Like David, I am also trying to build a career involving galleries and museum shows.

But I do make a living from the sale of art. I have for years. In my life, it IS “sell or die.”

I also make money from my hobbies, like fixing up old houses and selling them. I don’t have to do that, but the extra money is nice while the hard work is artistically restorative.

There are other possible conclusions.

One is that art could be the main focus of a person’s life, and therefore not a hobby, but that they have found other ways to supplement their income. Another possibility is that the person already has gallery representation, and chooses to sell their work through that system. I fall into both categories. Perhaps one or both apply to others here as well.

(I have, fairly often, told people that a painting they were interested in buying was not yet available. Generally I don’t offer my work for sale until I’ve had the chance to exhibit it. Gallery and museum shows are an important part of the career I’ve been trying to build.)

I also appreciate the cross-disciplinary discussion. i have learned a lot about how photographers think about image-making, for example. I’m looking forward to learning more about fiber also. I have spent a lot of time with fiber in the context of paper making.

I’ve been pushing the online selling idea lately, but today I have been thinking about it more and I realize that while it is a fine idea, it is not really part of the implicit social contract of this site as it is now. We came together for discussion. Selling would be a new departure. Realizing this, I begin to take a more cautious attitude about selling. I stand by the ideas I wrote earlier. But I think that perhaps forming a group around the idea of selling would be the way to do it. Art & Perception is a group that formed around the idea of discussing art. It’s important to respect that, I realize.

The key for me was having some confidence in the artist. As Lisa points out, things like A&P can do a lot to build the credibility it takes to get a potential customer to feel confident enough to commit to a purchase.

Interesting observation Jon. I can see why you come to that conclusion. This is to be the topic of my first post (next wednesday) so I’ll try to explain myself better there.

Tracy - to elaborate on my comment about buying your work sight unseen. First, I would definitely go through one of your galleries for the reasons Karl mentioned. But your blog is the reason I would be comfortable doing so. I’ve been watching how you work through your blog over the last 6+ months and through that source I have no doubt as to the quality of your work.

I don’t think I’d buy just any work off the internet sight unseen as it seems too risky and I would certainly never try to make a living selling art this way. But your blog assures me that there is little risk in your case. Many of the artists on my “want to buy” list have blogs that I’ve been reading. While they may not all be intended as direct marketing/sales tools I think they add a lot of credibility to the artists.

And that I think is the value of A&P as Jon mentioned above not necessarily a direct sales tool (although we might be able to pull that off) but as
a tool to lend credibility, which is very important in the marketplace.

And that I think is what is key for us to keep in mind as we move forward. I’m with Rex in thinking we want to set the bar for being honest and open and not creating some type of “image”.