When to Buy Art Directly from an Artist vs. through a Venue

My corner at Dos Manos Gallery in Anchorage, AK

Have you ever bought something on eBay using the “Buy it Now” feature? You might feel like you are paying more, but you don’t have to wait, and you don’t have to risk someone else buying the item.  Maybe the bids will price the item higher than the “Buy It Now” feature, and you’ll end up getting a bad deal. Buying artwork is very much the same way. I am often pulled aside at one of my art shows, and asked in a quiet way if it would be better to wait until the show comes down to purchase the art directly from me, that way I get a higher percentage of the overall price. My answer is always, “If you love it, and you want it, buy it now through the venue.”

When I hang artwork at a gallery, brewery or coffee shop, I am working with that venue as a partner. I want to be invited to have art shows there again, and I also want that business to succeed. Rent, employees, and other overhead costs are part of the reason I pay a commission to the “house”. They sell my art for me, so I don’t have to be there in person to sell it myself. Galleries would not be able to exist without their cut of the sale. Breweries and coffee shops have a pretty fine margin, and selling artwork helps supplement the high costs of paying employees and buying ingredients. Galleries curate artists, which may seem as easy as approaching one and asking to be represented, but there are actually a lot of artists competing for a limited amount of wall space. The galleries will represent the artists who sell more work, and reject the ones whose artwork stagnates. Please buy directly from the venue, it helps me get more space on the walls, and leads to more solo shows. As Dos Manos always says, “higher tides float all boats.”

The times to approach me to buy directly from me is if you see the piece on the Internet and want a more personal experience than buying it online. In that case, you can schedule a studio visit. Also, if you want a special piece made just for you, or if you saw a piece that has already sold at a venue and want a similar one, or if I am not currently showing anywhere and you want to buy artwork you previously saw at a venue. Don’t wait to ensure that I get a larger cut of the profits. While I do appreciate the sentiment, I prefer that you have instant gratification of owning that piece that caught your eye. I wouldn’t show my artwork at a venue that I didn’t think was a fair deal. If you wait, there is a chance the piece might sell to someone else.

The moment you are inspired to buy artwork is a special thing, if you wait until later you may not have that same feeling. Your wall will possibly stay unadorned, and it can become a constant thing on the back burner of your mind. Meanwhile, the piece of art sits in a cabinet unseen and waiting to find its final home. My goal as an artist is to see all my pieces find good homes, where they will be properly taken care of, and valued by the patron. When pieces leave the studio to good homes, that inspires me to make more art. When I bring home a lot of pieces at the end of an art show, I also consider not showing at that place again. So don’t delay, “Buy it Now,” you won’t regret it, and I will applaud your decisive decision to be a patron of my artwork! 

So, where can you currently buy my art in person? This blog post was written on March 23, 2023.

• Dos Manos Gallery
• Turnagain Brewing Co. until April 6th
• Alaska Cycle Chic starting April 7th, until May 4th
• My studio by appointment
• Arctic Comic Con May 6 & 7 at Dena’ina Convention Center
• Girdwood Forest Fair July 7, 8, 9

Cheers to original art, and to partnerships between artists, galleries and patrons! 

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The Pros and Cons of Having My Studio at Home vs. a Commercial Space

It’s been a year since we moved into this new house and combined our living space with the workspace.  In 2015 I moved my studio mostly out of our home, which was a small condo in Fairview back then, to a corner space inside the 4th Avenue Market Place building.  I used to love working at home. It was easy to get to work, since the studio was just in the spare bedroom. But, I didn’t have enough space, and clients were less than impressed to see me working in a room less than 160 square feet large. Moving to the commercial space was okay, but I had a landlord and I was always worried rent would go up, or the building would sell, and I would have to move out. It was a great space with a view of the Port of Anchorage.  Although the heat was not consistent, too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter, and the ventilation system didn’t function properly in a room that had huge windows that didn’t open.  There was also a lot of activity on 4th Avenue I was not too fond of. Converting the studio into a pop-up gallery for special events like First Fridays, holidays, or Fur Rondy and the Iditarod was really great! I met a lot of new people, and those events more than paid for the lease.

Old Studio on 4th Ave decked out for an event

Moving my studio into the house has been great! I get to work at home again, so I don’t have to pack a lunch, and commute on my bike in all types of weather. I can still have patrons visit the studio, and I finally have a garage where I can build painting supports, frames and sculptures. The downside is I have to find venues for First Friday art shows, and I’m not on 4th Avenue during Fur Rondy and Iditarod. But working and living in one place means I don’t have tools in two different locations, the kitchen is just upstairs and I don’t have to be worried about running power tools on the sidewalk downtown. I control the temperature of my workspace, the windows open, and I have a garage.  I have never had a private garage space in my life, since moving out of my parents’ house. When we return from an event, we can just park the truck inside, instead of having to drive to the studio to unload everything, before driving home.

New studio in our home

There were many pros to the downtown studio. I miss the view of Denali, and the Inlet.  It was very close to everything downtown, which was usually fun. I am not part of the downtown gallery scene anymore. Even though my studio was not really a gallery, it was fun to transform it temporarily into one. Now, when people come over to pickup/shop for art it’s at my home. We haven’t had a big open-to-the-public party like we used to at the downtown studio yet, and I’m not sure if we ever will. Instead, we prefer to schedule studio visits. Patrons can enjoy a home-brew while looking at my newest art. I almost always have home-brewed beer available in the garage, which is connected to my studio with just one door! Even-though I did lose something when I left downtown, the gains outweigh the losses.  This is better for me, and hopefully for you.

