Easy Websites for Artists

A few years ago, when switching from Comcast cable to Verizon FIOS, I naturally lost the ability to change and update the simple art homepage I had created on Comcast. More than two years went by, I could not change the website, but it would not simply go away either… Ugh. I found that having that old site lurk out there somehow made me procrastinate on creating a new site. Not sensible, but … Well, I constantly tell fellow artists in the WCA, my students, and artists in my community, that they have to have a solid, clean, controllable website with current work to insure a web presence as an active artist. So I needed to “practice what I preach”. I know some HTML, but did not want to actually program a site from scratch - I had procrastinated for nearly three years, and truly was not ever going to have the time to learn Dreamweaver or Joomla, in my schedule.

I found Other Peoples Pixels by looking at wide range of artist websites. This simple clean design tool appealed to me from the very first, and I really got hooked after I started to play with the free trial.

To see how it works, go to my webpage and click on the "Design" logo in the upper right corner - all the info and the free trial sign up is there.

You can quickly do the free trial - and that is what I did to start.

It is a website designer template environment created by artists, run by artists - but the end-user does all the designing very easily! No one to wait for to plan the work, no one to pay every time you change - and I can change mine in literally seconds if I want to. Obviously it is not going to solve everyone's web needs, but they are perfect for me, and many artists. When I was ready to move from the free trial to a live site, they do the transfer of the trial to real domain name within two days - in my case it was under two hours.

I designed my current website in under two hours. Although I still need to upload many of my more current art jpegs, the framework is there, and there are literally an infinite number of ways to design it!

I wanted to mimic the look of the blog I designed to "brand" a style, so I used similar colors.
They pay the fee for the domain name that you choose, and if I ever leave Other Peoples Pixels, they happily transfer the domain to me if I desire it. If you do a lot video and sound, you currently (March 2010) pay $260/year for 8000 artworks, but for less capacity needed it is $160/year for 2000 artworks. They host your site, provide support for the editing environment, and pay for the domain and setup fees, etc.

This option works for me in both money and time expenditure, and I admire the many ways to instantly change the look of the website, almost everything is flexible, and frankly - fun to create.

Once you have a website you also have to consider - what next. One book that helps you consider how to handle the website further is Effective Websites for Artists and Art Groups by Bob Nicholson. Just as leaving your artwork hidden in a closet will not be beneficial, you also want to insure your website does not get buried in the vast collection of other artist websites - there are simple possibilities to help drive meaningful traffic to your website.

(And I am happy to report the old homepage I created on Comcast was finally completely disabled by someone, somewhere… and I can happily focus on my new site.)

Approaching Museums and Galleries: Commercial Gallery 1

Continued from Approaching Museums and Galleries: Introduction

For-Profit Commercial Galleries

It is likely that you will want to establish yourself in your home-town or region before trying to approach New York, L.A., Paris….unless of course one of those is your hometown.....

So, you can best learn about your regional galleries by visiting them – start by attending receptions for example. Get to know the people involved in the galleries you like. You should be visiting many galleries, because you must find the galleries that will be a good fit for your work. Only approaching a high-end well-known gallery that specializes in abstract oil paintings will not help you if you make realistic watercolors, or highly conceptual videos, etc. Once you have a feel for which galleries are promoting work in sync with yours, the next step arrives.

There are many ways to approach galleries: one good way to start is to check the website for information on how/if the gallery likes to receive unsolicited submissions. If there is no information – try calling to ask, and if all else fails visit again and ask. If they have a policy of accepting submissions one good way to start was suggested by Gina Fraone in ArtScope Magazine March/April 2010: bring a high quality print of a representative work (with your contact information on the back) and deliver it face up – no envelope - to the desk of the director if possible. You can follow this up with a mailed or hand-delivered promotional packet (Sample packet might include: carefully crafted cover letter, a CD of properly sized images with a document of specific information about the work, and less than a dozen really good prints of the work).

Very rarely will a gallery director be wildly happy to have an artist drop in unannounced, without an appointment, armed with a portfolio filled with actual work. An artist approaching a gallery often only sees the fact that they have great work that would be great in that gallery – but they forget that most galleries have a full schedule one to two years out, of artist shows planned with the long-term artists that they already represent. That leaves only a few openings (if any) in any year for an unplanned show. However, your work does no one any good if it hidden away in your studio, so you must get the work out there, become your own best advocate – and keep trying. If you do get an opportunity to formally present the work at the gallery, or at a studio visit – please remember that your demeanor and professionalism are important. Your are asking to enter into a professional relationship with the gallery, so many of the things valuable on a job interview make some sense here too.

Be patient with rejection, galleries are inundated with artists sending work for review. If you create a new body of work, don’t hesitate to try again in a gallery you feel might be a good fit, but declined to show the earlier body of work.

While you are working on finding a gallery to show your work, consider also getting the work out in alternative venues or competitions. (Later posts will address these options) Get feedback on your work from people whose opinion you respect, especially those active in the art world. Build a website of your work, it is hard to work in the art wold without one - and it doesn't have to be expensive or fancy. One extremely easy way to create a site is through Other Peoples Pixels, a highly user-friendly artist-run artist-created service. If you have some jpegs of your work, a resume, and just a couple of hours a time, you can create a personalized and professional site very quickly. Don't forget to also get onto social networks like Facebook and establish a presence on the web in that additional way. Consider starting a blog that will allow to post your work and philosophy.

Have your very best work prepared to hang in a professional manner – It is important to have the work look great when you do get to present it to the gallery – and it shows you take your own work seriously. So don’t use a cheap frame (unless that is a conceptual component of the work), and if you want to hang the work unframed, be purposeful about that conceptually too. Be patient, be consistent, don't give up, but don't repeat mistakes that are not helping you reach your goal - gallery representation.