Not a Get Rich Quick Scheme

I’ve noticed lately that my Instagram feed has been littered with consultants, advisors, and artists posting reels promising methods and strategies to help artists make six figures. In a matter of seconds, they hook you into clicking just to see if anything they have to offer is helpful.

I decided to take a deep dive and signed up for a free online seminar that assured proven methods for increasing sales without going to markets and craft shows, and how to make your fortune by switching up selling strategies from in-person to online.

The coach was convincing. She offered a few free tools so that viewers could calculate how little money they are actually making by selling at markets and craft shows. As it turns out by her calculations, most participants weren’t making much, and certainly not as much as she suggested we could make by switching to online sales.

Me and about 500 other participants spent 90 minutes being courted by this coach. And then came her sales pitch for her program because, of course she was selling something. I stuck around for a few more minutes, wondering that perhaps if viewers had been informed at the beginning that as a first step, they’d need around $1000 (broken up into 4 easy payments of $249 each) to rebrand their business, they might as well spend the next two hours doing something else.

It’s likely that if you’re following Artful Compass, you aren’t seeking the methods to build a business that will earn six figures. It’s more likely that you want to learn how to earn income from your art. My goal is to help you in doing so without losing touch with your creativity.

My articles are free. You can read to your heart’s delight. I passionately believe that art is a deeply personal matter, a deeply personal experience that when your creativity seeps out of your pores and into your work, your work will resonate with people. It will resonate with art lovers and with art collectors.

Artful Compass isn’t going to direct you to the biggest pile of cash. I’m not here to tell you how to fill your bank account. Artful Compass is giving you the seeds and telling you the conditions under which they need to grow. I never intended this site to be the one-stop for art success, although the makings are here. Explore the site, including the Gallery and Reflection articles. You never know where you’ll pick up a nugget that inspires you.

And remember, you must do the work – the artwork and the business work. If you want to make easy money from making art, I can’t help you. Artists are creative individuals first and entrepreneurs somewhere down the line. It is possible and unimaginably enjoyable to make a comfortable living as a working artist. I’d like to help you on that journey.

Crafting Your Artist Statement and CV

I was taught how to write an artist statement in college. Whether you’ve attended art school or not though, most artists will need to write an artist statement. Your artist statement is a brief telling of your story, what you create, and why. An artist statement also explains the work you’re presenting, be it a new series, a particular subject matter, or inspiration.

You might already have a bio on your website, and you can draw from that, but an artist statement is different. Bios are written in the third person while you’ll write your artist statement in the first person. Your bio chronicles your history while your artist statement describes your concept and your creative process.

In my gallery, I kept a binder of artist statements to share with customers who wanted to learn more about a particular artist. It was a way to allow the artist to tell their own story in their own words.

The last artist statement I wrote read:

My current work is about intersections. I begin each piece with the symmetry of wheel-thrown pots: bowls, bottles, cylinders. I then cut and combine parts, intersecting one with another. I enjoy exploring the limits of the clay, seeing just how far I can push the angles and interrupt the predictable curves while retaining the vessel’s function. The finished works are one-of-a-kind and unique all the while preserving their origins on the wheel.

At the time, my work was focused on thrown, altered, and assembled pieces including a series of small and large baskets, as well as a series of teapots. My statement also includes a short biography.

If words don’t come naturally and you’re stumped, take out a blank piece of paper, your drawing pad, or even a large piece of newsprint. Without expectation, try to move into that creative zone in yourself, that sacred place where the energy flows. Pick up your pencil or chalk and scrawl out whatever words or phrases come to you. It’s likely that you’ll intuitively know when you’ve landed on the core of your work.

From there, writing from the heart, sum up what your work means. Use spell check, grammar check, and a thesaurus. If you can set aside your trepidations about writing, you might find the statement will come more easily.

