Just spotted a good article to add to the Photographing Your Art Link Roundup by Maddy from Modish. She has been writing a series on Building a craft business. One blog post in this series is about how to take better photographs of your artwork:

BUILDING A BUSINESS: Taking Better Pictures- This article has some good general advice about lighting, props, and how to find a good digital camera.

If you’ve missed the original post, you can check it out here:
Link Roundup: Photographing Your Art

After some discussion about the state of parking in Philly, mom and I decided that she will drop me off at the convention center in the mornings and pick me up in the evenings so that she’ll be free to do whatever during the day and I won’t have to take out a loan to park every day (Thanks mom!).

So I arrive on the second morning of the Visiting Artist Program ready for more. Before the session starts
I learn a little more about three my table-mates at the conference. The first is ceramic artist and Philadelphia local, Peter Cunicelli…you can check out his work here. The other two artists at my table, Diane and Wayne Ahrendt are glass artists all the way from Portland, Oregon…you can check out their work here. We manage to trade introductions and cards before our first session starts.

Day 2: Session 1: Pricing and Production
So the first session of the day was led by…none other than our fearless leader, Bruce Baker. He tells us straight off that the session will mostly be about production. Why production and not pricing, the bane of every artist’s existence? Because there’s no magic bullet when it comes to pricing. Every artist is different, every piece of art is different, every situation is different. Coming up with a pricing formula that fits everyone is the definition of futility. However, Bruce gives us some pretty good guidelines. When you are figuring out your wholesale costs, be sure to add things like:

1. overhead costs
2. labor ( above minimum wage, please!)
3. materials markup (to cover the ups and downs in the cost of your materials)
4. sales fee (to cover the cost of you shlepping your work out of your studio and to a show or gallery to sell it)

As far as production, Bruce said that the key is to be productive! That means hiring someone to repetitive, non-artisitic work, getting the best price for your materials, and basically working smarter rather than harder. There were lots of great tips on hiring assistants, production techniques, and a great conversation on what the difference is between an artist and a designer (What’s the difference? Designers are happy!).

Day 2: Session 2: Marketing and Promotion
After lunch was the session on marketing and promotion which was led by the very colorful and hilarious mixed media artist Stacy Simbrom. First thing you noticed was that she was wearing ponytails decorated with angel’s wings…totally not what she looks like her picture in the program. Why she was wearing wings in her hair became clear the more she spoke. She gave great examples on the different kinds of marketing materials that artists need to have in their arsenal like business cards, line sheets, bios, websites, postcards, and even how an artist presents themselves to the public (hence the angel’s wings). She is especially fond of using postcards and if there is a key thing that I took away from her session is that artists need to create marketing materials that do double or even triple duty. Her examples of her postcards were great and I know I’ll be redesigning mine in the near future. You can check out Stacy’s equally fabulous work on her website.

Day 2: Session 3: In and Outs of the BMAC
Now this session is where you get down to the real nitty-gritty, and I’ll admit that I was somewhat overwhelmed about what I learned at this session. This session was led by show director Christine Kloostra, mixed media and fiber manager Laura Bamburak, glass and ceramics manager Allison Muschel, and jewelry and supplies manager Valerie Heck. They answered a whole range of questions about the Buyer’s Market; about the application process, about how they select their artists, about who attends the show, the cost of doing the show…and most importantly the logistics of doing the show. Logistics like how to ship your booth to the convention center, about how to set up the booth, what tools we’re allowed to use during setup, whether we’re allowed to plug in our own lights, whether it’s more economical to ship and warehouse your booth ahead of time or whether it’s better to ship the day before the show, and all about a very scary and expensive word called…”drayage”.

The Buyer’s Market has an interesting approach to their application process. If you take a look at their application, you’ll find that they ask if you have any wholesale accounts and their contact information, if you’ve done shows in the past and how much you’ve made, and about who your main suppliers are and their contact information. Why are they so nosy? (actual question) It was explained to us that it’s so that they can get a feel of how serious you are about selling wholesale, so they look at your application and actually call your wholesale accounts and suppliers to get a feel at about how professional you are. If they think that you’re not ready for the big game, they’ll suggest that you try again later or perhaps attend the Visiting Artist Program or some workshops by the Arts Business Institute (ABI). They want to make sure that the artists in the show are as professional as the buyers attending the show. Interesting approach indeed.

After the session, it was time for the individual mentoring sessions. Since none of us had a session scheduled, Peter suggested that Wayne, Diane, and I go get a beer. So he took us to a local sports bar called The Fieldhouse that was about a block away. I decided to skip the beer and go for a cheeseburger instead since I only had a Slim Jim and a box of raisins up till that point (I have a really bad habit of forgetting to eat). The cheeseburger was a great call because it was delicious…but I kinda wished I had time for the beer too.

