Local Artists in Cleveland, Ohio

Supporting Local Artists in Cleveland, Ohio

Artists are people too!

And we need to eat, buy gas for our cars, feed our growing children just like the rest of the working world.

But sometimes it is hard to convince non artists that we are working to make a living.

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Life in the Artist's Lane

Or Why Aren't Artists Taught How to Run a Business In Art School?

I am a gallery owner and an artist. Every day I deal with both artistic and business issues. And I came to art as a career in a roundabout way, later in life after having careers in sales and also in retail.

What amazes me on a daily basis is that most people do not consider artists small business people or entrepreneurs! Even many artists themselves! No one ever taught them to run a business. In art school they learn to be creative, resourceful, and flexible as artists, but they never learn how to market themselves, sell their work, or to find out who might be interested in giving them money for the work that they labor so intensely on.

And trust me, no one works harder than an artist.

Why are many artists starving? Because they don't know how to be businesspeople or even when they need to hire businesspeople to represent them.

As a gallery owner, I am the person who makes sure the artist understands the business side of things. It is a good thing that I picked up a few things in my former careers.

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Life in the Gallery Biz

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The Pros and Cons of Being in a Gallery

Why are some artists only found at shows?

There are lots of excellent reasons for artists to put their work in a gallery as long as the gallery fulfills their promises to the artist. However, there are always artists who will only sell their work directly. Why?
Well, let's start with why a gallery? Here are the benefits that a gallery can give to an artist:

Legitimacy--If you are in a gallery, many people take you more seriously as an artist.

Year Round Consistent Exposure--A good gallery will keep your work fresh, rotate it, and market for you.

A Representative Agent--The gallery will act as your agent to proactively sell your work to the public and possibly other venues.

PR and Marketing--The gallery should routinely be doing PR and marketing to promote you and other artists in the gallery.

But here are some reasons that artists don't want to be in a gallery:

Profit on each piece is less because the artist has to give the gallery a commission (typically 30 to 60%)

The artist loses control over the sale.

The artist doesn't get to meet every customer.

The artist needs to have enough work to sell some of it in a gallery (and many are not that prolific).

Some artists just don't want to deal with galleries.

Blog Posts about Cleveland Artists

Cleveland Rocks! Announces Official Call for Visual Artists ...: Cleveland Rocks! Announces Official Call for Visual Artists - Press release Source: Gibson Guitar Cleveland Rocks!Cleveland Rocks!, the public art project presented by Epiphone Guitar officially announced its call for visual artists.
Cleveland Artists Foundation to host series of summer events ...: The Cleveland Artists Foundation is hosting a lineup of summer events including parties, outings, tours and dinners. These events are host-sponsored which means that each ticket sale goes directly toward supporting the Cleveland Artists ...
WIN Cleveland Handmade: etched metal blue leaf ACEO by Copper Leaf ...: Then either visit our artists page or search Etsy for the ?clevelandteam? tag and check out some items from other Cleveland Handmade member artists. Come back and leave a comment on this post telling us your favorite item from Copper ...
Cleveland Artists Emerge!: Danielle Deboe, owner of Room Service, transformed the 3000 square foot empty retail space into a dazzling showroom highlighting some of Cleveland's most talented designers and artists. I've always loved Cleveland . . . but last night, ...