I will caution against using a Large Language Model (LLM) to write for you. LLMs are trained to produce human-like language because they are trained on copious amounts of actual human language. The danger lies in the LLM feeding you the same wording as others, rendering your statement bland and generic. Better to be “you” and not so similar to anyone else.

The other document that an artist might need is a CV, a curriculum vitae. Like a resume, a CV is a detailed account of your academic and professional experience. It needs to be uncluttered and easy to read.

A CV includes:

·        Education

·        Exhibitions

·        Residencies

·        Awards/Grants

·        Teaching

·        Workshops

·        Lectures

·        Publications

·        Related Experience

Be organized and thorough. Find a template that suits you or build a simple CV in Word or Google Docs. Mine is a basic CV in Word with formatting as follows:

·        Name in a slightly larger font than the body, in bold at the top

·        Below that, city and state, website, email

·        Sections in the order listed above

·        Within sections, list items in reverse chronological order, with the most recent exhibitions, residencies, etc. listed first.

Break down your categories and present the information succinctly. There’s no page limit, as there often is with a resume, so include everything you’ve done and accomplished in clear, easy-to-follow terms. A CV isn’t the place for flowery language or lengthy descriptions. The idea is to keep it clean and easy to follow, while highlighting your professional accomplishments.

Seeing and acknowledging all of your achievements in one place is a very satisfying experience. Your artist statement and CV together present a well-rounded picture of you, your work, and your art career, and are a vital part of a professional artist’s portfolio.

Maintaining Healthy Gallery Relationships

Now that your work is in a gallery, there’s a lot you can do to keep that relationship healthy, professional, and mutually rewarding.

It all starts with your contract. Most galleries will provide a contract. The contract serves as the foundation for a successful working relationship. It should outline the responsibilities of both the gallery and the artist. Read it carefully. Ask questions. Ensure you understand every part before signing.

My gallery’s contract included details such as:

• Commission terms – percentage, payout schedule, and methods of payment

• Guidelines for bringing in new work – making appointments, itemized lists with retail prices, and expectations for presentation (for example, whether items should be stickered or not)

• Insurance coverage – consignment items were not covered by my business insurance for loss from theft or breakage. This one is important to understand.

• Sales statements – whether artists would receive monthly statements or have online access to their inventory and sales

Even with clear contracts, it’s inevitable that some artists will occasionally forget or bend the rules. Try not to be that artist. The more organized and professional you are, the easier it is for the gallery to process, display, and sell your work.

Every item that comes into a gallery should be ready to sell. When I ran my gallery, we sometimes received pieces that slowed us down - ornaments without hangers, pottery with rough bottoms, earrings missing cards, or cards without sleeves. Every item that wasn’t “shop-ready” created extra work for my staff and me. The occasional lapse was to be expected, but a repeat offender’s work would be set aside until I could assess the craftsmanship before allowing it to be displayed and sold.

My gallery required artists to set an appointment to bring work in. As the gallery grew busier, appointments became a necessity. My staff and I kept a detailed schedule of which artists were expected and what work they were bringing in. That organization helped us plan our workload, stay efficient, and keep the day enjoyable. Before large events, those appointments ensured I had enough staff on hand to handle the influx.

Pay attention to emails and other communication from your gallery. Some may be general newsletters, but others could include important information about restocking, upcoming shows, or special orders. Timely, thoughtful responses help maintain trust and respect.

Many artists work in multiple mediums. If you’re branching out, make an appointment to show new pieces before bringing them in with your other accepted work. Gallery owners know their clientele and know what tends to sell. If they don’t think a new product line, for example earrings from a potter, will fit, remember that it’s not personal. It’s a business decision based on experience and customer demand.

I always appreciated artists who respected that distinction. The most successful partnerships I had were with those who saw the relationship as a collaboration, one built on mutual respect, communication, and shared success.

