What is a successful artist?

It is not as much your work that people are willing to pay a high
price for it is your name. A name is what brings more value to a
piece. The workmanship is very important but not as imortant as the
name. The name in a business takes a long time to build unless you
have a lot of avertising money but even then it may not work.
Marketing is an art in itself. some times it is best to hire a
professional to do that job and you focus on making art.
Art is worth as much money as money you have into it after that the
sky is the limit for what you can ask. What you can get depends on who
you are more than what you make.

What is a successful artist? is it about money or the satisfaction of
creating?
As a business there are compromises that an artist must take.
Production and deadlines, shipping, and …….and of coarse all that
paper work.
To make money it takes money or a lot of time and work. A lot of
paying your dues. and after ten years check and see if it is worth it
all.
These are not easy times for art and artists. Many are after years of
being in business are throwing in the towel and getting a ” real job”
When time are hard is when people get creative. This is good for
creativity that I promote, but it creates a glut of artist and
artist wannabees.

As a crafts man I can make a living because people want furniture to
set on. my cost is almost nill I can’t go out of business. This is my
compromise so that I can create art that people do not have to buy for
me to live. This way I do not have to compromise my art. Many artist
though out history have worked a craft or had patrons. (owned) And the
value of many artists depends on how many years you have been dead.

It has not changed much.

Article by Bim Willow posted at Monochrome yahoogroups on 27 Dec 2004 – (I was the moderator Oruc Yildirim)

Mr Bim Willow please contact me if you are ok for posting your valuable thoughts – Thanks