Philadelphia Buyer’s Market Recap- Day 3

Day 3, and mom drops me off in front of the Pennsylvania Convention Center again…I’m beginning to feel like I’m back in third grade.

Day 3: Session 1: Relationships with Galleries
Surprise! Today’s session isn’t run by Bruce Baker, but by Nancy Markoe, owner of the Nancy Markoe Fine American Crafts Gallery who discusses how artists can maintain good relationships with galleries. According to Nancy, everything comes down to the fact that artists have to develop good policies and practices for their businesses. The more professional artists behave, the better their relationship with their client galleries will be. So before pursuing wholesale accounts, artists should decide on things like minimum orders, delivery times, consignment policies, payment methods, shipping charges, and exclusivity.

One thing that Nancy stressed during this session is that artists need to take control of their businesses and they need to only partner with galleries that they can work with. Don’t fall into the trap into thinking that you have compromise your bottom line just to maintain a relationship with a gallery.

Day 3: Session 2: Creation and Evolution of a Product Line
After lunch is a very interesting session on how to create and evolve a product line by glass artist Milon Townsend. The first thing that Milon discusses is that for the most part, there are two types of products that artists can create:

1. Create work for existing markets
2. Create a market for existing work

Basically, if you go for option #1, you look around, see a market that needs something, and make your work fill that need. If you go for option #2, you already have work created, now you go out and create a market that needs that work.

So which is the best route to take? Milon puts it this way…you can make money both ways…both ways involve hard work. If you decide to take option #1, you can start making money within a couple of years. If you decide to take option #2, it will probably take 10 to 30 years.

Just so you know.

The rest of the session was spent going through slides of Milon’s many, many, many, product lines throughout the years while he discussed how these lines developed, what factors went into developing his work, and offered examples of how we can develop our own product lines. I loved looking at how his work evolved over the years and the stories about how each line was developed and how and why they changed. He held nothing back…he even showed some of his earliest designs that was…umm…less than perfect? Made me feel much better about some of the monstrosities that I’ve come out with back in the day. The one thing that I took from his session is that artists have to be adaptable in order to serve their markets and stay in business…at least, that is, if you’re doing option #1.

You can check out Milon’s lovely work at his website…plus if you have the chance you can read Milon’s book, “Making and Marketing Better Artwork“, which can be found with some of his other books, CDs, and DVDs at The Blue Moon Press.

Day 3: Session 3: Insiders Guide to Galleries
Next up was a panel of gallery owners that included our friend Bruce Baker, M. Frank Burkhauser from Philadelphia gallery, Spirit of the Artist, and Milon Townsend who was our gallery to artist translator on the panel.

This was a great session where we got to pick the brains of gallery owners to find out what they like, what they don’t like, and how artists and galleries can all get along. There were a great many questions from the artists about what galleries are looking for, what galleries like…and dislike. One of the more memorable exchanges was about how galleries like to be contacted by new artists. One panel member said that they wanted artists to make appointments in advance, another panel member said that if you happen to be in the neighborhood, you can stop by with samples of your work. Another panel member said that they never take walk-ins or cold phone calls and they only make appointments only after you email pictures of your work. Another panel member said that they don’t even check their email and they prefer that you call the gallery.

You could practically see the question marks pop up over everyones’ heads.

Toward the end of the exchange Milon Townsend spoke up and basically told us that gallery owners are just like artists…they’re all different and they all have they own individual likes and dislikes. We artists just need to find out want they want on an individual basis and then meet them on those terms.

Excellent advice.

Day 3: Tour of the Buyers Market Floor
One cool thing about this show is that you have the chance of meeting artists that you’ve heard or read about. Since this was my last day on the show floor, I spent most of my time in the jewelry section. And right in the first row…who should I run into but jewelry artist Kathleen Plate…who I had ironically just read about the night before in The Crafts Report. Kathleen makes gorgeous, hip jewelry out of recycled glass bottles. She is especially known for her jewelry make out of cobalt blue glass Aveda bottles. After doing the required “Hey I just read about you in The Crafts Report” greeting, I spent some time talking to Kathleen about the show. You can check out Kathleen’s work at her website.

Another artist I ran into towards the end of the show was mixed media artist Jan Carson. I had actually interviewed Jan last year for an episode of my Crafting Voices podcast. When I introduced myself Jan said, “Oh, Nicolette! I recognize your voice”. I’ve been a fan of Jan’s work for years. She makes some of the most beautiful tree leaf mobiles make out of dyed silk and wire. I saw one of her mobiles in a gallery in Charlottesville, VA and have been fascinated with her work ever since. Too bad it wasn’t a retail show…because a pretty purple and wine colored leaf mobile caught my eye while we were talking, and I would have loved to take it home to my studio. *Sigh*. You can check out Jan’s work at her website…and you can check out the interview I did of her at my Crafting Voices podcast website.

Some key takeaways for the day

• It’s your art business…you get to make the rules
• Take heart…even the best artists makes some pretty ugly artwork from time to time
• If you make work for existing markets you can make money in a couple years
• If you don’t want money until 10 to 20 years from now, make work just for yourself and create a market for it
• Gallery owners can be just as finicky and persnickety as artists