Whats Hot & Whats Not, Beware of Vanity Scams!
November 8, 2009Whats Hot Right now the "Small package Exhibition" is on at the Bruce Mason Center, Takapuna, Auckland.
Get ready for Christmas now!
Small Packages - 3rd -30th Nov 2009
Bruce Mason Center, Takapuna, Auckland
OVER 100 small 10x10" canvas for sale, All by 100% Nz Artist's. But be quick as they are selling fast.
To get noticed you need to put yourself out there, you have to promote yourself to get noticed, & then all excitement when you do.... Heres the thing though.... you will get noticed by other artists, by collectors, by gallery owners, & by SCAMMERS, the question then is who do you believe?
Ask questions: how, where, when, what did they notice, this will also give an insight as to what they like, if they are really genuine in wanting to know more of you, they will answer.
If they have approached you for exhibition, Great... but ask all the questions & others what they know of the gallery, Google it & try to read other forums that have ventured with them, Put the question out there (Facebook & Art forums are fantastic for this) !
If they want money before they commit, don't do it, you will get ripped off, & they will continue to scam others.
I get a lot of vanity gallery requests, Most I just delete especially the ones that have spelling mistakes all the way through them!! (Those ones are just spam they are the ones that will cost you big time)
Real vanity gallery's (And they are real gallery's with real staff) but they ask you if you will be willing to exhibit so many pieces, some even going as far as suggesting some that they have seen on your website, (but guaranteed to be the ones with sold on them).... then ask you to pay $ then they will send you a contract IF you are then selected to exhibit, you will not know what their commission fee is until you receive the contract, it will most likely be 40-50% they already have your money, that is non refundable..... These are not scams they are actually quite common we have a major exhibition that is huge here in New Zealand & only a 3rd of people that submit works paying before they are selected actually get in, these big functions do sell a lot of art, people seem to go wild over the art on these days they normally only run for a weekend at a time... BUT its a gamble do you as an artist lose money if your not selected, (That is really hard to stomach when it happens) or take the risk of them not paying up if they sell (due to huge numbers of art sales it is normally 4 weeks before payments are sent out) or what if they lose your work.... it happens, insurance is expensive for art, & it has only got a value of material costs until its sold according to the insurance company's.....But wow wonderful if you are excepted.... can you afford to gamble? yes... Go for it then. Not really...Then probably don't bother, find another alternative.. my suggestion is unless you can deliver & pick up...ask yourself is it worth it? maybe if postage is not to bad. The best exhibitions are the ones that you pay an entry fee in with your art that is guaranteed to be hung, or a Free to hang exhibition... but these don't come about all that often!! & I still ask around to see what the reputation is with the place in question at the time, any doubt I consider it spam until it proves its self safe. I will sit out an exhibition to see how others find it... but by doing this I am not promoting myself or making sales.... it is undoubtedly a hard line to walk.
At the end of the day......
The very best thing any artist can do is physically go to or talk to people who use gallery's, or guilds... best to approach gallery's yourself if you can, take your portfolio & sell yourself, pick ones that your work will fit with, you don't want to approach an abstract gallery if you are a realism painter, & vice versa, for every 7 "No thank you's" you should get one YES... if not... well time to reevaluate... perhaps you where approaching with the wrong manner... go back & ask if you are not sure, 90% of people will have admiration for you going back & asking, & therefore be quite happy to be honest, or give you pointers... it maybe that they have a waiting list of artists to get into there gallery... You don't know until you ask. I tell myself :You love to paint, you love what you do, as long as you are sure of you, you can sell your work. :-)
Even with the guild & the gallery's I exhibit at, The kid within me dreams... I so want to take my work overseas & exhibit in big places like New York, that would just sound awesome coming out of the mouth of a small country town girl on the other side of the world... wouldn't it.... I think it would any way....
Time for whats Really NOT HOT!!
I have given up on the idea at the moment... I did have to ask the questions about a gallery only a couple of days ago, & I am so pleased I did follow my own advice above, it turned out to be one of these "Vanity" gallery's, "it was misleading" turned out that this gallery in question give's peoples work away if it doesn't sell, they where apparently really bad at paying out when they did sell & they take 50% for commission fees, so after paying $50 US to submit works then Paying $36+US to get your small paintings there then if they sell it you lose 50% of your price which should still be profit after materials etc really you will not get anything back anyway, if you over price to still get a profit back, it is less likely you will sell... therefore losing your work or incurring more additional costs of shipping it back to you. though the place is real & they do sell a lot of works.... really for me here in New Zealand I would have to be able to sell for 3x my normal cost just to break even.....thats if I got paid....Nope really not worth it!! Dream shattered for another day!!
Though It did Spark a Hot idea: My next piece for the Nz art Guild Challenge #14 "Dreams" check it out I will post the pic on the Guilds Face book page when I am done.
Shall leave you with something I was once told & believe in:
Don't give into temptations, If it sounds to good to be true its a lie, If it sounds to close to your dream their will be a high cost. Weigh up fame over Happiness.... Happiness always wins.
Don't give into temptations, If it sounds to good to be true its a lie, If it sounds to close to your dream their will be a high cost. Weigh up fame over Happiness.... Happiness always wins.
Posted by Sharlene Schmidt
I am into anything I can essentially make a mess with,
Love a good laugh, & dislike being to serious!
Favourite saying: It is not what you get out of life, but what you put in that counts!!!
I am a self taught, Full time artist, using every & any medium I can get my hands on to create from 3D sculpture, clocks jewellery & paintings, though I am currently studying towards my diploma in Arts with The Learning Connextion. (Known & will be referred to as TLC)
Also a member of the New Zealand Art guild which is a great place to be, with wonderful people, A great resources.
