The Craft Factor - Marketing in Cyberspace

Vol 20, No 2 Summer/Fall 1995

In the mid 90s, Karen Schoonover addressed issues around artists using the Internet - still a very new thing in most households, workplaces and schools at the time - to market them self. The internet was - and still is - a low-cost option for artists to use for self promotion, and as an inherently visual medium, offered much potential to boost awareness about an artist and their work.

Excerpt from "Marketing in Cyberspace"

If you need to be reminded: What radio did was bring music into people's homes for free, giving them a sample of what the musician had to offer, and encouraging album sales. The hope was that artists could offer sample images of their work online, and this exposure would lead to sales.

Unlike the music industry however, sales in art and craft aren't charted via tools like Billboards Top 20 (which is based on hard figures from album sales). So the direct connection between online exposure and eventual sales can't be measured.

But if you consider how often a potential customer or gallery owner asks you if they can view images of your work online, then you can begin to understand just how close to the mark Karen was almost 20 years ago.

Read the complete article ...

Getting Things Done

Submitted by: Amanda Bosiak, Member Services

I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan: he's the creative genius behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog and more recently, The Avengers movie. He also works on comic books, writes musicals and oh yeah, he scripted the first Toy Story movie. Joss Whedon is one busy guy and has been for a very long time. One of the reasons I admire him is because he seems to get so much high quality stuff done! I am always in awe of that type of person; How? How do they do it?

Recently, Whedon was asked that very question in an article for Co.Create and he admitted that it isn't easy (and that he's burnt himself out a time or two). One of the things he found useful, both for time management and remaining relatively stress-free, was a book by David Allen called "Getting Things Done". Well, if it was good enough for Joss Whedon, I figured it was worth the read.

Confession: It took me over a month to get the book done. This isn't because it's a difficult read, nor is it particularly long. I just happen to have an incredible aptitude for procrastination. I definitely needed this book.

To Wholesale or Not?

Submitted by: Susan Robertson, Ceramic Artist

People often ask me about the why/how I ended up focusing on wholesale. Early in my career I followed the traditional methods of flogging my wares, weekend after weekend at craft sales. At the time, my three children were very young and I arrived home after the ninth weekend in a row away from home, to find my kids clinging to their father's pant leg in fear, not knowing who I was. It broke my heart. I decided then and there to find another way to continue practicing my craft and selling my work that would not require me to travel so much.

I started looking at wholesale as a viable alternative. Firstly and most importantly, it would allow me to stay at home more. It also had the added benefit of decreased speculation. I didn't have to make dozens of items and hope they would sell. I just had to make samples and produce them if and when they were ordered. The down side was that I had to sell my work to stores at half of my normal selling price.

I was fortunate in my timing to be able to take part in a program, the name of which escapes me at the moment, which was designed to help new wholesalers attend the Alberta Gift Show, for a minimal cash investment. It also provided me with guidance on promotional material. It was a great success and my venture into wholesaling was launched.

Over the years I have acquired and lost agents, ventured into the US market, survived the downturn in the economy and now find myself no longer needing to do retail craft markets, for which I am eternally grateful. I'm getting too old to haul, pack and unpack pots. 

Looking back, it was the right choice for me. Looking forward, with the diminishing returns of today's craft sales, I believe that this may be a good choice for others. Crunch the numbers, you may be as surprised as

I was to discover that your wholesale net income, when you include all of the costs, is not so different from retail.

The views in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Saskatchewan Craft Council.

Grant Writing Tips

... Or what the SCC staff wished they had known!

Submitted by: Vivian Orr, Communications & Publications Coordinator

SCC office personnel stepped up to the plate and with grim determination and their eyes fixed on potential money have researched, written and submitted six grant proposals in the last few months. Most of us have never written a grant proposal before. It was our desire to fund new projects, reach out to a larger community and create more opportunities for Saskatchewan fine craft artists that drove us on.

So far we have succeeded in getting a grant from the Creative Industries Transition Fund to establish a sales Boutique area (gallery gift shop) at Affinity Gallery. Needless to say competition for grant money is brutal so what follows is useful stuff to help all of us write better grants in the future.

