This is an article by Lori Woodward out of the FineArtViews.com newsletter.

I thought you’d appreciate it because it gives all kinds of real, concrete suggestions, rather than flimsy theoretical ideas.

Lori is a painter, and refers to painting organizations, events and media, but everything she mentions can be applied to sculpture just as well. – editor

I hope you enjoy reading it, and take lots of good notes – and take action!

Today’s Post is by Lori Woodward, Regular contributing writer for FineArtViews.

She is also a contributing editor for American Artist’s Watercolor and Workshop magazines and she writes “The Artist’s Life” blog on American Artists’ Forum.

Lori is a member of The Putney Painters, an invitational group that paints under the direction of Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik.  Find out how you can be a guest author.

The Goal: Get Your Work Seen By Collectors

Instead of worrying about building a resume to submit to a gallery, why not aim at the inevitable target — The eyes of art collectors!

A printed image says it all in an instant. The fastest way to entice the people who matter in your career, your future collectors, is to get your work published. Get it published in periodicals, online or in books, where collectors look to find paintings to fall in love with. Any time you can get your artwork published, you make major strides towards realizing sales.

Don’t Ignore “How To” Art Publications

Many artists get their work noticed through “how to” art magazines such as American Artist or The Artists’ Magazine. Even though these are not collectors’ magazines, many collectors do read them, and it’s a mistake to think that aspiring artists are not also collectors. I could give you dozens of examples here (if I had the room) of artists who made the big time by first being published in American Artist, International Artist, or The Artists’ Magazine. If their art made the cover, their careers were boosted significantly.

Collectors’ Magazines — It Helps if You Are Already in Galleries

Artists who get their work published in art collectors’ magazines: Southwest Art, American Art Collector, Art of the West, etc. are usually already working with galleries. Why is this? It’s because these magazines make their money through gallery ads. If an artist whom they want to feature is working with three galleries, each of those galleries will be contacted about putting an ad in the issue where the artist is highlighted. Whereas, art instruction magazines, such as those listed in the previous paragraph, make their money though ads from art supply companies and artists who are giving workshops or selling videos.

Where to Start: Competitions

Of course, as I’ve said before, the real first step is to build a cohesive, high quality, body of work on archival (lasts forever) materials. But let’s say you’ve done that and are ready to get that work in front of collectors’ eyes. The least expensive way to get your work out there and published is by entering art competitions. Personally, I like to enter those that don’t require me to ship paintings. Online competitions, and those that art magazines offer, don’t require you to ship your paintings across country, pay the entry fee, and then possibly have to ship them home again if they don’t sell.

Examples of “virtual” competitions are: Fine Art Views, Raymar, American Artist Cover competition, The Artist Magazine’s annual competition, and International Artist Magazine’s. None of these shows require that you provide the actual artwork.

Learn to Take Good Photos:

If your work does get selected for publication, you’ll need professional, high resolution photos of it. I’ve seen it happen more than once that an art publication wants a particular artwork for their cover, but the artist never got a great photo of it before it sold. Either invest in good photographic equipment, and learn how to use it, or else hire a professional to photograph your best artwork – just in case you get the chance to have it published.

On Location Shows:

These cost a bit more money and time because if you get into the show, you’ll have to frame and ship your entries. Some of these shows are well attended by serious art collectors, others are mostly attended by artists. I do know for a fact that Oil Painters of America shows do sell paintings.  A few of my friends have sold paintings at “Paint America” shows – this show was previously called, “Arts for the Parks”. Another worthwhile show is, “Salon International”. Then there are invitational shows: Gilcrease Museum, Oyster Mountain Club, Rendezvous, Cowgirl Up!, and others. I don’t have all the link info but you can look up requirements for each show on the Web.

Advertising Campaigns

Advertising in collectors’ magazines is expensive. Make sure your work is at a professional level before you invest in a sequence of ads. There are artists who have gone on to national recognition in no time because they embarked on serious ad campaigns… putting ads in every issue of one publication. In two cases, artists whom I know personally, were more than ready to advertise, and it cost them about the same amount of money annually as a year of college tuition. One in particular took on substantial financial risk, however, both these artists eventually benefited because they had a recognizable style with top notch paintings.
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Image: Guitar Man III [detail], California Soapstone, 18″w x 12″h x 6″ d, © Angela Treat Lyon 1998