Following a gallery’s guidelines not only makes things smoother for the gallery, it also helps your work get displayed faster and, in turn, sold faster. When you treat your gallery as a partner, not just a venue, you’ll find the experience far more rewarding. Professionalism and respect go both ways, and when both artist and gallery are in sync, everyone wins.

Pricing Your Work: Part Two

I once had a gallery customer ask me, “What is the best value in your shop?” as he was shopping the pottery wall. For a moment, I was stumped. It was an odd question to ask someone who sells art. I explained that the value of any piece I sold was largely up to the buyer, and frankly if he just wanted the most bang for his buck, he should go buy a China-made mug from Walmart. You can drink the same amount of coffee out of a mug that’s mass-produced as you can out of a handmade one. But if you’re shopping for mugs in a gallery, I presume you’re seeking a more meaningful experience.

The mugs, earrings, prints, and cards that artists create cannot be compared to anything you’d find in a department store. Artists understand this. Most art lovers and collectors do as well. Because my gallery saw a great deal of tourist traffic, some customers needed a bit of education on why handmade matters.

We often equate “value” with getting our money’s worth. In art, I believe it has a deeper meaning.

The value of a piece of art is defined by the impact it has on our lives. This applies as much to creating art as it does to selling and buying it. You’ll hear me say this often: we create because we must, because we have decided that expressing ourselves artistically has more value than paid time off or health benefits. Living your life as a self-supporting artist offers rewards that go far beyond money.

Each piece you create is worth more than the materials that went into it and more than time it took to make it. Every piece carries your years of experience and the essence of your creativity.

Still, you ultimately decide how you price your work. It’s perfectly acceptable to desire a certain amount for a piece, even when that means holding onto that piece until someone is willing to pay your asking price. It is also completely fine to price a piece higher simply because you love it.

When a piece came out of my kiln with a truly beautiful glaze, I priced it higher, knowing how special it felt to me, even if a similar piece did not carry the same emotional weight. When pricing my own work, I would imagine how I’d feel if a piece went home with a customer and I had the amount of money in its place. If I felt sad or unsettled, I knew I hadn’t priced the piece high enough. That simple exercise helped guide me to my pricing structure.

Pricing your art is a business decision that can be made easier by thoughtfully considering the value of the work, your creativity and yourself. Context, experience, and intention all play a role in pricing. If you find yourself stuck or confused, please feel free to contact me. I work with artists individually to help them develop pricing that feels both sustainable and aligned with their values.

Pricing Your Work: Part One

At some point in art school, my colleagues and I thought it was beneath us to create artwork to sell. We disdained the idea of being beholden to money. We wore paint-splattered jeans and drank tea from the lopsided cups we made in Ceramics 101. We were those kinds of art students.

At the end of our last semester, most of us traded work, a piece of pottery for a print, that sort of thing. Then one of my friends offered me cash for a piece. It felt different, even validating.

There is nothing wrong with creating artwork for sale. And though making a living as an artist can be challenging, it is also deeply satisfying. The first step toward earning a sustainable income is effectively pricing your work.

Putting a dollar value on a piece of art is one of the most challenging parts of running an art business. Some artists meticulously track hours worked, material costs, and overhead like studio rent, and use those figures to calculate prices. In my experience, even with these numbers, the result often doesn’t reflect the true value of the work. You might arrive at a figure that makes sense mathematically, but it won’t always translate into a price someone will pay.

In the early days of my home pottery studio, before I had gallery representation, I sold my work at arts and crafts shows. I made all kinds of one-of-a-kind pieces, from tiny ring dishes to large vases and bowls. Pricing them was complicated. I would group similar pieces together, starting with the smallest, and start assigning prices. As I moved up in size and complexity, I raised the prices accordingly. By the time I reached the largest pieces, I often realized no one would pay what I had assigned, so I lowered the price and adjusted everything else down the line. It was time-consuming and not entirely logical, but it resulted in price points that were more likely to sell.

Part of my challenge was the sheer variety of pieces, which ties back to building a body of work.

