Need to hear about creative self-promotions

One thing I have done is to print a reproduction of some of my paintings on bristol cards (slightly larger than a business card) and to put the cards inside art books at the library. At the back of the card, I write the address of my blog or my website (with something like “Remember to check”). It is handy to have a bookmark when you borrow a book, so people are likely to keep the card. If you pick their interest, they may visit your website. If you use Google Analitics and travel to a town outside your area, you should be able to measure the result of this marketing activity by monitoring the number of hits from the town you visited.

Not my story, but that of a friend here in London. He is a dog portrait artist (and people too) and I spent a few hours with him before an art fair having lunch and coffee – any time he saw a dog he approached the owner (leaving me at a cafe table if need be!) asked if the breed was such-and-such (he’s memorised all the English breeds), chatted, mentioned he was at the fair and doing a raffle for a pet portrait if they wanted to stop in to the fair. His manner was so friendly that many dog owners appeared in the art fair, even I started going up to any I saw and pointing them his direction! His enthusiasm was catching. 🙂 Similarly, I have a jewellery designer friend who randomly compliments women on their jewellery and gets into conversations. As something of a recluse myself I’ve learned a lot from friends like this.

Join the local Chamber of Commerce and go to all the gatherings. No competition and you get known as “the artist” or “the sculptor”…this is a tad expensive, but in addition to meeting the unusual suspects, you find closet artists and help them come out by sharing info – win win. works for me. Gather cards from folks you meet and talk to and write follow-ups to everyone you meet each time using a post card with your work (okay, that’s not out of the box, but it works).

Hi Alyson, I would say “creative self-promotion” is not the difficult task here but “creative self-promotion that does not empty your purse” is the relevant question. If you have enough financial resources there is no limit to your ideas… but then you would probably not need any kind of promotion either >:)

This wasn’t intentional, but I helped a friend with the launch of her website which she created to showcase the more “local” side of our mountain culture here at Lake Tahoe (tahoeculture.com). When she did all of her presentations to the local chambers of commerce, etc. around the lake, my art was featured in a sample “ad”. I am also featured on her home page masthead (as well as in her arts section). I haven’t seen any direct results from this, but it gets my name and my work out there! I also just finished doing a “Virtual Reception”, an idea I admittedly borrowed from somebody else. I took comments on my blog the week before my actual Open Studio, with the offer of being entered into a drawing.

A month ago I was rejected, along with a bunch of other artists, from a juried show at an art center where I also teach. I decided we must not take this sitting down. Now we will have a ‘rejects’ show! Remember Manet and Le Salon des Refusés in Paris in 1863? Ours is Le Salon des Refusés II. Already there is great buzz and excitement because of the fun factor. We’re planning to invite the press and make it a big deal, if possible. This is an art center, after all, and an opportunity to celebrate all artists in their various expressions. I showed the rejected paintings in another show a couple of weeks later and received an invitation from Boston’s Art Connection to donate to a worthy place like a homeless shelter. I was thrilled to do so. From that came an invitation to enter Artiade 08, the Olympics of art. And then a few days ago I was hired to design a book cover and was able to use one of the paintings in that. So, my point is—there is much publicity and energy to be created if we keep putting the work out there, no matter what. My new philosophy—say yes to yes. Every invitation, every opportunity, just say yes.

I am not sure how outside of the box this actually is, but around here this is a lot less commonplace. In an attempt to self-promote and create a niche for ourselves locally, a small group of us started a self-representing collective of working artists (13 artists). One of our goals is to present a broad range and eclectic mix of fine art and fine craft to the public. This is our second year and we have put together a number of events including our Annual Christmas Art Show and Sale as well as an outdoor art market downtown. Promotion has involved the use of a blog/website where we feature our artists and photos of their work. This URL goes consistently on all of our promotional material. We also use the usual postcards, flyers, posters, etc. and we try and get our events listed in every calendar locally, regionally and across the state. We have had some success. Now instead of just inviting artists to events, people search us out and approach us.

The article was called: “Louvre in the loo? Village opens restroom art gallery JAMES HANNAH Associated Press” http://www.chamberpotgallery.com The yellow springs news won an award for their story headline. http://www.ysnews.com/stories/2006/06/060806_looart.html