The ArtPerk Straight Shot

Your work can be the most fabulous and appropriate for a juried show, but if the representation you provide in the images you submit with your application fall short, you can go from the top of the selection pile to the reject bin. The single most important thing you must do in entering a juried show is to have perfect images – let’s see how!

You have the choice of film or digital images. Most shows still accept slides, and most also accept CD/DVDs. ArtPerk staff suggest digital images if possible, because you can choose to submit on CD or go online and order slides from the digital files for less than $2 each. With film, you can choose a slide, and then scan it if a digital file is required, but it takes more effort to do that, and a decent scanner.

If the above is already too much for you, consider hiring a professional photographer with experience in art imagery. If you can amass a large body of work, it can be economical to hire a pro. For just one or two images, you may find it to be too expensive. Check with your local art league or club – they sometimes hire an experienced photographer for a day to provide these services for as little as $5 - $10 per piece.  You can also check with local photography schools and clubs to find photographers who may be able to help you for little or no cost.

If you plan to photograph your art on your own, you need to first make sure the plane of the art (angle) is the same as the camera (i.e. the camera needs to be perpendicular to the art). If your work is on an easel and your camera is not also on that slight angle that the easel is, your work will be skewed, and likely appear larger at the base than the top, even if it is square. Next, make sure the camera is set on a large jpeg setting, not small - and of course, we recommend using RAW if you have a digital SLR and if you're comfortable with shooting RAW images. Make sure you have even, soft lighting, with no hot spots or glare. Often, this can be accomplished by removing glass from any glass-encased art, and then placing your work outside on a slightly cloudy day.

It can take some trial and error, but if you make sure you have the same angle, soft lighting, and no glare, you can well represent your work to jurors.

The headlines tell it all – 2008 will go down as a year of losses. The housing market, subprime mortgages, the stock market, joblessness. How can an artist hope to survive (or dare we say it, thrive) in this type of market?

Many galleries and artists are reporting that sales slowed to a near halt abruptly in October and that the holidays have not provided the usual help. A few artists are seeing no decline….no decline? How could that be?

The artists who are succeeding in a down market have made their art more affordable, by being flexible, creative, and realistic. Instead of making new, large paintings that sell for thousands, consider some smaller pieces, or items that can be duplicated. One Virginia artist sells four by four inch block paintings, while still working steadily on larger, more expensive pieces. A Maryland photographer offers high quality notecards featuring his most popular images. Others are economizing on supplies and buying more in bulk.

The comments of artist Judith Heartsong (below) illustrates how marketing, outreach, good deeds of donations, working publicly, and more marketing can take a downturn for most and make it an upturn for you. One market survey of high-end shoes recently concluded that buyers of Prada shoes are not going to start buying $20 shoes now, they will just buy fewer Pradas.

Start this week – lay out your own Recession Survival Plan. Open your mind to alternative projects, different ways of working, and more marketing and visibility. Be seen, do good deeds for nonprofits you support, network with buyers, other artists and an inquisitive public. Most important, find your method of surviving and thriving.

Artist Judith Heartsong (www.judithheartsong.com) was kind enough to respond to a few questions about how she is surviving and thriving…

I am starting to move toward the print market with current economic challenges, and this summer got my first suite of four paintings picked up by Princess Cruise Line to have limited edition/signed prints made that are now offered for sale on their ships. The deal will help with name recognition, and I am also in conversations with others about more prints. Networking through LinkedIn, keeping an art-centric daily blog, and always looking out for opportunities to market my work is just a part of the business, but I do understand that some artists hate the prospect of doing their own marketing. Marketing your art is a skill that can be learned and there are lots of books and online resources to help.

I frequently donate art to worthy causes that I believe in, and have served on committees to organize events both here in metropolitan DC and previously in Florida. Joining organizations like the Washington Project for the Arts, ArtDC.org, or the Women's Caucus for Art provide opportunities to meet like-minded individuals and also offer the chance to take your art in directions you might not previously have thought of.

I don't think I necessarily start working smaller with current market trends, I am just very careful to keep my process economical and environmentally responsible as far as getting the best prices I can on supplies and using everything that I have in the studio responsibly (cutting down on waste.) My pricing structure is competitive and I have numerous satisfied commission clients who are glad to offer a good recommendation.

My new studio space in VisArts at Rockville (The Metropolitan Center for the Visual Arts, in Maryland) is a tremendous opportunity to work and be seen in a public venue and their event space is consistently reserved for meetings, parties, and local events so people are constantly filing through the artists' concourse. With three galleries and numerous classes offered, there is always something happening at the art center. The studios are completely transparent with glass walls that allow the public to view everything happening, and the classroom activities can also be observed through large glass windows.

All in all I am not changing my strategy drastically. My clients are still buying art and are still supporting artists, and I believe that long term we should all continue doing what we are doing... after all, what would the world be like without art?