mass production

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="05bfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <B>Marketing Articles</B></div> <div> <B>347-LOVE-ART  (347-568-3278)   Toll Free 1-877-512-3333</B><B>    Email: </B><A HREF="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com"><U><B>mike@mikealbin.com</B></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="05cd2043.jpg"> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mike Albin.Com "><U>Mike Albin.Com </U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="wd.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web design"><U>Web design</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="ma.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Articles"><U>Marketing Articles</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="sr.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Show Reviews"><U>Show Reviews</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mt.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marketing Tools"><U>Marketing Tools</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="l.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#777777" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Mass-produced work:</div> <div> the future of art shows?<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> My last article was about the buy/sell problem we all are facing at art shows, and when writing that article, I received so much feedback about mass-produced work that I felt compelled to write an article devoted just to that. </div> <div> Most artists I know work 60-80 hours a week producing their work just to be able to travel a day or two and then work all weekend selling it. Each piece of art can take many hours to produce, so every artist has a limited amount of inventory he or she can show up with at a given show. The artists who produce their own work must charge a fair price based on how long each piece took to make, plus the costs of supplies. We do all of this because we love being creative and making our art. So it’s no wonder that we get upset when we get to a show and see someone setting up with four times the amount of inventory we have and selling it for one-third the price. Are our methods and techniques that out of date? Are we just really slow at what we do? Are we just jealous because we cannot produce our work that quickly and that cheaply? Or is the other person bending or outright breaking a rule to be in the show? </div> <div> There are so many gray areas when it comes to show rules. Not only does each show have different rules, but they each enforce them differently. How do shows decide at what point artists stop being individuals and become a factory? Some shows say that an artist team may consist of a maximum of two people and that if a team produces the work, both members must be present at the show. But any artist can hire a helper or two to help produce artwork, so where do you draw the line regarding who to let into a show and what’s considered mass produced?</div> <div> If a woodworker makes all of his cutting boards but hires six people to sand and finish off each board in an assembly line, should he be allowed in an art show? Take, for example, one woodworker I’ve seen out there who does as many as three shows on the same weekend, practically every weekend. The people who run that person’s booth are not woodworkers — they are salespeople. Admittedly, they have a great product that sells very well. But the problem artists have with this is that the items are mass produced and should not be included in a fine art show alongside handmade work! These salespeople are misrepresenting themselves as actual artists and misrepresenting what they are selling as handmade. There are plenty of lower-end craft shows, flea markets or retail stores that allow mass-produced items, and that is where that work belongs. Lying outright to show directors and the public for profit should not be tolerated. </div> <div> If a photographer sends his images to China or Mexico to be printed on canvas and has the finished products shipped back to him, ready to sell, should this be allowed at art shows? I’ve heard of potters doing the same thing, making one plate and sending it to Mexico to be mass produced. These people can sell this work so much more cheaply than one-of-a-kind art. When patrons come to a show and see different artists selling work at such different prices, usually the one selling cheaper work sells much more. It’s the Wal-Mart mentality that’s taking over our economy: Buy something inexpensive and throw it away later. In contrast, <I>art</I> is supposed to be collected and appreciate in value over time. And <I>art</I> is what patrons expect to get when they visit fine art shows. </div> <div> If fine art shows continue to allow mass-produced work, we are all going to have to find faster and cheaper ways of producing our work in order to compete. Are those of us who actually produce our own work by our own hand destined to become dinosaurs? I’m sure the companies that employed workers who actually made their own toys and electronics here in the United States had these same conversations 15-20 years ago — and look how it turned out for them. If artists and directors of fine art shows don’t get together and establish a standard for what is acceptable and what’s not, we may all in the near future be shipping our ideas overseas to be produced. </div> <div> I recently visited a fellow artist in Atlanta. He does metalwork. He took me to his shop and showed me how he hand cuts and works each piece of art. He is a true master, and his artwork is exceptional. In contrast, there are other metalworkers who use a computer-guided plasma cutter to cut out their artwork. They program into a computer the design they want, and the machine cuts out amazing and intricate designs very quickly. The people using this system can sell their work much more cheaply because of the little time involved, and they end up with lots more inventory. </div> <div> It’s the same story with other mediums. At your next show, look around at how many photographers are selling their photographs unframed on stretched canvas. How many were doing that even five years ago? The photographers doing it this way have found a faster, cheaper way to produce their artwork. Traditional photography done by hand on paper takes much more time, and the process is much more expensive. Each photograph has to be done one at a time. The going rate for one limited edition 30x40 photograph in a nice frame used to be around $1,000. Now photographers scan their work into a computer, hit a button and print out as many pictures as they want, in all different sizes and on all types of paper, including watercolor paper and canvas. A 30x40 photo on stretched canvas now often goes for around $250. If this trend continues, we may all have to find a way to input our ideas into a computer and have the computer print, cut and produce our work. </div> <div> Even painting is affected. About a month ago, I received an e-mail from a company in China that makes oil paintings. They said I could send them JPEG images of my photographs and they would have their staff of oil painters reproduce them. I was intrigued, so I e-mailed them back and asked how much. They said they would paint my image on a 24x30 canvas and send it to me already stretched on bars, ready to hang, for $32. All I had to do was e-mail them the image. I could sell work like this all day at a show for several hundred dollars and make a fortune. </div> <div> Show guidelines</div> <div> The major obstacle to stopping this type of mass-produced work is the difficulty in identifying it. How can you possibly tell if an artist hired a few people to help produce the work? The artists who are doing it sure aren’t going to come forward or stop applying to shows just because a new rule has gone into effect. And from a show director’s standpoint, you can’t kick artists out of a show for selling their work too cheaply or showing up with too much inventory. So how can you stop it from sneaking in? </div> <div> The following guidelines are meant to provide clues to what to look for. They are by no means fool proof, but when used together, they might give promoters and artists cause for further investigation into a particular exhibitor.