From the New York Times, Amy Zipkin covers older artists who have found a new market by selling their artwork online.
Older artists of all stripes are finding new ways to add to their income with the opportunities to sell their works. With some investment in learning the systems at various online galleries doors are opening for new collectors.
Suzanne Massion had gone two years without a sale from her longtime traditional bricks and mortar gallery. She took the step to move her work to one of many online sites selling artwork. After her career at a savings and loan she committed to her art endeavor in earnest. She now exhibits her work at online gallery ugallery.com.
“Going online and selling online was for me hitting a brick wall. The technological aspect of selling art online was foreign to me,” said Ms. Massion, who had a steep learning curve, starting with learning how to upload digital images.
David Winton, the chief executive of Kalisher, a company outside Chapel Hill, N.C., that places original art in businesses and other commercial spaces says,
“The growth of social media has made artists of us all,”
An abstract painter Matthew Dibble began showing his work on Facebook then when buyers started taking notice he added Pinterest and Instagram. He now exhibits on saatchiart.com where over 500 of his paintings are on display. Working with the he says
“has allowed me to expand my audience and has helped me gain confidence and a new sense of optimism for the future.”
From the site he landed a commission for over $19,000.
A gallery director led to another success story when she created a site, paraphe.art, and included a 57 year old former lawyer Geoffrey Stein. She says,
“Instagram is your new storefront.”
Stein believes
“Artists will need more than one platform,” he said.
Artsy.net estimates that nearly 50 percent of living artists represented on its site are older than 50.
Creating art doesn’t have a retirement age and with new online options, those creators can have a second income by finding audiences from around the world.
Link to the full article: A Lifetime of Making Art, but New to Selling It Online
