You’re a dedicated artist who has a great body of work but feels frustrated that you aren’t getting shown as much as you’d like. You’re not selling your work and you’re not sure what to do about it.
You’ve tried submitting to calls for entry and sharing your work on Facebook and Instagram but you’re just not getting the traction you’d like.
You’ve had some successes but you’re not feeling as fulfilled as you hoped, and you really want to be able to make more money by selling what you make.
This is disheartening. You know you owe it to yourself to do something with your work. You just can’t let it die, but you aren’t sure what that something is.
As an artist, I totally understand that feeling.
I work with motivated visual artists who want to earn more money from their work.
They’ve got amazing art and know that they absolutely have to give it a chance. Because if they don’t, they’re afraid they’ll be letting a part of themselves die. And they'll always regret it.
Despite the quality of what they make and their hard work in the studio, they feel disappointed that they’re not selling more of their art and frustrated that they’re not getting the attention of the people who are happy to exhibit and purchase their art.
I’ll teach them to connect and engage with the right people who want to show their work and invest in their art, allowing them to get the recognition they deserve and make money doing the creative work they love.
Ever since I decided to be an art major in college, I knew I was committed to art having an “always” role in my life.
I had the hardest time deciding what major to pick because I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. Thinking of picking my major felt that big to me, like that was what was going to seal my fate.
After hemming and hawing over it, asking all my family and friends for advice, I finally decided to make the unpopular decision to be an art history major. I knew at the time that everyone, including myself, thought this was like taking a vow of poverty but I also knew it was what was calling my name. I had to listen.
I LOVED my art classes. It was like I was finally home. After a few art history classes, I found myself wanting to really dig in and make work of my own so I added photography as my second major. I had doubled down on what felt like a crazy decision. The one thing that I knew was that as the consumer and purchaser of my college education, I was going to get the degree I most wanted which was art.
Working in the Arts
After working for a contemporary non-profit art gallery in Baltimore, I decided to apply to graduate schools and I got in! That’s how I wound up in Oakland, California to attend the California College of the Arts where photographer, Larry Sultan was my adviser and where I ultimately got a masters in Photography.
It wasn’t easy though. They wanted to kick me out because I didn’t fit into the usual photography student mold. I had to prove to them that I was making solid photography work (even if it didn’t involve cameras!) and eventually, I did.
Paying Those Student Loans
After I graduated, like so many artists, I had a huge student loan payment and not so many skills in place to pay back those loans solely by selling my work. So, I took a marketing job at a startup. Fast paced, long hours and never-a-dull-moment work paid my bills. But it also allowed me to learn SO much about marketing. With every project, I learned something new which got me thinking...
Hey, what if artists knew these things? Imagine what the world would be like if every artist understood these marketing skills and techniques, and could apply them to selling their work??
Holy cow, the world could be a different place!!
As I worked at my day job, I continued to learn more and more. These were things that made so much sense but that they never taught us in art school. Realizing this was a huge shift for the way I thought about sharing, exhibiting and showing my work.
The whole time I worked my corporate jobs, I continued to make my cameraless photographs. It was great to learn how to share what I was doing with my art in ways that felt like a fit for me as someone who isn't a complete extrovert.
Around this time, there was also a shift in the way the art world worked. It was moving from a gallery-only system to something totally different. A place where a gatekeeper wasn’t always needed in order to make a living from your art. Since then, it’s become an even more amazing place and time for creative people to not only survive, but to thrive. The possibilities are limitless.
Creatives Making It Happen
I started helping other fine artists to see these possibilities while I was still at my corporate day job. Finally it felt like I was using my marketing superpowers for a greater good. My clients were seeing ways they could bring in more income and be in charge of their creative career instead of feeling like they were letting their art ideas die on the vine.
That’s when I realized how great it felt to help other artists up-level and get that next thing in place that they wanted to do. I decided to become an Art Business Coach to do this kind of work full time. And, I’ve been deeply fulfilled by helping fellow creatives.
Today, I help visual artists and creatives build a business out of what they make, which helps them to be more in control of their lives, and it feels great! They’re finally able to honor a commitment they made to themselves to keep going and seeing where their creativity can take them.
I love my work as an art business coach and every day I’m happy for the opportunities I have to make a tangible difference in my clients’ lives.
And I’m not gonna lie, being free from the restraints of corporate life and being completely in control of my own path feels pretty great, too.
I Would Love To Hear From You!
To learn more about how I can help you earn an income as an artist while feeling fulfilled by it, let’s talk! Head over to my Work With Me Page or send me an email at hi at katefarrallcoaching dot com.