School of Creative Business - Creative Entrepreneurship

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Elizabeth Gilbert on Nurturing Creativity

Planning a Website Fine Art Portfolio

Are you thinking about creating a website to showcase your artwork? Well if you are,  then know that your online fine art portfolio should be designed the same as your traditional fine art portfolio. Your online portfolio has to represent you without you being there. It should have a strong presentation that's reflective of your artwork.

Below are suggestions on how to plan a website fine art portfolio.

Home Page

The home page is very important. It is the first impression of your work. The goal of the home page is to provide maximum visual impact to lead your visitors further into your website. Avoid to many pictures and text. I suggest one large image or if you are more savvy with flash, then maybe several revolving images.

Gallery

In selecting images for your gallery, use the same guidelines suggested in creating an artist brochure. Don't include every piece of artwork you have created, only show your current work. But if you have a need to show older work or work unrelated to your current body of work, Carroll Michels suggest to add a hidden link, that can be sent on your request to others.

Your artwork should be labeled with the title, size, and medium. Prices should not be posted, they can be an distraction. Include a note indicating to contact artist for prices.

About Artist

Your artist statement and biography should be included here. The biography can be used in place of your artist resume. In some cases I have seen artist include their resumes a PDF link. You can also include a head shot or a photo of yourself working in your studio.

Contact Information

This is a must. In this section provide a way for gallery owners/ visitors to contact you: email address and PO box address is good enough.

Press

A page devoted to exhibition reviews, articles and video presentations about your work should be included in this section. This is the place to "toot your own horn".

Blog

This has become the newest and hottest thing to include on your website. This allows your website visitors to seek out more insights about you as artist and it also is a good way to keep fresh content on your website. Include a link to your blog if it is hosted on another site or if your website has a blogging feature, then surely include it.

Favorite Artist Websites

I thought I would end this post with a few links to my favorite artist websites. I hope it inspires you to create your own website fine art portfolio.

Francoise Nielly

Michelle Caplan 

Yellena James

Billy Colbert

Cedric Smith

Donate $5 to Help The People of Haiti

Lets help those that need our help! Make a small donation of $5.00 to Wyclef Jean's Haiti foundation. It is really simple, text  YELE to 501501. $5.00 will be added to your bill or deducted from your prepaid services. If you have any questions about the donations click here.

Today's Word (sent to my email box everyday) from Joel Osteen was  He is on Your Side  "Don't be afraid,' the prophet answered. 'Those who are with us are more than those who are with them'" (2 Kings 6:16, NIV)

 Just remember it God is on our side, we too need to be on the side of those who need our help the most. Try to do whatever you can to help.

Peace & More Love, Alease Michelle

 

 

7 Helpful Tips for the New and Seasoned Art Blogger

Hey guys, wanted to share a few resources with you about blogging. I follow alot of art blogs and I also follow bloggers who write about blogging. One person I follow and have used his advice often is Problogger.  About a week ago Problogger posted several links I felt would be very helpful to the new and seasoned art blogger.

7 Helpful Tips For the New and Seasoned Art Blogger

Starting Your First Blog? 29 Tips, Tutorials and Resources for New Bloggers

13 Quick tips to Make Your Blog STAND OUT from the Crowd

How to Create Great First Impressions on New Readers and Convert Them Into Loyal Readers

How To Take Your Blog to the Next Level… Once You’ve Got a Start

7 Questions to Ask On Your Blog to Get More Reader Engagement

8 Tips for Building Community on Your Blog

7 Ways to Turn a Blog Post Upside Down and Get More Comments

I hope the tips are helpful. Just be mindful that he writes from a business angle. He does make $100,000 year just blogging, so alot of his advice is about making money or generating more exposure to your blog.

Happy Reading- Alease

What's an Artist Package and What Goes into an Artist Package?

What's an artist package and what goes into an artist package? I have wondered this often, and thought I understood what to include in an artist package,until I started reading How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist: Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul. Caroll Michels makes it so clear in this book that's it is hard to miss, but just in case you do miss it I've provided you with a list of the essentials to include in your artist package.

Your Artist Package

 An Artist Resume

Now most of us have an resume of sorts. It might not be updated, but we have one somewhere. If you want to get down and serious with your artist career, you gotta have an update artist resume. If you are at lost with how to start write an artist resume go to the College Art Association.

An Artist Statement

For me, actually sitting down and writing an artist statement, was just painful. It was hard for me to translate my visual concepts into writing, but I did it and I got help from some really good sources. Empty Easel . Making a Mark, Renee Phillips, and Molly Gordon

A Cover letter

Yes that's right a cover letter.  Michels states in her book that "a cover letter can provide a context to help people view your work".  An artist cover letter should include: an introductory paragraph- stating who you are and your purpose; a short artist statement; a brag paragraph - picking out a few key accomplishments from your resume; a concluding paragraph - reminding them that if they are interested in your work you could send additional materials or they could view your website.

Visuals

Include quality images of your work. With the advancement of technology there really is no need to send slides of your work. You now can include images of your work on a CD and some galleries prefer you send them as attachments in an email.

Michels suggests also to rethink the way you might send your artist package. Her suggestion isto create a brochure.  Brochures- are cheaper than putting together a slide presentation and can assist you in getting a higher response rate from galleries, it resolves the problem of having to wait for matierals to be returned for recirculation, they are easier to handle and quicker to assemble, and they can serve as a sales tool for art dealers and consultants.

Designing My Artist Brochure

I've decided to take this route and create a  3 fold brochure to send out to galleries. I've spent the last few days designing the cover and inside pages. I also had to update my resume and artist statement.  Check here to view few pages of my artist brochure.

New Blog - Studio 2229

I started blogging, because I wanted to do what I saw other artist doing, which was blogging. I've kept an journal every since I was 10. So writing about myself - seem very natural. I have been blogging for 4 years. I have written about my artwork, family, personal interest and resources I've come across about marketing and business.

And many of you have followed me through all the changes- design, photos, banner changes, and topics. Well this year I wanted to focus my blogging efforts more. I want to take what I have learned from this blog and apply it to my new blog - Studio 2229. 

Studio 2229will be a place I write about what inspires me as an artist, the steps I've taken to complete a mixed media collage, current events in my artist career, and new techniques I am playing around with. There will be other things, but for now I am pretty sure this is the direction I'm taken. If you are interested in being part of the Studio 2229 family - please SUBSCRIBE. I am looking for a few new family members to offer advice on the direction my artwork is going, and maybe to be a first to buy new mixed media collages, invited to collage workshops, or gallery events.

Now please know, This blog will remain. It was my first and I really enjoy sharing information on business and marketing for artist, new art lessons , creative inspirations and whatever I think might be an interest to you guys. And all of those topics will still be covered in this blog, but with even more focus.

Jewels - Mixed Media Collage was just posted on Studio 2229- check it, and leave a comment.

Peace and More Love, Alease