Getting to Know the Customer . . .

In sales, you do nothing if you don't get to know your customer. My business is to sell art and creativity. That is why Mike Collins' interview of Lawrence Toppman was intriguing to me.

Toppman - the long-time film critic for the Charlotte Observer - gave a critique of the audience, so to speak. His message was that the average patron of the arts in Charlotte was risk-averse and complacent. His evidence was that the performing arts venues had to stick to the tried and true, "the hits," as Collins called them, to make any money. Toppman could not recall any performance programs where all the music pieces were unknown. He cited anecdotal evidence that Charlotteans were happy "listening to the same 20 symphonies" their whole lives.

On the other hand, the supply side of the arts market in the Queen City seemed to be in Toppman's good graces. Toppman justified the arts venues' choices for cycling through "the familiar" year after year and gave praise for the diversity that Charlotte has in its creative side. My own personal experience tells me there is an entire continent of undiscovered art to many eyes and ears in Ballantyne, Myers Park, Dilworth - whose residents may "slum it" by driving through NoDa without daring to even get out of their cars.

What is the solution here for artists in Charlotte? It depends on what kind of artists we're talking about. On the one hand, you have institutional artists - for example, the Charlotte Symphony. On the other hand, there's the individual artists - the painter, the photographer, the jewelry artist. The two have different advantages and disadvantages. In the following entries, I will write about each group in turn, addressing the question: In a town that's raised on steak and potatoes, how do you sell dolma?

I welcome your comments. Has your experience been different from Toppman's account of the Charlotte crowd?


Charlotte Talks

dolma

Tour of Bechtler Museum of Modern Art

I just completed a tour of Charlotte's new Bechtler Museum of Modern Art.  

Thank you to the Arts and Science Council for this treat!  And as an arts agent, I also have to give recognition to the Bechtler family for their enthusiastic patronage of artists.

The collection, which includes about 1,400 pieces, includes many of the big names in Modern Art.  Only a small part of that large collection is on display at any given time on a 9-month rotation basis.  An intimate detail about each piece of art that draws you in even closer and helps to dissipate a foreboding sense formality about the art is where in their living room the Bechtlers displayed the artwork for their own enjoyment.  In fact, the set of furniture that the Bechtlers actually owned and used in their home is also on display.  It's very easy to imagine the family eating dinner in a pseudo-museum that was their home and the Bechtler Cherubs climbing on top of a large statue of one kind or another.

To see the care an attention that this collection of art receives should be comforting and reassuring to any artist who is in a quagmire of self-doubt.  Go to the Bechtler Museum and be inspired.  Go to the Bechtler Museum and be energized.  Go to the Bechtler Museum and be motivated.  Then go straight to your studio and paint your heart out, sculpt your heart out, mold/print/photograph/design/CREATE your heart out.

Bechtler Museum of Modern Art 
Arts and Science Council

Painters and Photographs

On Friday, Jan 8, I went to see the artwork of Osiris Rain and Joshua Gage at the Dialect Design Gallery.  The exhibition is called "American Dream."  During the q&a session, Osiris mentioned, almost in passing, that he doesn't use photographs - he paints live.  I thought that was interesting, so I asked him why not.  His response referenced his pedigree of education, saying that he was not trained that way.  Osiris then said that the naked eye can see more than any photo would ever hope to.  Which only piqued my curiosity even further: what do you think of artists who do use photographs for painting?  His chuckle told me he was going to hold back and "be nice" with his answer.  I asked him to be brutal, and he put it simply: it's laziness.

Now, Osiris Rain is a realist painter.  In fact he is a member of the International Society of Realist Painters.  Could his self-imposed, unforgiving standard be justifiably relaxed for the abstract artist?  I would like to pose this same question to a few more artists and see how they came to their decision.  Do you agree with Osiris Rain?

New Year's Resolution: Make It Happen!

Whether you need to create more art, to sell more art, to find studio space, to save for art supplies, to improve your technique, the best New Year's Resolution is - to Make It Happen!

Lose your remote control and find time in your schedule. Forget about the new season of ____, and start thinking about your new line artwork. Never mind fantasy football; plan your sales strategy. Disregard the vortex of distractions around you. Focus on the artist that you are and the needs you have for succeeding as an artist. Cross those needs off your (mental) list. Give yourself everything you need to be successful. And don't wait - make it happen.

Happy New Year, and I hope 2010 is a fruitful year for you!