Instead of focusing on building my art business online, I moved into a retail space in downtown Durham at the beginning of March. Why I am betting on a brick-and-mortar location as the best place to sell art? Keep reading to find out.
My shared studio with Aura inside Cecy’s
Connection with my local community
I’m sharing a studio in a retail gallery with two other artists who do beautiful work that compliments mine. Sonali makes clothing. Sophia makes jewelry. I make mixed media art and art prints. Even though each of us makes something different, you still have people coming in that want to support their local artists and they can buy all of our work from one place.
The best place to sell art is where people are looking for art
Our studio is part of the long-running Cecy’s Gallery. It’s next to the farmers market at Durham Central Park. Saturday mornings and during special events, it is CROWDED. People are coming in and they’re ready to shop! People that are already in my town interested in art can discover my art.
Live feedback on my art
In person, I can see which of my art really resonates with people. I can observe how people react to my work even if they don’t buy anything. They stop and smile and point at the pieces they really like. I have seen that a little bit from my experience having my work on display at Colab where I attend the First Friday openings. I get to see what do people think about my art. First of all, not surprisingly, people love cats. Also people love to see texture. When you’re online, it’s really hard to get a feel for textured art.
People crave tangible art
Lately I’ve concentrated on making real physical art that you can touch in real life. We live in this world where everything is digital. Everything is computerized. We don’t really have that personal connection online with the whole parasocial thing. Everything feels fake. Everything just feels flat. People are craving texture. They are craving something real. They’re craving connections. Having a real space in the real world means people can interact with me and they can interact with my art. I don’t have to fight the algorithm to try to play games and try to make the best hook in hopes of someone finding my art.
Saturated online marketplaces
Online has become so saturated. You’re competing against people from all over the world. Now you’re also competing with AI. People ARE looking for art and they want real art. But online marketplaces aren’t the best place to sell art because there’s so much AI slop it’s clogging up the search engines.
Art buyers can’t find what they want on Etsy anymore. Etsy used to be THE place to find art online. Now Etsy gets lots of complaints both from the seller and the buyer perspective. Buyers have to sift through so much slop they can’t find real art. Sellers have to drive their own traffic to Etsy to be seen. The whole benefit of Etsy as the best place to sell art is as a marketplace where people are already looking for art. Honestly, now that you have to send traffic to Etsy yourself, I’d rather send prospective buyers to my own site.
People are still looking for art though. Now art buyers are looking in real world spaces because it’s so hard to find real art online. So that’s when I thought: “Hey you know what? I need to be in the real world selling my art.”
Type of art for sale in the studio
I’m starting out small with the types of products I’m selling. I have a few original pieces (only the ones I am willing to part with). I have prints because I realize the price of originals is out of reach for a lot of people. Even if people can’t necessarily to afford an original piece, they still want to support local artists and they still want real work.
Two types of prints for sale:
- Letter-sized prints
- Larger mounted prints
A studio is the best place to sell AND work on art
The studio as seen from my work table
One of the things I love about renting a studio is having some space to work on my art away from home. We have a spacious studio so I have room for a table. We even have some hidden storage where I can keep canvases and other supplies. When it’s really nice out, we open the large garage door to the overall space. There’s enough room for me to be in the doorway working. Interactive work really helps draw people in! They see there are real people in your city making real tangible art. Last weekend was beautiful so I was outside with some pastels drawing on the sidewalk in front of our space. People stopped to talk with me and check out the studio. One little girl even drew with me for awhile. You don’t get that kind of spontaneous interaction online!
Aren’t markets the best place to sell art in person?
I was thinking about trying to do more markets. I did have some market experience after participating in Pancakes and Booze. The biggest issue with markets is all of the setup. It’s a lot of work for a short experience: I have to bring all my stuff in. I have to hang it on the wall. I have to be there the whole time. Then I have to take everything down. And what if it rains? So when I came across this opportunity with Aura, it seemed like all of the best parts of a market without the constant setup.