In our area many of the artists rely on the tourists for the bulk of sales. The valley (from Yahk to Riondel) is small town and rural with a total population around 15,000, many of whom are seniors. To make it even harder to sell art we have a lot of artists and artisans in the area; and, while competition is supposed to be good for business, I am not sure if that applies to art.
This year a venue where I have displayed my art with good success in the past
The Art Market came about thanks to a small grant from the Creston Arts Council. Our first day will be tomorrow, July 1, and we will have 6 artists setting up to, hopefully, sell their art. The Market will only be held Saturday afternoons during the summer. I am hoping that we will get some traffic from the local Farmer's Market and from the Kunze Gallery both of which are just down the street from our location.
As the Art Market is my idea, I have been doing all the organizing - I can't seem to stop - lol. Anyway, I have sent out emails, posted on Facebook, created and ordered rack cards and made up and distributed a few posters. Now I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will get some visitors!
I have my boxes all packed with a wide selection of the things I make and paint: matted and bagged original watercolours and mixed media pieces, Hot Weather Scarves, a variety of my cards, my quilled ornaments and some of the stenciled signs and T-shirts I did last winter. I figure I have enough art and other things to display something new almost every week during the summer.
Although art is not a business for me, it is important to me to sell my work - mostly to make room for new art. I have made a few on-line sales but I am not into marketing and, frankly the Canadian Postal system is pretty expensive for shipping so I am not pursuing that avenue to any great degree. I am much happier just selling locally and am hoping for success in this new venture.
