The Artist's Guide: How to Make a Living Doing What You Love by Jackie Battenfield

Author:Jackie Battenfield [Battenfield, Jackie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: reference, Personal & Practical Guides, Self-Help, Personal Growth, Success, art, Business Aspects, Business & Economics, Careers, Job Hunting
ISBN: 9780786748068
Google: v5LIx7goJzEC
Publisher: Hachette Books
Published: 2009-06-09T00:13:24.833523+00:00

A sale you have made yourself can begin the process of establishing your prices. That figure is bolstered when it is echoed by similar prices for comparable examples of your work offered through art dealers, or listed in the loan agreements and consignment contracts you sign with galleries and museums.

HOW TO PRICE YOUR WORK

It’s helpful to begin thinking of pricing by considering some concrete facts rather than how you feel about yourself and your art at this moment. Start by asking yourself what it costs to make your art. After all, how can you begin to set prices for your work if you don’t know what it costs you in terms of supplies, space, administrative stuff, and time to make it? If you file a Schedule C, you probably have some idea of the numbers. I’m not suggesting that you price your work by the hour or divide your expenses by the number of works completed that year to get a figure. But having an overall picture of your expenditures gives you concrete information and a solid place to begin. The previous exercise of financial tracking can be of immense help here. You have collected accurate figures on what it costs you to live and make art.

There are many other factors that come into play when beginning to price works of art. Let’s continue to avoid the emotional issues of art’s value and approach it the way an appraiser would. The first factors to consider are as follows:• Rarity. Unique pieces are priced higher than multiples, which are works that are part of an edition: prints, sculpture, photographs, DVDs, and videos. The larger the edition, the lower the individual price. For instance, a photographic edition of three can be priced higher per piece than an edition of thirty. Individual objects from an installation may be considered multiples as well.

• Permanence and/or cost of materials. Paintings on canvas are priced higher than works on paper, cast bronze sculptures more than wood constructions, video installations more than a DVD.

• Productivity. An artist who completes only three to four artworks a year, if the work is more labor-intensive, can command higher prices per piece than one who produces twenty-five to thirty. It’s parallel to the concept of supply and demand.

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