Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello all,

I deal in Alaskan Native Art from norther Alaska.  I have been contacting random people throughout my artistic area in hopes to gather information so that I may grow my business properly.

Thought it would be nice to have a place so that we can share our experiences and our advice!

Stay warm

Rainey

I am working on getting into dealing art.  I have several artists, Inuit and otherwise that I would love to help get more exposure.  I am slowly networking into the art market here in Western Canada, and would love to use some images of your art to bring forward and gauge response.  I would not use any without your consent.  PM me and let me know.

And I will come back here and share some of my experiences as I get into what is a whole new market for me.

I`m a modern artist with hundreds of graphite/charcoal drawings that appeal to that market, why I`m not sure but likely from living in Seattle for decades, carved stone, wood and learned some silver carving from a friend of a friend, all Haida, never did any traditional designs really and instead carved my weird faces.

Anyway what I do is modern art, but people like it in person, so if you have time check http://www.mallard-modern-art.com my site to get some ideas. Go to the artspan website to see how people search for things. I think you would be searchable as a genre.

These websites are the easiest way to catalog what you have and it`s available to you and your customers anywhere there`s internet access. All you need is a digicam with a tripod, two sheets of illustration board, one black, one white as the background to shot in weird places and get good photos.

Caveats are, if you sell online and haven`t used this kind of software before there`s a learning curve, and it`s like any "store" you have to be around a while before things seem to take off.

hth

Tom,  do you have pics of your silver carvings.  I would love to see some if you do!

I only have one piece in progress so will try to get a decent shot of that online, may have a print or three of older stuff.

If anyone is familiar with carving you`ll get the idea, will try to get this online tonight. There`s some relief to them and now I use more textures than when an apprentice. In general they were faces !- )

Sorry it took me forever to get back on this site.  I have been busy!

One problem I am running into is inventory.  I buy as much as I can, and create as much as I can....but it all sells too quickly.  Any advice? 

I already raised my prices.....  This time of year is worst because everyone gets their shareholder checks and stop making art for a while. 

Keep in touch everyone...any advice is always helpful!