July 17th, 2020 Leabrooks Artists’ Forum Keeping in touch

LEABROOKS WITTER

Titter on The Witter .......Thank you to two very inspiring women, Barbara and Amanda, for their contributions this week. And ......................................................... ‘What snack to you give to a baby artist developing her teeth? A Ruskin.’ (With thanks to Nick Tyldesley.)

Artists are beginning to emerge from the confinement of Lockdown. Having painted/created our way out of this challenging and, sometimes, dark interlude in our personal and collective experience, it’s time to move forward with renewed determination to exhibit and sell our work. It’s an exciting time, full of opportunities for those who have the will, and the courage, to grasp them. Barbara Groome and Amanda Penman have some ideas, (below), to help us; combining both, excellent, ideas will move us on. CBJ Barbara Groome is an artist, who finds inspiration in the sea and the plants which she sees on her on her daily walks. She’s also an , I had a an interior designer. ‘I had a small studio/shop In Dorset selling my own creations and a friend’s silver jewellery made from spoons. I found that the best way for me to sell my wares was for my customers to see me painting and to talk about my work and the ideas I had for other pieces. That got them seeing those pieces in their homes. My enthusiasm was contagious and that brought me regular customers. I was lucky enough to sell things before they were finished and then could tweak them to make them more personal for the client. An example was when I was painting a dining table. It had 3 panels on the top and I had painted a sea scene on the outer panels. A lovely lady came in and admired the table I was working on and said this was her sailing ground so I put her sailing her yacht in the middle panel. She bought half a dozen pieces of furniture from me and told so many people about me. Well worth a few happy, chatty words and going just that bit further and being adaptable. I found people want to feel they have discovered something personal and special. I just had to find it for them. It’s so important to be yourself. People invest in pe the creator as well as the artefact.’

Amanda Penman is the Publishing Editor of Artsbeat, an award winning magazine dedicated to promoting the arts in the East Midlands. ‘It makes little difference if a business provides goods that are a necessity or luxury, either way you need to promote it to keep a steady stream of customers at the door. You can’t always just rely on word-of-mouth to do the job for you. Advertising is essential and it is down to you to decide how best to reach potential customers. In today’s world a social media presence is obviously vital but if there is somewhere your target audience turns to for information or entertainment then that is the place for you. Many times over the last seven years artists and galleries have said to me: “I don’t need to advertise at the moment. I am really busy.” My reply is always that if being successful was a reason not to advertise why would Coca Cola, Nike, and McDonalds bombard us with advertising year after year? Another frequent comment is: “I can’t advertise at the moment: sales are so poor.” Advertising drives sales. Budgeting for promotion should be as important as budgeting to buy materials or the rent of a studio: it needs to be figured into your annual expenditure and accounted for in the prices that you charge. There is no point in thinking that one advert will turn your business around and see art flying out of the studio, or thinking that if you didn’t get any positive feedback the instant the advert appeared it was a waste of time. It is much better to decide what you can afford and spread it across the year. The primary objective of advertising is to let people know you have something exciting and new on offer. You want to keep existing customers up-to-date with your work and attract new ones. Advertising what you do to the right audience is the answer.’

We’re thinking of holding the first post-Lockdown Artists’

Forum on Saturday, 26th September, 2020 from 10.30 am

until 1 pm. This obviously depends on the behaviour of the

Coronavirus at this time but, as suggested above, we need

to start planning and thinking ahead. Positivity is now key!

Assuming that Saturday, 26th September, proves to be a ‘safe’

date we intend to hold our annual Macmillan Coffee Event then

too, from 1 pm until 4 pm. (Artists at the Forum won’t be

charged for coffee and cake but any donation, if artists choose to

make one, will be gratefully accepted.) More information later.