Jim Gallucci takes the business of art very seriously. Over the decades, he has worked his way up from creating art on nights and weekends to running a sculpture business that employs six people and has produced multimillion-dollar projects.
“So often you hear people say, ‘I really make art for myself, and I don’t want to sell it,’” he says. “OK, then do not go around saying, ‘I’m a poor artist.’ There’s no such thing as being a starving artist. You manage your situation.”
Art and commerce don’t always mix readily, but it’s a necessary compromise for any artist who, like Gallucci, wants to create art as a career.
To pay the bills, Greensboro artist Melissa Blackburn still works a day job as a graphic designer for the city, but in her spare time she gets creative by making colorful jewelry from fused glass.
“In the scheme of things, I’d much prefer to be doing glass all day, but in the real world, who knows?” Blackburn says.
Dianne Welsh puts a lot of effort into helping artists get over that hump.
“I wanted to see artists successful, so they could work full time at their art rather than working at the grocery store as a checker and doing their art from 8 to 12 o’clock at night,” says Welsh, the Charles A. Hayes Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at UNCG.
A supporter of the arts, Welsh started a conference on entrepreneurship in the arts when she worked for the University of Tampa. She continued it at UNCG, where she is making plans for the school’s third Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference in 2012.
“The conference is really based on takeaways that they can implement in their business the very next day,” Welsh says.
The conference addresses marketing, social media, legal issues and other concerns about the business of art. UNCG also offers a number of classes to full-time students and community members about the business of art, such as a theater entrepreneurship class and a new class starting this fall in creative design and entrepreneurship, Welsh says.
One challenging topic for newcomers is pricing their art. Gallucci recommends that young artists scale down their work to keep prices reasonable. Charging too much too soon probably won’t result in many sales, he says.
“I see these artists with these, like, $4,000 paintings, and you go, ‘Nobody knows who you are, and you’re never gonna sell them,’” he says. Although it may really be worth that much, he says the artist should “maybe eat a little humble pie. Maybe you go, ‘OK, I show that piece, but I won’t be selling it. But maybe I make a whole bunch of other, smaller things that I can do that’s very affordable.’”
As for marketing, Gallucci recommends modern methods such as creating a website, maintaining an email mailing list and establishing a presence on social media sites. But he also advises artists to take the old-fashioned route by showing their work. Studio tours are also a good idea, if possible, to establish a personal relationship with potential customers.
Gallucci shared his expertise as a speaker at the first two UNCG conferences and plans to host an open house in his studio for the third. He creates large metal sculptures, gates and other projects in Greensboro’s warehouse district, working in a studio custom-built to accommodate his industrial bridge crane.
He gladly shares his experience with other artists and believes strongly in mentoring, encouraging artists to draw from the experience and mistakes of others. One of those, he says, is that young artists often lose focus by concentrating too much on copyright issues, contracts and other business matters.
“The business is making the art,” he says.
He also suggests working with readily available, inexpensive materials and using equipment one already has. Blackburn, for example, uses an old electric kiln she had from her days working with ceramics, and she recycles bottles to make her glass jewelry.
“It’s just been a lot of fun,” she says. “The stuff coming out of the kiln — it’s a lot like ceramics, where you’re never sure what you’re going to get.”
Although she says she has struggled with issues such as marketing and pricing, Blackburn has found success in the field, selling her work at local shops such as Just Be in Greensboro and Urban Artware in Winston-Salem, as well as online, and follows Gallucci’s advice by trying to find a happy medium when pricing.
“I think I’m still kind of underpricing myself,” she says, “but I don’t want to make it out of reach of the average person.”
Contact Eddie Huffman at 373-7335 or eddie.huffman@news-record.com.