2018 Accomplishments and One Big Goal for 2019

~ by Maria Benner

Keith Haring Beer Parody by Scott Clendaniel.

On the last day of the year, we always reflect on our accomplishments and struggles, close calls, notable events, and lessons learned.  We also set one big goal, because one goal sounds much more doable than many little ones.

So, our top three accomplishments and notable events for 2018 were (drumroll please):

1. Trip to Lake Baikal, Kamchatka Peninsula, and Germany.
2. Publishing our first book How to Draw Alaska Baby Animals: 49 Lessons from the 49th State
3. Our second 1% for Arts project at Gladys Wood Elementary School in Anchorage, Alaska.

For 2019 our one big goal is to pivot from beer-centric art to outdoor sports themed art such as alpine skiing and fat biking.  Although the beer niche is very fun and profitable, and Scott will continue making beer paintings, he also wants to focus on outdoor scenery that promotes a healthy life style and a sense of adventure.

A couple smaller goals are to publish a second book (this one will be a beer-themed coloring book for adults), and to apply for international artist residency programs.

A non-work goal is to build a sauna on our property in McCarthy!

Cheers to 2019!

Business Goals for 2018

~ by Maria Benner

As the Business & Marketing Manager, I’m the one responsible for keeping our art business alive, and an important part of that is setting goals.  I recently reviewed our goals for 2017, and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that we accomplished all of them.  I also made a mental note to check in on our goals more often.  So, for the new year we have new goals.

1. Create a new website to sell art directly to customers.  Currently all of our online sales are through our Etsy shop RealArtIsBetter.  Etsy has great SEO, and brings customers to us from all over the world, however, we have to pay a percentage fee for each sale, and potential customers can easily be distracted by other Etsy sellers while shopping for similar items.  Selling from our own website will hopefully generate more brand awareness, and we’ll pay a lower monthly flat fee.  We’ll also keep selling art through Etsy, just to keep reaching a broader audience.
2. Design an autonomous order fulfillment system.  Right now we are fulfilling all orders.  We make prints on demand, and package all prints and originals ourselves, print the shipping labels, and drop everything off at the post office.  The drawback is that while we’re traveling, or spending time at our cabin in McCarthy, our business is on hold, because we’re not around to mail orders.  The goal is to find a company online that will print and mail our prints for us.  We will still have to mail originals ourselves, but prints make up the majority of our sales.
3. Publish our first book How to Draw Alaska Baby Animals.  We have been working on this project for a couple years, but it always seems to take a back seat to more pressing tasks.  Scott designed how-to-draw pages for 49 different Alaska baby animals, and is in the finishing stages of designing the book cover.  He also painted several colorful oil paintings to include in the book.  I drew every single one to make sure there were no errors.  Now we just need a table of contents, a foreward, and to finish the final layout.  Then we’ll have to figure out how to publish a book, and to find buyers for it.  This task seems a bit challenging, but people publish books all the time, so I know it’s doable.

Those are our main three goals, and they will be enough for this year.  Most of the work gets accomplished in the winter time, which is already half way over!  In the summer we’re fishing, traveling, and just generally flying by the seat of our pants.  So wish us luck!

Income Sources of an Alaskan Artist

~ by Maria Benner

At the end of 2015, we entered the last income and expenses transactions into QuickBooks, feeling proud of every penny we earned with our own business.  So then the big question is, how do we manage to achieve growth in 2016?  As the business manager for our little operation, I decided to take a look at our income sources.  So here’s the break down for 2015.

Etsy sales: 50%. Clearly, our Etsy shop Real Art Is Better is the main sales engine, and we’ll keep optimizing listings, and promoting the shop.  The goal is to increase traffic to the shop, and to increase the conversion rate from views to sales.  There are many ways to do that, and the key is to devote more time to these tasks.

Commissions: 15%.  There were more commissions in 2015 than ever before.  Having a studio where clients can come meet with Scott about their painting concept has been very useful.  We hope to do more commissioned work in the future, so spread the word!

Sales at craft fairs and at our studio: 12.5%. 2015 was the first time we did craft fairs, and had a studio where clients could purchase art.  We’ll probably try to do at least two craft fairs in 2016, and will host a couple events at the studio.

Art shows: 11.6%. We had five art shows in 2015.  Three of them were in breweries in Anchorage, one at a chocolate lounge, and one at a coffee shop in Juneau.  We already have four shows booked for 2016 (check out the one at Midnight Sun Brewing on display until February 4th), and plan on booking at least one more.  We’re still trying out new venues in Anchorage, and have thought about having art shows in the Lower 48, but haven’t found an opportunity that would generate enough income to justify the cost.

Custom stickers and graphic design: 8.3%. Currently we’re trying to figure out how to promote our graphic design and custom stickers business. So far we’ve been relying on word-of-mouth.  If you know of someone in need of these services, please send them our way.

Galleries: 2.7%. Selling art at galleries accounted for the smallest percentage of income, because galleries take a 40% commission, so we only sell prints there.  We prefer to sell directly to clients, not only because we avoid paying the high commission, but also because galleries try not to connect clients directly with artists, and we like staying in contact with our clients.  That’s one of the funnest parts of our business!

In addition to working towards increasing revenue from each source, we’re also working on adding new sources, such as public art projects, beer label designs, and publishing a book.  The possibilities are endless, and we’re looking forward to seeing what 2016 will bring.