Features
What is your art worth?
By Marian SwitzerAs manager of an art supply store, one of the questions I am most frequently asked has nothing to do with what paintbrush to buy or what paint will work best for a project, but rather “how do I price my artwork?”
Unfortunately, there is no magic pricing formula that is passed on from artist to artist, nor is there a single method for assessing a piece’s value that is used more than others. For emerging artists especially, pricing work can be a daunting task; art making is a very personal experience for most artists, so the thought of assigning a value or a price tag to something of such personal importance can be difficult. Hopefully the following guide will assist those looking to price their art, as well as those interested in buying it.
Before you even begin to consider selling your artwork, the first thing you should determine – and be able to express – is why you are making it. Buyers will want to know, among other things, what your process is, what ideas you are trying to express, and what influences inform your work. If you’re not able to answer these questions clearly and concisely, you may want to wait on selling your work, and you certainly need to think twice about approaching galleries. An artist statement answers all of those questions, and is one of the essentials you need in your artist portfolio; without it, your artwork lacks context for both dealers and potential buyers, and so is much more difficult to assess and value. Both buyers and dealers are not only searching for something that looks intriguing, they are also seeking work that is thought-provoking, regardless of style or genre; even if you are painting landscapes you should have a reason for painting them. Imagine being at the opening of your first show and being approached by a reporter from the local newspaper: do you feel confident enough about your work and ideas to pull off an interview? Spend some time developing your ideas, and take a look at what other artists are doing so you can see and understand where your work and the ideas you are trying to express fit in a larger context. The more time you put into making and looking at art, the more defined and concrete your ideas will be.
Underselling and Overselling
Once you have established why you’re making art, then the next task is to determine what it is you want to accomplish. Is creating and selling art something you would like to do full-time? If you are just starting out, I would suggest you plan on working another job to supplement your income. If you have never sold a piece (sorry, but selling a piece to your grandmother’s best friend doesn’t count), it is best to test things out before diving in head first and giving up your day job. Being an artist has its ups and downs, and one of the downs is that most often in the early stages of your career you won’t have a very steady income from art sales coming in.
Emerging artists struggle with the problem of being consistent in the pricing of their work. This is in part due to the conflict between needing income and needing the exposure gained from selling work. The important thing about your pricing method, regardless of the one you choose, is that you find one that works for you and stick with it! If you’re not consistent with your prices, potential buyers will be put off because it will be apparent that you have no consistent way to value your work. You will also upset those buyers that have paid a higher price for a similar piece. If you are so emotionally tied to a piece that you really don’t want to sell it (it does happen) then keep it in your personal collection. Selling art is like any other business, and as any good business person would tell you, don’t get personal about it. Overpricing a piece of work because you have an emotional attachment to it will only hinder your chances of attracting buyers for the rest of your work – again, it comes down to consistency in valuing and pricing for the buyer.
Another very important aspect of pricing consistency is recognizing that underselling your work is as detrimental as overselling it. Why would someone buy a piece of art if it seems that the artist doesn’t value it? There are buyers that will only buy artwork if it is over a certain price; lower prices can be a warning sign that perhaps the artist isn’t confident about their work, or are not in a stage of their artistic career to be selling. Consequently, the prices you assign to the work you sell need to reflect a certain level of confidence about your work, regardless of how much you like a particular piece. You will be surprised what an objective audience may think of your art; sometimes the pieces you feel least attached to will end up exciting someone else.
On a purely practical level, it is dangerous to undersell your artwork because a) you won’t be making enough money to cover the cost of your supplies as well as your time and b) it will become more difficult to raise your prices too dramatically once you have become more established. If your buyers are interested in your work because of the price range, you may eventually lose them as buyers when you raise your prices to higher ones. Although this can be a fairly natural evolution, you don’t want to shock anyone with an overly large increase all at once. A gradual increase in prices is acceptable once you have spent more time developing your practice and expanding your list of buyers. Any additional training you receive throughout your practice can also be a valid reason to increase your prices.