Years later, when I ran my gallery in a rural area of Western North Carolina, I gained experience through seeing what seasoned artists sold their work for and helping new artists price their work. In my gallery, pottery mugs ranged from $24 to $60. Greeting cards made from original works retailed for $4 to $6. One artist priced his paintings by size, for example, an 8”x10” painting sold for $125. Another artist sold prints of her original paintings: 8”x10” digital prints were $17, and giclées were $30. Beaded gemstone earrings ranged from $20 to $40.

On the higher end, I carried one-of-a-kind textile wearables, exceptional jewelry, and large paintings, priced from the hundreds to thousands of dollars. These prices aren’t meant to serve as a framework for your own work. They reflected my gallery, my community, and my customer base at the time. If you are looking for gallery representation, trust the gallery professionals to know their market and what price points are most likely to sell.

Every artist’s journey is unique, and the numbers that make sense for one studio or gallery may not fit yours. If you’d like more personalized guidance on setting prices that reflect your time, materials, and creative value, I welcome you to reach out. Together, we can look at your work, your audience, and your goals to find a pricing approach that works for you.

Building a Body of Work

Galleries look for artists who present a body of work - something cohesive that feels like a unified artistic voice. Your body of work represents your vision and creative identity.

That doesn’t mean your work has to be monotonous. Variety brings energy and vitality, but too much of it can create chaos. Experiment freely in your studio but know that not every experiment will fit within your cohesive body of work.

Early on as a studio potter, I loved testing everything. I worked with different clay bodies, firing temperatures, and atmospheres. I experimented with glazes. So many glaze tests.

What all my pieces had in common was their maker - me. But they didn’t really speak to one another or look like they belonged in the same family. That mug on the top shelf might have been a second cousin once removed from the sculpture on the bottom. I was having fun and learning, and that’s part of the joy of creating.

The resulting collection looked fine and even sold well enough at local craft fairs. But I hadn’t yet found that defining quality, the thing that made my work mine. Think of Alexander Calder’s mobiles, Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers, or Keith Haring’s outlined figures. You know their work instantly. That distinct style, that recognizable voice - that’s what a body of work is.

When I first approached galleries, I showed up with pieces that were all over the map. I loved them all and proudly told the gallery owner I had even more at the studio “just tell me what you’d like, and I’ll bring more!” I didn’t realize that’s not how it worked. I was politely sent away and encouraged to narrow my focus.

It’s easy to think that more variety gives the gallery more to choose from and broadens your appeal. In truth, it can signal that you’re still finding your footing. A cohesive body of work moves you beyond the “hobby artist” label. Once a gallery represents you, you’ll have opportunities to show your experimental or one-of-a-kind pieces later.

Many artists divide their studio time between making accessible, affordable work, like mugs, which were by far the best sellers in my gallery, and creating art pieces that are more esoteric, time-consuming, and expensive. Your gallery visits will teach you which pieces to submit for representation. Often, artists reserve their “showpieces” for exhibits and publications while taking more approachable work to their retail galleries.

You see your own work through the lens of its making - the risks you took, the breakthroughs you found, the meaning that drove it. You have favorites, experiments, playful pieces, and “wow” pieces. But it’s challenging to step back and view them objectively. Learning to curate your own work - to see it through the eyes of a gallery owner or collector - is essential.

Be thoughtful when selecting work to present for gallery consideration. Developing that curatorial eye takes time and practice, but it’s time well spent. Over time, you’ll start to recognize the thread that runs through your work, the part that makes it unmistakably yours.

As you continue developing your body of work, remember that clarity and cohesion don’t limit your creativity. They strengthen it. Learning to edit, refine, and see your work as a whole is part of the artist’s evolution. Trust the process. It takes time to develop a recognizable voice, one that feels authentic to you and unmistakably your own.

