Art Businesses Affected by the Economy

The art field is one of the first to be affected when the economy is down. A friend reports that it appears to be picking up for her again though. 

Image: sxc.hu

Back in the 1970s, when I was doing quite a bit of painting and selling my work on consignment and commission, the economy went into a downward spiral and art sales were flat. Just at that time we had the Bicentennial celebrations in the U. S. and interest in quilts revived.  So I accidentally (that’s a whole other story) got into making and selling these.

As a result, a different aspect of my art/writing career opened up, and I’ve never gotten back to my painting and sketching except to illustrate a couple of my books. My friend’s success in selling her art through today’s methods has  inspired me to dig out my paintings. And I find I’m impressed! Could a Grandma Moses career be in the making?!!

I’ve been following my friend through e-mail, Facebook and Twitter (we live some distance apart so don’t chat in person).  I’m impressed with how she’s utilizing these methods, as well as eBay to promote and sell her art.

• When your art business is adversely affected by changes in the economy, by weather, by disasters, become creative and “think outside the box.”
• Learn about new methods for selling your work.
• Search how can you adapt to the times.
• Can you reproduce your art work into posters, postcards and notepaper?
• Check out what others are doing to promote art sales?

How do you increase your art sales in a poor economy?