Day 2: Tour of the Buyers Market Floor
Since the show is so big, I tried to be strategic about how I walked the floor. While I wanted to see how the jewelers display their work, I also wanted to see what ideas I could get from other mediums, so I spent some of my time in the ceramics and mixed media section as well. I’m certainly glad I did because I found this terrific display by Mel V. Inc. This particular artist, Melissa V. Scott is a mixed media artist from Waterloo, Canada who makes beautiful, modern looking inspirational wall tiles in plaster and resin. The first thing that attracted me was the modern-looking, beautifully understated booth…and once I entered the space, I noticed the gorgeous wall art. I wish I was able to take photos, but one of the rules were that there are no photos allowed on the show floor. One of the things that I loved about the booth was the way that it drew you in and created a fitting atmosphere for the work…it was almost like being in some one’s living room or home gallery space. Yet it didn’t overpower the work itself, which is something that Bruce Baker had warned against in the previous day’s session on booth design.

I took some time to talk to the gentleman in the booth (I believe his name was Spencer Thackray) and he told me that they had actually designed and built the entire booth from scratch. They have three versions and all of them break down flat for storage and transport. Plus, the booth is assembled with only one tool…a oversized allen wrench. Which is great because as we learned in previous session, there are union rules that dictate what kind of tools we can use in the hall for setting up our booths. Very impressive! You can check out Mel V’s lovely work at their website.

Some key takeaways for the day

• Work smarter and not harder
• Aim to be a designer and not an artist…you’ll be happier
• Postcards = Very, very good…paying yourself minimum wage for labor = Very, very bad
• Drayage (which is the transport of your booth from the loading dock to your space on the show floor) is very expensive and should be avoided when possible
• The Fieldhouse over on 12th has really good burgers (Thanks Peter!)
• There are artists in the world nice enough to pay for your lunch (Thanks Wayne and Diane!)

Being too cheap thrifty to arrive in Philadelphia the night before, my mother and I left the house at about 4:45 a.m. to make the 5 hour trip to Philly and managed to arrive at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in time for the first session of the Visiting Artist Program.

Day 1: Session 1: Wholesale 101
Our first session was “Wholesale 101″ with the very dynamic and funny Bruce Baker, the display and sales guru for the crafts world. First thing that Bruce tells us that we must “Change or Die!”.

Whoa.

Next thing Bruce tells us is that if you don’t take credit cards as a method of payment, you’re basically shooting yourself in the foot (very true…about 70% of my sales are credit cards).

Bruce then goes through some of the things that artists need to get over before they start wholesaling work. For one thing an artist has to get control of that left brain/right brain balance and get a hold of unfocused creative energy and be able to balance it with some good analytical business discipline. Artists also have to learn to deal with control issues and not feel that they have to do everything in their businesses. Learn to hire good people and let them do what you don’t want to do or what you don’t need to be doing….more on that later.

Bruce then goes on to explain a little more about the ins and outs of wholesale…how galleries arrive at their prices for the things they buy for their shop for example…they typically set retail between 2.0 to 2.5 times your wholesale price…so it’s important for artists to set their wholesale prices carefully. He also goes over some of the typical wholesale lingo…and there’s a lot (Net-30, pro forma, COD…oh my!).

And just when our brains are about to implode…it’s time for lunch.

Day 1: Session 2: Booth Design
We meet back in an hour for the second session, also run by Bruce Baker on “Booth Design”.

Now I’ve been reading Bruce’s column on booth design in the Crafts Report and I’ve also listened to his very informative CD about booth design several times (you can check out all of his CDs out on his website), so I knew in general what he was going to say, but this was still a fun session and he provided some excellent information that I hadn’t heard before. He went over some guidelines on the best materials and colors for your booth. And for the record, burlap is possibly the worst material that you could ever think to use on the planet. It’s ugly, it smells when wet, it comes in the worst colors imaginable, and it’s expensive. Bottom line…stay away. As far as good colors, he suggested that we stay away from gray, purple (booo!), and orange and look for complex neutrals. If you don’t know what a complex neutral is, take a walk down the Martha Stewart aisle at your local Kmart.

Bruce also took the time to extoll the many virtues of VELCRO! If burlap is the cause of all the troubles in the world, then VELCRO will heal all your pain. It can be stronger, less messy, and nicer looking than duct tape. He told us a story about a potter who hung a big platter on the wall of his booth using VELCRO. Don’t leave home without it.

Finally, Bruce went through a picture slide show of various examples of actual booths…the good, the bad, and the ugly. And yes, burlap was sometimes involved in the ugly.

Day 1: Session 3: Group Mentoring with Wendy Rosen
Next up was Wendy Rosen, the president of the Rosen group. In this session, she had pre-selected some members of Visiting Artist group and did a group mentoring session with them…yes in front of the rest of the us. Those lucky few where a bit nervous to have Wendy Rosen critique their work and give suggestions in front of the entire group, but rest of us also benefited because she made suggestions for the rest of us to apply to our own work.

Wendy also took the time to go into what the main goal of the Buyer’s Market is…mainly to create a protected market where artists and craftsmen can sell their work to galleries and shop owners without having to compete with cheaper imports and mass market goods. If you’ve ever had to do a retail craft show where you were selling your handmade work while your neighbor was selling something was produced in an offshore factory somewhere, you’ll understand how great this truly is (Thanks Rosen Group!).

