I am limited to the amount of pieces I can send to the show. For these shows, I send between 2 - 3 original works, which work great as I am not committing a great deal of time. I do ensure that my work, and framing is of the highest quality as I want to be invited back the following year. Yes, another benefit, I only need to jury into 1 of the 4 shows, and the other 3 have no jury selection process (other than the gallery owner liking your work).
In my "research" I have found that there are hundreds, if not thousands of these shows in North America on a yearly basis. Some are held in "retail" galleries, and many are held at museums, art clubs, and other art venues. Many of these shows are what tend to be called "miniature shows". This normally means that the actual artwork (frame not included) needs to be under a certain size, say 120 - 140 square inches. These "limitations" allow for me to work on smaller pieces, framing costs stay low, and shipping costs also remain reasonable.
So where do you find these shows. The way I was able to find these and others that I hope to participate in was by spending time and visiting websites of other artists. Most artists (myself included) have a page showing upcoming shows or events. Most also include links to the website of the show. This has been a very easy way to go about finding shows, and then seeing if my work might fit into the show. From there, sometimes you need to do nothing more than send an email (make sure your website link is included in the email) and ask about participating in the show. Other times you will find the information needed for applying to the show. Sometimes you will be invited to a show, which was how I got into 1 of the above 4 shows, even easier.
Having 2 - 3 works in a show won't likely make you a wealth person, but it will hopefully add some money to your bottom line. The other benefit, your work will be seen by a different segment of collectors, and by more people.
My one caution is this (just my opinion), don't increase your prices by the commission rate to make up for it. I know this is something many artists hate, but hear me out. Most painters (not all) price work based on size. So if you bought a 10"x10" painting from me and paid $500.00 at a gallery show and then noticed that I sell that same size painting on-line or otherwise for $250.00 you will question this, and wonder if you have paid to much. This will likely lead you to feel ripped-off and thus I have done far more harm than good. If you venture into these types of shows, just understand that this is one of the trade offs of doing so. From experience I can honestly say that they have been very great experiences and have certainly added additional revenue for me.
I hope this will give people some additional ideas, and lead to more sales.