</div> <div> 1) Look at the amount of inventory each artist brings. Can two people possibly make this much inventory?</div> <div> 2) Compare prices to those of similar work by other artists.</div> <div> 3) Check artists’ Web sites for show schedules. Most post their schedules on their sites, but if they are doing two or more shows on the same weekend, more than likely they are not revealing their schedules. If they are doing 50 shows a year and show up with a truckload of inventory, that should raise a red flag. </div> <div> 4) Promoters, post artists’ names and work images on your show’s Web site. Check with directors who have shows on the same weekend and cross reference artists’ names and images. </div> <div> 5) Clearly state in your application: A) No mass-produced work is allowed. B) All work must be produced solely by the artist or by an artist team of no more than two people. C) Artists in violation of these rules will be asked to leave immediately. D) Selling mass-produced items as handmade constitutes fraud/deception for financial gain, and violators will face criminal prosecution. </div> <div> 6) Reproductions (if promoters allow them) should be signed, numbered, limited editions and in a reasonably low number, i.e. 250-500. Limited editions of 2,000 or more become posters, not fine art. </div> <div> 7) Be diligent. Promoters, if you suspect someone in your show is bending the rules, investigate and talk with other artists in the same medium and other show directors. Talk with the suspected artists about their processes. If your show’s rules were broken, send the exhibitors packing! </div> <div> By the way, regarding #3, I don’t post my schedule on my Web site, so please don’t write me and point that out. I don’t mean to imply that all artists who don’t post their schedules are making mass-produced work. I just mean to suggest that, when all these violations are combined, it should raise concerns. </div> <div> Promoter suggestions</div> <div> Another suggestion for solving this problem came from show director Richard Sullivan, formerly of the Naples National Art Festival, now of the Las Olas National and other shows. “The first important step is that the show director or someone else that the show designates must know their artists,” says Sullivan. “It is very hard to sneak by a festival director or their designated representative if that person is familiar with the artwork of their participants. The person in charge of this very important segment of the event should know 85 percent of the artists easily from past shows, and from visiting and walking other shows. The other 15 percent that they are unfamiliar with from year to year just need a little scrutiny before and definitely during the event. Does an antique dealer know if the person supplying those items is genuine? You bet they do. Does a chef at a quality restaurant know that their grouper vendor is supplying them with real grouper? You bet.” </div> <div> Lori Emly of the Melbourne Art Festival writes, “It is the show directors’ responsibility to police the streets after artists are set up. Luckily, having all the slides digitally last year (Zapplication), we could look at slides submitted and the work on the street at the same time and easily make the decisions. … These are hard issues. … It is up to the show to maintain the integrity of their show. If they want to be a flea market, then be a flea market, … but do not advertise as a fine art show. </div> <div> “When mistakes happen, take immediate action. Do not allow that person to stay on your streets. They have misrepresented themselves, and you have a right to remove them. Last year we had to stand in front of a booth and not allow any patrons into the booth until the artist had put everything away. Mass-produced items are getting more and more prevalent. Unfortunately, the general public doesn’t get it. They are getting a bargain, and they wonder why would you ask the artists to leave.”</div> <div> Our very existence as artists is in jeopardy if fine art shows continue to allow mass-produced items. There has to be a level playing field. If not, we’re all going to have to find a way to mass produce our own work or have someone in a faraway country produce it for us, just to compete. </div> <div> I hope we can all continue to make our living doing what we love: making our artwork. That Chinese oil painting thing does sound pretty good sometimes, when I think about all the time off I could have and the easy money I could make. But then I’d probably get really bored with all that time off and do something stupid with the money — like pay my bills!<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> This month’s letter comes from mixed media collage artist Lynnda Tenpenny of Knoxville, Tennessee. “I enjoy your columns and have used several of your tactics for selling my artwork at festivals and fairs,” she writes. “I’m fairly new to the festival game, so I’m learning tactics all the time. In addition to the ‘I’ll be back’ comment, here’s another one that just drives me nuts: I have people all the time come into my booth [and] rave about the art, … but they just don’t have any more wall space! I always suggest jokingly that they should rotate, just to get a conversation started. Maybe this is just a polite way of saying they really do like the art but … aren’t going to buy anything, but I’d love to hear anyone’s suggestions about how they handle that comment.” </div> <div> Thanks for the compliment, Lynnda, and I’m glad the articles are helping. Patty and I also get the “I have no wall space” comment, and I’ve told people 1,000 times that they should rotate their art, but it’s never led to a sale. Try answering their comment with a question, not another comment. Ask, “Isn’t there one piece of art hanging in your home that one of you would like to replace?” or “Which one of my pieces is your favorite?” Once they pick one, keep asking questions: “Why is this your favorite, or what is it about this piece?” If you can keep them talking about why they like it, they might just talk themselves into taking it. Also, if you have gift items, you could suggest that by asking if they are looking to get a gift for an upcoming special occasion. But in the end, when a lot of people say they have no wall space, it’s just a polite way of saying they are not buying. Good luck. I hope that helps. </div> <div> Please send suggestions and comments to me at <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="ITC-NewBaskerville" ><U>mike@mikealbin.com</U></FONT>. I’m happy to help and appreciate all the great feedback I get from you.</div> <bR> <div> 6260 N.W. 19 Street, Sunrise, Fl. 33313 Toll Free 1-877-512-3333    Email: <A HREF="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:mike@mikealbin.com"><U>mike@mikealbin.com</U></A></div> </td> </tr></table></body>