After Wendy’s session were individual mentor sessions. This is where the visiting artists had an individual session with a volunteer gallery owner to answer specific questions about wholesaling, products, or anything that came to mind. Mine wasn’t until Monday so I went to find something to eat and unfortunately was served some somewhat indigestible potato skins (Thanks Hard Rock Cafe!).

Day 1: Tour of the Buyers Market Floor
First off, I must say that if you’ve done craft or art shows before, the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market is really nothing like a regular show. For one thing, this show is not open to the public…and they don’t allow just anyone in. Just to set foot onto the show floor, you must be a) an exhibitor or an assistant to the exhibitor, b) the owner or qualified buyer of a gallery or shop, c) a member of the press, c) an artist participating in the Visiting Artist Program, or d) a member of the Rosen Group staff. Anyone not fitting that criteria are refused entry or if they manage to find their way in, are escorted out. The security is all part of of trying to provide the protected market that Wendy was talking about in the group mentor session. She even told us a story of foreign manufacturers being thrown out after they ran in past security…snapping pictures of the art as they ran.

After the mentor sessions, we all gathered to be escorted onto the show floor. We had some rules…no photos…no sketching…no interrupting the artist while they’re doing business…and no taking of business cards, postcards, and the like for design ideas or souvenirs…those are for the buyers and artists may have limited quantities. Basically we are to remember that the artists are working and that while they’ll be happy to answer questions, we shouldn’t get in the way of them doing business (ahh…if only we could give out these rules at a regular craft show!).

After being duly warned we were led into the main hall (Thanks Holly and Meghan!). If you do get to visit the show floor of the Buyer’s Market, you might mistake the show for being slow. It’s true that compared to a retail show where you sometimes have customers elbowing each other out the way, the Buyer’s Market doesn’t have a large volume of traffic. But the big difference is that people go to retail crafts shows because it’s an afternoon of relatively inexpensive entertainment in which they might happen to buy something. At the Buyer’s Market, people are here to shop…in volume. Here the volume is not in people but in actual products. So the first thing you need to wrap your mind around is that this is not a show where people buy a pot, pay you and leave. You have gallery and shop owners ordering 10 pots, a dozen mugs, and 3 teapots…you go to your studio after the show, ship them when they’re ready, and then you get your money.

The second thing about the show are the booths. Don’t expect to see a lot of pottery stacked up on card tables. These booths are well designed, professional looking, and are lit as bright as a casino in Vegas. In the session on booth design, Bruce Baker stressed the importance of lighting…and it certainly shows in the main hall. Third thing…the work is incredible. I had to remind myself constantly that I’m not here to drool over the fantastic art, but I’m here to see what works, what doesn’t, and what I can adapt to my own booth.

The show is huge…and I can see why it takes four days to go through. I forget how many artists there are, but it’s around 1,500. Yup. I managed to zip through part of the glass section and to make my way to the jewelry section where I spent some time talking to Benjamin Beamer of Beamer Jewelry. They’re the ones that make the fabulous jewelry out of bottle caps and vinyl records. Be sure to check out their jewelry here. Great guy to talk to…and he gave me some great information about the show. Before I knew it, the hour tour was up and it was time for me to go to my Jersey hotel and crash….hard.

So…some key takeaways for the day

• Get a merchant account
• Artists have to learn to let go to succeed
• Wireless internet is free in the convention center lobby (yaay!)
• Parking in downtown Philadelphia can cost as much as $26 a day (booo!)
• VELCRO = Good…Burlap = Bad…Potato skins at Hard Rock Cafe = Very Bad
• This ain’t your regular show. If you’re thinking that you can pull up with your card table and burlap tablecloths and do well at this show, think again. This is a whole new ball of wax…and if you don’t know what you’re doing, it can be a very expensive ball of wax.
• Bring lights…lots and lots of bright lights.

In the previous newsletter, I wrote about how to figure out whether you really need to hire a web designer to help you build your website. Assuming that you’ve decided that hiring a web designer is a good idea…where should you start looking? In actuality there are lots of places where you can start your search…if you know where to look.

In this week’s newsletter article, I’m including the second excerpt from my upcoming ebook, “How to Hire the World’s Greatest Web Designer“, where I discuss the eight places you can find a great web designer. To read the article sign up for the Crafted Webmaster Newsletter for free here: http://www.craftedweb.com/subscribe.html

Well, I’ve arrived back from the Philadelphia Buyer’s Market last night and I’m trying to put my brains back between my ears. For the past four days, it’s been non-stop information, artists, and fabulous art. I think I’ll need a vacation after this!

The folks at the Rosen Group was kind enough to give me a press pass since I had interviewed Wendy Rosen before and have given me the green light to report about the event (thanks Jean!). So I’ll be back on my regularly blogging schedule and I will be doing a recap of the entire four days at the Buyer’s Market…so stay tuned!