The business side of things

Nov. 14, 2012

I worked at the Ebb Tide Gallery doing my time of service there and spent a good while speaking to Kathy Thurston, who is president of the gallery.  I am scheduled to leave the gallery at the end of December for the simple reason I haven't sold enough work to cover my rent there. She suggested I get work made into tiles. I know from looking at the sales figures that they keep regular cash flow for her and she seems to cover rent.  Unfortunately, it is likely I would need to order more than I can afford now but it is worth checking out before the end of the year.  Selling one larger piece between now and the end of the year would make it possible to stay there and perhaps order tiles to pay the rent. I will keep my fingers crossed.  In the gallery the business side of art is forced upon you: the logistics of hanging and changing the layout, money, planning for the future, doing things to keep traffic coming in and ways to draw the community and visitors into the gallery who will view and hopefully purchase art.

Back home, I found time to work with the pencils again, focusing on the soothing and serene side of the artist's equation.  Maybe tomorrow, someone will buy one of my works and the two sides of the equation will balance.