Local Cafes Are Known to Supports the Arts

Local Cafes are offering more of their wall and hanging spaces to local artist.   It’s not easy making a living these days and rather than buying art and decorated your cafe, restaurant or eatery you can help an artist out.  I decided to share some of my art work with the public. I had a chance to exhibit in one of my favourite locations, the Distillery District. My favourite Café Uno restaurant kindly said they would host my art work on their walls in their establishment.  We could not use the walls for hanging unfortunately, because they have rules about drilling holes into heritage buildings.  However, I did have some beams and windows to hang.  Sharing personal creativity can leave one feeling extremely vulnerable and powerful.   It’s a silent version of giving a lecture speech to large crowd of strangers.

Marketing Artwork and Discovering Your Own Brand Personality

My creative process does not begin with the purpose to sell, but if I can make profits from my artistic process I am more than happy.  More money to spend on future painting supplies.   These things are not exactly cheap.  Displaying art work in public is a great opportunity to gain exposure and market yourself. The results may even be a monetary gain for a painting or two.  People like to connect with the art work they see.  Personality branding is important in the art world.  Writing a little information on the background story and your inspiration and motivation to paint are often captivating and insightful.  Artist are not immune to marketing and it helps to do some small business storytelling about yourself that will interest people.

Creating The Value of Art Work

Pricing your art work can be challenge, but to have a value is necessary.   This is always a difficult decision for me but with practice and experience I have grown a better understanding of what my art work is worth. I factor in the cost of supplies, time and effort I put into the art work.

I made the mistake of undervaluing my art work in the past, and had my art work sell quickly beneath my eyes.   I knew it didn’t feel right immediately.  Some of my art pieces might not look like there is a lot of time invested but taking apart the computers was very time consuming and physically demanding sometimes. The recycled objects that have been added to the collage are very unique and would be a challenge to      find again.

Another mistake is to over value  art work and have interested buyers walk away immediately when they see the price tag.  Some say it’s better to start high, but not to high and then go down in price in small increments.  I learned from this mistake as well.  I consider the emotional attachment I may have to the to the art work as well. Keep in mind  how much it would take to replicate, and the value of the invested materials and time.   Unless each art piece is completely created with the purpose to share with the world you may want these considerations when deciding on a price for your work.  Or if finances are not an issue simply spread your pieces around and offer them for fundraisers.