In my article, 4 Things Art Collectors Look For, we look at how to promote your art, share your art's story, highlight the unique differences your work brings, share your accolades, and ensure that the purchase process is a pleasant experience for your buyers. Today we’ll look at how you can connect with and find art buyers who love your work.
Key to this is to think about who would most enjoy and appreciate your art. It’s easy to say, “I don’t know” so I encourage you to push past that first thought. You might find these appreciators among your friends, art enthusiasts who appreciate your themes and concepts, or others who you’ve met in your community. The following suggestions will help you get past that feeling of “I don’t know”.
Start With Your Inner Circle
The easiest way to find people who appreciate and connect with your work, who may also be buyers, is through connecting with the people you already know. These would be art buyers from the past, your community of friends and supporters online and in person, and it might be friends of friends.
Sharing your work with this set of people works well when you’re first starting to sell your art because it activates a group of people you already know. It can be scary when you’re first starting to reach out to new people. Build your confidence by offering your art to people who already know and like you and your work. You don’t have to be pushy about it and you’re not fleecing your friends. You’re only letting them know that what you make is available and that they can buy it if they want.
One way to let people know that your art is available is to let them know wherever you hangout online that it’s available. I’ve created a guide on How You Can Feel Less Awkward Selling Your Art On Social Media. It’s a list of 25 easy phrases you can incorporate into your posts to let people know your art is available for sale. Pick a few of these CTAs (calls to action) and use them when you’re sharing your art with your friends online.
Connect Through Your Art
When you look at your art, what themes does it work with? You can also look at your materials, the concepts, and the formal elements in your work and use those as a way to find art buyers who also appreciate those components of your art.
For example, suppose you make art that only uses recycled materials, and the subject leans towards climate change. In that case, you may want to find other people who care about the environment just like you do. You can look for them in local in-person groups or online in Facebook groups or the posts with a certain hashtag. You might look to connect with your local SIERRA Club or start going on hikes scheduled through REI where there are likely to be people who share similar interests. Meeting new people who care about the same things as you and inviting them to look at your work or attend a show where your art is exhibited, is how you sell your art.
You’re probably already hanging out in places with people who care about the concepts or ideas you work with in your art. Now, it’s up to you to invite them to check out your work. Then find those people and start connecting with them, meeting them, getting to know them, and eventually letting them know that you’re an artist with art for sale that they might love.
Fellow Art Enthusiasts
Art enthusiasts can be found in many places including galleries, art openings, artist talks, and open studio tours. You want to pick a few of these places to attend and interact with potential art buyers there.
It might feel like you’re going to these places and are pushing to talk about your work, but in reality, you don’t need to feel promotional or sales-y when you go to these events. You don't need to tell everyone straight away at the start of every conversation that you’re an artist and here’s your portfolio. Your goal is to let it come out naturally over the course of the conversations you have while hanging out a places where people who also appreciate art are.
Sometimes you might need to bump into people multiple times before they even know you’re an artist. Attending, supporting, and participating in art events will embed you in your art community. People will start to recognize you and naturally learn more about you and your work.
Some events are more participatory like opening your studio to the public or participating in an art fair. The amazing part about participating in events like this is they’re already calling in art buyers.
Who’s Your Art Buyer?
I get asked all the time, “how can I identify who my art buyer is?” One of my specialties is helping my clients understand who their work resonates with most. There’s no one answer. Buyers are everywhere and it’s our job as artists to find and connect with them. If you’re looking for help to understand and identify who your specific art collector is, schedule a free call and we can work through it together.