The Importance of Keeping Good Records

I’ve always been a list maker. I’m a Type A, Capricorn, Enneagram Type 1 who really, really needs things to be organized. For me, it’s about control and order.

When I was a studio artist, I kept my records in a pocket folder. Since I wasn’t a full-time artist, that system was adequate for my needs. Each month when I received my sales statement, I updated my list of items I’d taken to each gallery. I knew when to restock and when not to expect a check at all.

When one gallery switched to a cloud-based inventory system, I decided to keep using my paper records instead. It was what I was comfortable with and it worked for me.

As a gallery owner, I had an excellent reputation for paying artists on time. Payout dates were clearly stated in my contracts. Not all owners are so reliable. Some galleries fall behind on payments or rely on artists to contact them for their money. In my opinion, that’s a terrible way to treat artists.

I’ve even known small shops that took items on consignment and then lost track of what they’d sold, offering no proof that they owed the artist anything. That’s completely unacceptable and deeply disrespectful.

As an artist and businessperson, you are responsible for knowing where your work is, what has sold, and what you’ve been paid for. Ideally, your gallery will keep excellent records too, but ultimately, the responsibility is yours. If a gallery is casual about recordkeeping or slow to pay, consider taking your work somewhere else.

In the end, only you know what kind of system will work best for you, whether that’s a detailed spreadsheet with formulas or an accordion file folder. Whatever you choose, use it consistently and review your records every month or so.

Good recordkeeping is a cornerstone of your art business. It isn’t just about staying organized - it’s about valuing your work, your time, and your professionalism as an artist. When you treat your creative practice like a business, others will too.

Approaching Galleries for Representation

Galleries play a vital role in the art market. They already have an established clientele, a loyal customer base, and a physical presence in their communities. They also manage much of the marketing and business side for the artists they represent. Gallery owners and staff are professionals whose goal is to promote the visual arts and sell artwork.

If selling through galleries is part of your strategy, it’s important to know how to approach them the right way. Even when you’re confident in your work, initiating that first conversation can feel intimidating. Gallery staff are used to interacting with creative personalities, so be your authentic self, but also be professional. A little planning can go a long way toward making a good impression.

Research First

Start by researching galleries in your area. Visit their websites and note whether they include submission information. If they do, pay attention to the details. Make a list of potential galleries and plan to visit them in person, not to pitch your work yet, but to observe and get a sense of fit. 

While you’re there, look around objectively and ask yourself:

• What’s the gallery’s overall vibe?

• Would your work fit in here?

• Do they exhibit and sell work similar to yours?

• How is the art displayed and presented?

• Does the staff seem professional, friendly, laid-back, and what style do you prefer?

Remember, this first visit is purely research. This process isn’t just about getting your work on the wall; it’s about finding the right professional relationship for your art to thrive. Each gallery visit teaches you something about where your work belongs and how you want to grow.

If a gallery doesn’t include submission information on its website, ask a staff member about the process. Listen carefully, take notes, thank them, and leave.

What Not to Do

There are a few common mistakes to avoid when visiting a gallery:

• Don’t bring your artwork for “show and tell” without an appointment.

• Don’t offer to show photos of your work on your phone.

• Don’t offer to leave materials unless a staff member specifically asks for your business card.

Moving Forward

After visiting several galleries, you’ll start to sense which ones might be the best fit for your work. Aim high - identify your dream galleries, and then work your way down your list. Depending on your area, you should have 4 or 5 galleries chosen.

When you’re ready, gather your submission materials, take a deep breath, and call to make an in-person appointment. Email may be more in your comfort zone, but unless a gallery has specifically requested email submission, it’s likely that yours will be overlooked, or read and forgotten. 

Be patient with the process and stay curious. Every conversation builds confidence and connection, even if it doesn’t lead to representation right away. The more intentional you are with your approach, the more likely you’ll find a gallery partnership that values your work as much as you do.

The right gallery will recognize your professionalism and your passion.