Continuing on from my last post …

I would like to share with you just a sample of what can be done through marketing and promoting your arts business online.Without the computer I couldn’t have done any of this and ANYONE can do this if you are willing to put in the time and energy….while still saving time for precious creative pursuits

I have included parts of a letter I sent to an arts body in Australia “explaining” (as typically artists constantly have to do)… How serious I am about what I do…

To whom it may concern,

I wanted to write this to let you know how serious I am about my arts business and how I have great expectations for its continual growth internationally.It takes time for artists to establish themselves; we have to approach the” business” of being an artist slightly differently, from the usual manufacturer of goods and products because our income can come from many different creative areas, not always with the one product.

Also to be a “successful artist” doesn’t always mean a huge income though this helps.

My main objective is to expose and market my art to an international audience.
To do this, I regularly network with my peers, directors, collectors and with other artists to get known and to find spaces and galleries to show my work for sales, invitations to international events, engagements and commissions.

Australian Contemporary art is much sort after in Europe and USA however, New York has never had a major exhibition of important Australian art but, it will happen.

Since 2001, I have concentrated on exporting my art overseas. I have been part of an Australian exhibition in New York in 2004, Leipzig Germany and Spain 2005 Berlin & Paris 2007 and more in US… I have traveled to England, Europe and was awarded an arts residency in Barcelona Spain. In 2007 I went to Paris to set up a network in France and to oversee my Melb5 art exhibition opening in Berlin Germany 2007.

I spend at least 2/3 hours daily (depending on my physical self) at the computer contacting potential clients and exploring all areas of the International markets. I upload my images onto websites all over the world. I have numerous international spaces and have just released a new series of digital artworks onto the international market.

My main websites and blog, draw in various people who contact me. I receive invites to art fairs, international exhibitions in galleries and online solo & group exhibitions and collaborate with artists worldwide on projects. I also apply for and enter art awards, exhibitions, photography competitions and arts residencies.

Lately, I have collaborated with other international artists in art projects worldwide and received magazine work and published a book of my art in Australia and US.

Included are sites for selling my original art pieces, limited edition art prints, a design site for images on products such as t-shirts, cards, etc. Art, photography and crafts sites. Blog sites let the world know who I am and what I do. A video site where I can create a short video advertising my artwork or experiment with new work.

I am represented by Ausgallery with Austrade in Australia for International representation.

When overseas, I market and promote my work by approaching and meeting with gallery directors, managers. I attend openings of other artists work for networking and researching market trends. I always have a good supply of my professional gallery package I designed. The package may consist of a CD of my images, CV, digital prints, postcards, of my work and an exhibition history all in a folder.

I am in the process of developing a short video of my practice to add to it. When I travel I always leave my art packages at the airports I pass through.

When I don’t have funding and income to travel, myself, I send my work all over the world to events. Example : I’ve also had invitations to the Florence Biennale 6 times, Louvre complex in Paris twice, Sala Barna Gallery in Spain, Galleria Gora in Montreal, Mont Serrat Gallery in New York, Armory art fair NY, Singapore Art Fair, Miami, and may be a possibility for me to attend the next Cityscape in Dubai and much more.

I have just spent 3 months in Paris where I networked, visited and negotiated with gallery directors for future exhibitions, projects and events. I have put in many applications for arts residencies and studio spaces in Paris and in other parts of Europe. In Paris, I developed new work in an area, I had never ventured before. I experimented with video and digital work, an extension to my arts practice. In Berlin, I had an exhibition at the Bob Curtiz Contemporary Movement Gallery with 4 other Melbourne artists in which members of the Australian Embassy in Berlin attended. Recently, I was asked to go to the Shanghai Art Fair with Chaira Goya from Goya Galleries in Melbourne.

Through hard work and determination I feel there is a market out there for my art.

Finally after many years of knock backs I did receive that grant …….