by Lj Bury.


BEING KNOWN FOR SOMETHING:
your signature counts.

Linda J. Bury is Executive Director of Lj Bury's Art Business Advisory. Ms. Bury began as an artists' rep over ten years ago and discovered that artists and galleries had a tremendous passion and love for art but an overwhelming need for business and marketing skills. She has been a consultant and seminar leader for the art community for the past eight years. Ms. Bury can be contacted at:
703-430-8167 or in the U.S. at 1-800-343-3444, or LjCon@aol.com, or please write to her at 21310 Wind Rush Court, Suite 34, Sterling, Virginia, USA 20165.

You are unique -- your competitors believe they are unique -- and you are both probably right. The important difference is in clarifying, defining, and understanding where you are unique in comparison to your competition. The more successful craft artists I know have a clear sense of purpose and understand the importance of finding their niche, becoming expert at it, and monitoring their competition almost obsessively.

When asked, "Exactly what is it you do, and why do you do it?" what exactly do you answer? These are the first questions I ask my clients when they call for advice. Here are some of their responses. A client in San Francisco says, "I always loved art, so I decided to open a gallery in the Bay area." An artisan in Phoenix proudly announces, "I'm an excellent artist. I create for the discerning public." A potter in Georgia shyly responds, "Well, I guess I make clay pots. My friends say they're good enough to sell." And my favorite answer comes from clueless in Chicago, "Uh, what do you mean?"

Not only do these answers reveal a lack of focus, they lack a sense of identity and purpose as well. Clearly, not all the responses I receive are like this, but the number that are is distressingly large. These folks are suffering from FOD, the field of dreams syndrome, and I affectionately call them FODDERS. Why should a buyer come to you? If you don't have a ready answer, or worse, if your answer is "because my work is good," then I smell a FODDER. There are hundreds of good artisans. What is special and unique about you? And why is that important?

The craft business boomed in the 1960s and 1970s, but declined slightly in the 1980s. Now in the 1990s, it is seeing a tremendous resurgence. So much so that the growing number of craft entrepreneurs are now having to go through the increasingly competitive "jurying" process in order to participate in many of todayís craft shows. These shows draw hundreds of thousands of visitors and generate millions of dollars in sales. Eager buyers who say they are tired of the cookie-cutter items are happy to patronize artists and crafters who have something unique and interesting to sell. And a growing number of galleries are offering fine crafts, not just to offset their recession-ridden sales, but because they are listening to what these buyers want. The demand for quality craftwork is great. The competition is greater. It is essential that your craftwork meets this demand, and that it be distinctive.

FINDING YOUR UNIQUENESS
Craftwork by definition means one-of-a-kind. Frankly, my refrigerator door is full of one-of-a-kind artwork (albeit my motherly instinct says it is masterly), do not confuse that with uniqueness. Witness the many pottery items on the market. Each may be one-of-a-kind, but how many are truly distinctive. Did the potter develop a new style or technique, introduce a new material into the clay, or use the wheel in a way that no one before has tried? This does not mean you have to be a craft-inventor of sorts, but it does mean finding a market-niche for your work that can be distinguishable
from others.

A friend and colleague of mine started her career as a potter. She is now a well-established artist making a handsome living at it. I asked her how she developed her signature pieces. "Not overnight," was her first response. "I believe," she said, "that uniqueness comes from solving problems. I set out to be an expert on the wheel. I solved that problem. Then I became obsessed
with the problem of throwing small to large. What happened was I began to develop these wonderful hanging shapes from the rounds. They hung in different, almost sculptured shapes, and I became known for these." She offers this advice.

"Begin by isolating the problems you have with your craft and ask for solutions. For example, you may work with silver or gold. You can cast it, but you can also weave it. Then ask yourself, which do I like? You may decide, woven. Then, you ask, combined or just white gold, or rose or, whatever. So, at each level you are problem solving. Continue isolating. Learn the options of your craft. In pottery, don't dabble. Learn a specific technique like Raku, or slab work, wheel, porcelain, low fire clays, lustre wear, sculptures. . . Keep asking questions, do I like it, what compels me, do I have an affinity for a certain style, discipline or technique. Amateurs dabble in all types. Isolate a skill or technique. Become the best at it and that will be your signature."