Ontario Arts Council Grant Application Survival Guide (available online)

CARFAC Mentorship Program

Submitted by: Amanda Bosiak, Member Services

The CARFAC Saskatchewan Mentorship Program is the only program of its kind in Saskatchewan. Quite simply, the program partners experienced artists with new, emerging or mid-career artists. The goal of the program is to help build the skills and knowledge required for an artist to make art their full-time career. Post-secondary arts programs and art workshops, residencies and other educational opportunities for opportunities for artists tend to focus on the making of art, but not on the making of an artist.

The CARFAC Saskatchewan Mentorship Program at a glance

I won't go into a detailed description of the program, because CARFAC already does a very good job of explaining what it's all about. It is an excellent program, for both the mentors and mentees. Instead, I'd like to go over some things about the program that you may not know.

You can apply as an individual - either as a mentor or mentee - and CARFAC will do the matching for you. You CAN apply together as mentor/mentee and CARFAC will honour that match. Being "partnerless" is not an obstacle to applying.

• There is no application form - You submit a Letter of Application and the deadline for 2013 is JUNE 17 (a little over a week and a half from now!)
• You are matched based on the skills you can offer/want to learn rather than by medium. For example; you are a fibre artist and want to work on the conceptual approach to your work, and your art focuses on environmental sustainability, the best match for you may not be another fibre artist. Rather, you could be partnered with a photographer with a history of environmentally conscious body of work.
• You and your match meet before the program goes into full swing. If you feel for whatever reason that it isn't the right match, CARFAC will re-match you.
• The program is Mentee driven - meaning that the program is meant to meet the needs of the student. This also means that successful Mentee applicants are those that have a very clear idea of what they want to learn, and are demonstrably committed to a career in art.
• Travel money is available to both the Mentor and the Mentee for group and regional meetings, as well as meeting with each other if the matched pair live in different communities. This is available above and beyond the core funding to both the Mentor and Mentee.
• The program lasts for 10 months and requires a minimum of 7 hours a month for both the Mentor and Mentee to meet (primarily face to face, but also includes Skype or video conference, phone and email). In addition, there are 3 province wide group meetings with all Mentor/Mentee pairs. These include workshops and other professional building activities. Another 2 regional meetings (North Sask and South Sask) take place for things such as group critiques and studio visits.
• CARFAC follows up with the Mentees three years after their participation in the program to help keep track of both the program's success and the participants success!

Professional art practices and knowledge of how to become self-sustaining as an artist are not the kind of things taught in a classroom. The CARFAC Mentorship Program is one of the most comprehensive mentorship programs of its kind. (CARFAC Saskatchewan actually mentored with other mentorship programs across Canada during its development!) An incredible number of SCC members have participated in the program over the past 10 years, including June Jacobs, Ken Wilkinson, Cindy Obuck, Rowan Pantel, Anita Rocamora, Paul La Pointe and many others.

Have you participated in the CARFAC Saskatchewan Mentorship Program (or any mentorship program)? How did it help you?

Artist Statements

Submitted by: Sydney Luther, Gallery Assistant

There are two main types of artist statements: the project statement and the bio statement.  

The bio statement is a piece of writing that is a mini biography of an artist, which may be essential when applying for grants or gallery exhibitions. This type should generally be no longer than one page. 

The project statement is a short piece which accompanies a piece of art. An artist statement of this kind can add much to the presentation of one’s artwork in a gallery show.

"Nest Building VI" 2012, Ink on Blueprint
Monique Martin
From the Exhibition "Nest - Nest Egg - Empty Nest"
A multi-media exhibition focusing on the nest and its symbolic meanings: The nest egg as a symbol of financial largesse, the nest as a home as a place to raise children, and empty nest as the moving away of grown children is explored through the exhibition.

As a non-artist, I always read project statements to gain some understanding into what an artist was thinking when they created their piece. I also like to learn about how the piece was made, and this is something that’s even more important when you've made a piece of fine craft that may feature an uncommon technique. It should be noted that most craft techniques are new and different to a public who knows little about craft or the artistic process.