The Left Brain Artist

Trina Slade-Burks and her husband Anthony have created a business that develops a few pop-up gallery shows per year, providing exhibit and sale opportunities for hundreds of artists. They also teach classes to students and adults and provide mentorship for artists who would like to develop their business. In this interview, Trina is generous with her advice and encouragement toward artists.

A home art show is a great way to show and sell your art in a relaxed setting. Invite your artist friends for a larger show and get the benefit of inviting all of their contact lists. I’ll talk about the nuts and bolts of putting on a home show, from how to choose other artists, creating the invitations, setup, what you need to make a sale, promotion, and food, drinks, and music.

Artist Anthony Burks is a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, where he lives with his wife Trina Slade-Burks. They have built a successful business where they create pop-up art shows, providing exhibit opportunities for up to 70 artists at a time. Anthony is also a fine artist who works with colored pencils, watercolors, and charcoal, and he produces many series of amazing artwork. Today I’m going to mostly talk to Anthony about his own artwork, but we will touch on the origins of his group art shows.

Visual artists do more than just sell their art to make income. They’ve learned that they can sell their prints, license their artwork on products, teach in a classroom, teach online, teach all over the world, make public art like murals or sculptures, write books, and so much more. This episode will give you a lot of suggestions, but please visit the show notes on my website for links to some great resources, at suzanneredmond.com.

Beverly Ash Gilbert’s artistic medium is color, but the actual materials that she grabs could be fiber, beads, paints, flowers, or photography. She has written five books, her most recent about the art of nuno felt. Beverly tells us how she developed her first books and how she got them published. She also hosts art retreats in painting and fiber arts at her home in Whidbey Island, Washington, and teaches workshops in other parts of the world.

In episode #23, I spoke with Jennifer O’Brien, the Executive Director of Resource Depot, which is a reuse center in West Palm Beach, Florida. She had a lot of great ideas on how artists can help the environment, and I’m going to talk about a few more here. I’ll give artists suggestions on how they can try to reuse things, leave as little waste, and decrease the toxicity to the environment.

Jennifer O’Brien is the Executive Director of Resource Depot in West Palm Beach, Florida. Resource Depot is a reuse center, which is a warehouse that accepts products and materials from individuals and businesses, with the goal of keeping these items out of the waste stream. Artists are huge users of these types of centers, and can find lots of interesting materials to use in their art. Jennifer tells us about her own art, and explains how reuse centers work and where you can find one near you.

In this episode I talk about alternative art studio ideas, including live/work spaces, residencies, co-working spaces, and campers, tiny houses and sheds. Be sure and check out my website and the show notes for this episode for links to a lot of ideas I found on the internet. This episode was inspired by Seattle artist Carrie Schmitt, who bought an old school bus and renovated it for her studio. She now has a beautiful space that she calls Rosie the Art Bus.

Carrie Schmitt’s artwork is beautiful colorful painted flowers. She is also a retreat facilitator, and teaches classes near Seattle, Washington, and next year in France. She created The Single Rose Project, where she handed out a rose to one person every day for a year. Her newest adventure is Rosie the Art Bus, her mobile art studio. She’s only been painting for ten years, after drastically changing her life and her home base following a debilitating illness. She really has an inspiring story.

If you’re an artist who is trying to sell their work, you need to know what is available to sell. Keeping track of your art inventory is essential so that you’ll be ready for future opportunities and you can evaluate your sales history at the end of the year. I’ll give you ideas of how to keep track of your artwork, what details you should keep track of, and how you can benefit by this.

Southern Oregon artist Roxanne Evans Stout calls her business River Garden Studio, as she is inspired by the Klamath River and the nature that she can experience so close to her home. Her artwork is a collage style that incorporates paper, fabric, stitching, and found objects. She shares her techniques and artistic talent through workshops and online classes. Roxanne truly has a well-developed left brain, because she intuitively knows how to pursue art opportunities and is not afraid to create her own.

Showing your art locally is all about opportunity. It’s certainly an opportunity for a sale, but it’s also an opportunity for the community to get to know you. Your goal should be to build relationships with potential buyers. In this episode, I tell you how you can find and get into your local art scene, by looking for art councils, joining artist groups, and showing your art at local venues.

Artist Carin Wagner makes these amazing paintings of outdoor scenes, often beautiful Florida trees, and lately she’s been making paintings of the sky. Her oil paintings are so realistic, you’d think they are photographs.

Outdoor art shows can be quite lucrative for many artists, and they may sell hundreds or thousands of dollars of their art over just a weekend.  They’re also a lot of work, so you need to carefully evaluate whether this type of show would be best for your business. In this episode, I will give you tips on how to find these shows, how to apply, and how to make them successful, so that you can decide if outdoor art shows are right for you.

Artist e’Layne Kelley has sold hand painted clothing, jewelry, run an art district, opened galleries, and created many businesses. Today she is writing a book, Crafting Your Creative Life, and teaching people how to remove the obstacles of obsessive thoughts blocking the light of creative flow. E’Layne is a woman who is filled with ideas and always busy and creating something new.