Some crafters become known by discovering what's hot and trendy. They ask themselves what are people into? Health? Diet? Games? The environment? Nature? One of my clients has a passion for Mother Earth. She developed a series of greeting cards, paintings, sweatshirts and posters with Mother Earth motifs and added her own lines of poetry to each. She capitalized on
her unique style and created buyer interest and a market niche. Another craft artist successfully took advantage of the game craze by using his woodworking skills in designing intricate and elegant wooden puzzle boxes with secret compartments. And another creates striking art depicting historical Western subjects. He is best known for his bronze sculptures of noted early American Indians, using what some say is the lost art of wax castings. Each of these artists not only became known for their individual work and style, they successfully found and cultivated a loyal market base.


DON'T BECOME A COPY CATTER
A warning about copy catting. Being influenced by another artisanís work is an excellent way to experiment and grow. You might be influenced, for example, by the Japanese design principle of creating beauty with simplistic design. You may decide to integrate the Japanese curves and angles in your own pattern, but copying the work can be a disaster, even embarrassing. A case in point. A well-known New York potter copied Hamada and exhibited at the Allentown Festival. He applied Japanese symbols to his work called Sagriffito (etchings in clay). A group of Japanese visitors gathered at his booth and began to giggle.
"What made you choose those symbols?" one visitor asked.
"I found them aesthetically pleasing, so I incorporated them," the potter replied.
"Well, do you know what they mean?"
"No."
"They mean %#@$%&*."
"Uh, I'll remove them immediately."

More disastrous than not being known for something, is letting your signature become known for copy-catting.


PROMOTION MADE EASIER
Once you have your signature, promoting your work becomes easier. Now you have a discriminator, one that sets you apart. You have a positioning advantage. Next, people need to know about you. This is what promotion is all about. The goal is to develop loyal repeat buyers, and perhaps collectors. Once you have done that, you have growth potential by virtue of referrals. But first, you need a promotion plan. Being an artisan today does mean learning basic business skills. Your art is your business. Here are some guidelines:

1. Target your market. Who wants what you sell? By keeping track of your buyers you can easily begin developing a buyer profile. For each name on your list identify as much information about them as possible. For example, list their age, economic status, where they live, vacation and work. By doing your own demographic research, you will begin to answer the question who is likely to buy what I sell. That is your target market. Once you know what your typical buyers are like, you can begin finding more of the same.

2. Get the word out. Find effective, low-cost ways to promote yourself. The best method is word-of-mouth. Get referrals from your satisfied buyers. Tell everyone you meet what you do. Go to as many art and craft shows as you can. This is a good way to become known and to monitor your competition. Join organizations whose members may be potential buyers, such as the Chamber of Commerce, local professional, political and, if you are so inclined, religious organizations, and health clubs. And by all means, become an active participant. It's good for your art business and it's good for your community.

3. Develop good business relationships. Become known to as many in your field as possible. Build a respect among your peers as reputable, reliable and honest. Network at craft shows and art fairs. Encourage your business associates to spread the word about what you do. Nothing ruins a reputation faster than being bad-mouthed by your business contacts.

4. Design a professional image. If you want to be taken seriously, then you have to take yourself seriously. Create a positive impression. Develop a name and logo for your business. Order business cards and stationery. Design a brochure. Get a telephone answering machine and record a business message, not a family missive. None of these need to be costly, but they should be effective in establishing you as a serious professional craft artist.

5. Be fiscally responsible. Learn basic financial skills. You may have an accountant that handles most of this, but on a day-to-day basis, you are the one responsible for your income and expenses. There is nothing more frustrating than finding out at the end of the month, quarter, or year that your expenses are way out of control. Inexpensive resources and help are available to guide you in controlling your money and hopefully profiting from your efforts. One source is your local library, your bookstore is another.

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The words my clients hear ad nauseam from me are, "Make your signature count for something. Create something that no one else can in quite the same way." Easy? Not always. But the rewards can be great. The more known you become as an expert or pioneer in your craft, the easier it will be to attract interest, attention and most importantly, buyers.