2011 News
Lifestyles Restail Store- Valparaiso, Indiana
11.01.11
I want to increase my marketing and have more of a presence in stores and galleries, since I do not do many art fairs. One venue I can pursue which offers lots of potential are retail art stores, rather than art galleries. These are stores which offer a wider variety of art, usually at cheaper prices. Usually they also have non-art items for sale too- books, decor. I found a website for a store called Lifestyles about 90 minutes away. It is a very large
independent retail/art store- the first floor has decor/games/books, and the second floor has all art- glass, stone, paintings. I dropped off a lot of canvas prints, and have returned once because they sold so fast. This shows me that smaller market venues can be just as good as city stores.
Portfolio Workshop
09.20.11
I attended a portfolio workshop put on my the Chicago Artists' Coalition this last weekend. I was a little advanced compared to the others there, a mixture of recently graduated art students and older part-timers. There were several speakers, the most interesting to me was an internet specific brand consultant. The summary of his material was about controlling your personal 'brand' online. Your online brand is the sum of all online content about yourself- Facebook, Yelp reviews, LinkIn profiles, blogs, etc. Because of the diversity of content and sites, it is hard to control all the information about yourself. The most important step to doing so is to pre-empt information out of your control by creating profiles at the most important sites. Google searches for specific people and brands draw their information for mostly a couple main sources- like the relatively new Google Profiles. So if you control the info at those main sources, you can have a good handle on most searches for you.
Unfortunately for me, my name is a very popular one. A Google or Bing search for 'Justin Miller' returns top results for an NFL player and baseball player with the same name. Any reference to myself is confined to the 5th or 6th page or later. Unlikely searchers may even end up on Justin Bieber's home page. Searches for 'Justin D Miller' or 'Justin Miller art or painter' turn out better.
The New York Condos- Lakeview, Chicago
09.07.11
I set up my exhibit at this building on Lake Shore Drive last week. They have a high-traffic hallway space adjacent to their lobby that they have rotating art in. I received an email from the property manager there, who had heard my name from another property manager I did an exhibit at. After looking at the space, I decided to display pigment print canvases due to security. There are security cameras in the hall, but the desk manager is in another room. I took about 14 canvases there, setup was easy. I expect them to be up for at least 2 months, but there is no take down date as of yet. I'll leave them up as long as they want.
Bucktown Art Fair
08.27.11
The only art fair I will be doing this year, the Bucktown Arts Fest is this weekend, August 27-28. I will be on the street section, booth 176. This is my favorite Chicago art fair, due to the great setting, usually great weather, and type of art I like. 11am to 7pm, Senior Citizens Memorial Park
Fields of Green Album Cover Art
08.02.11
Even though this was last year's news, I never scanned it in or made a record until now. A Canadian indie band from British Columbia saw some of my art on DeviatArt, and inquired if they could license some of it for their next album, called Blanktown. They couldn't decide between the red 'Passage' and the green 'Inner Space'. Eventually they used both. When it was complete they sent me the disk- here is the Cover, here is the Inset.
Sacred Art 2 Years +
07.20.28
I recently stopped by to update my inventory at the Sacred Art store in Lincoln Square area. I have a bin with standard prints there that sells several every month. Previously, they only told me how many prints sold each month, not which ones, so I had no idea what the inventory was. This is a good store with over 100 artists, which bills itself as selling 'handmade art and accessories'. Besides the standard 2D work, there are a number of household items- glassware, magnets, jewelry, ceramics. But this is not an 'art gallery' store, instead they focus on function and fun, rather than high-end items for display only. If I ever open an art store/gallery, this is the model I would want to use.
Pigment Prints on Canvas
06.13.11
Today the last of my large canvas reproduction orders arrived. After finding a quality source and testing them out, I went ahead and ordered an inventory of best sellers. The product is geared toward photographers, but is just as good for the art market. I did notice the initial product appears flat (they use a UV coating), lacking the depth and color saturation of the original oil paintings. After 3 coats of damar varnish however, I was unable to tell the difference between the reproduction and the original from several feet away. I think this will be a good product, and will bridge the gap for a buyer who wants more than the flat print, but doesn't want to spend the money for a painting.
Walkers Gallery
06.25.11
I recieved an unsolicited invitation to participate in a group exhibit in San Marcos, Texas, called Homes, Houses and Habitats. I sent some matted full size pigment prints that they framed for display (they have an inventory of frames they use standard, making it easy for me to prepare). Despite the title of the show, half the prints she requested didn't involve homes. Some of her selections were Cloudmakers, Urban Corner, and Beauvais Cathedral.
After the show, she told me about a student who was taking a ceramics class, and he made his project into creating a sculpture based off of 'Welcome Home'. Here is the photo of his finished work.
Etsy Store
04.21.11
I had created an Etsy Store account awhile ago, but didn't do anything with it aside from posting an item or two. In case you are unfamiliar with Etsy, it is a ecommerce site for handmade items. Etsy itself is only the framework, thousands of artists/crafters/other have their own stores there where they list items for sale, like Ebay. I had initially wanted to put up a Paypal order page on my own website, but decided the community mentality was a better direction, and Etsy gives the transaction a safer feel compared to giving your money to a personal site. The community is fun because you can 'favorite' other items or artists, and make wish lists and such. So you can find a favorite artist of yours and see what they like. It also grows like a tree, the longer you are on, the more people find you because you keep getting added to other people's lists.
So recently I logged in again and created items for all my paintings. I did a 'standard print' category, and a 'full size pigment print' category. I didn't do an 'originals' category, figuring if someone wants a painting, they can email me. In the first week I sold one print to someone who had never seen my work before, and was added to a couple lists. Etsy charges a small amount per item posted per month.
Update 09.20.11: The theory of evolving popularity seems to be working, as now several months in I get 10-20 new favorite per week. Still working on turning those into sales though.
Andersonville Galleria
01.10.11
After completing my one-year lease for a half space at this interesting retail art/craft store, I looked at my numbers and decided not to renew. Despite selling a little over 100 prints during the last year, my net income was barely worthwhile. In my opinion, their rent for my space was probably a little high, considering I was on the third floor. When I signed up, I choose a half space over a full one, because I thought I could display everything I wanted to sell in the half space, and doubling my footage would not have doubled sales. I do believe now I was correct in this assessment. If the store were closer to my home, I might have kept going just for the exposure, as long as I was breaking even.
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