At the other end of the spectrum are the artists who believe their work is comparable to that of Warhol or Picasso and price their pieces accordingly, regardless of how long they have been working. The thing to keep in mind is that famous painters like Warhol and Picasso spent years building their careers, and went through their fair share of struggles in the process. In other words, most famous artists worked long and hard to achieve the recognition they gained. Quite often, the value placed on their work is based more upon the process, ideas, and time spent building their careers than the paintings themselves; these artists were trying completely new things and pushing the boundaries in art at the time they were working, which is why their work has such great value now. It is also important to recognize that many famous artists didn’t receive huge fees or recognition for their work with their lifetimes; it is the art dealers of today that are making large sums of money on this work at auction. So, don’t expect that people will initially spend thousands for your work, regardless of what merit you see in it; collectors will move on to someone else if they think you’re being unreasonable in your assessment of your work’s value.
Ultimately, you need to teach yourself to step back from your paintings and look at them as objectively as you possibly can. It is vital that you work toward having a sense of how your work fits in relation to other art on the market, and strike a balance between the time, effort, and materials you have put into your work, and your level of development and training as an artist. Just like any other profession, dedication and commitment add value to your work.
What to Do About the Price Tag
There are many variables that should be considered when making the final decision on pricing your work: what medium you work in, the venue in which it is being sold, and what stage you’re at in your art career. To get a rough idea about a good starting price, Kim Fjordbotten, owner of The Paint Spot in Edmonton, Alberta, suggests checking out the prices of artwork being sold in major department stores. She says that once emerging artists see that people are willing to spend $200 - $300 on a mass-produced, unoriginal piece of artwork, they begin to feel more confident about their own pieces, and price accordingly. Fjordbotten also suggests getting together with artists that are at the same stage in their artistic careers. By meeting and discussing each others’ artwork you can get an idea of what other artists in the community are creating, and a good idea of the price range within which your work will fit; this is also a good opportunity to practice your all-too-important artist statement!
Another way of determining the value of one of your pieces is to donate it to a charitable auction. Frank Haddock, an award-winning artist/instructor from Edmonton, says it’s a quick way of finding out where to start your pricing. He does warn, however, that buyers at auctions tend to undervalue the work, so the auction selling price should be considered below actual value.
Methods of Pricing
There are a few methods of pricing that are being used by artists today. This does not necessarily mean they will work for you, but some experimenting can determine whether or not you can be comfortable with one of them.
One method is to figure out the cost of your materials for each piece, and then add an hourly rate for your time. A good hourly rate to start at is approximately $15. As you become more experienced you can begin to raise this hourly rate by about 10%-15% each year. For example, if you are a painter you would add up the cost of your materials: canvas ($50), paint used ($20), brushes ($20) and thinners ($10) and then add the number of hours it took you to complete the painting multiplied with your hourly rate. If you took 20 hours to finish the painting at a rate of $15 an hour you would charge $300 plus the $100 cost of your materials, for a total of $400. Some artists will also add an additional 10%-15% to this price to cover the cost of their studio space, traveling, and other amenities.
Another method is to determine a price per square inch. A reasonable starting price per square inch would be approximately 75 cents. At 75 cents per square inch a 16 x 20 painting (320 square inches) would be priced at $240. Some artists will set a price for each size of canvas or other grounds as a base, and add on their other costs from there. This is a good way to remain consistent, but may not be the best approach if you work in different media (with different costs), as this can lead to pricing inconsistencies.
Again these are only suggested methods of establishing a base price for your work; if you’ve been selling work for a while, you may want to consider increasing your price to account for increased demand. On the other hand, if your work isn’t selling, don’t get desperate and begin to drastically lower your prices. What it really comes down to is whether or not you are happy with the prices; even if you sell nothing, do you still feel your prices are reasonable and fair? It can take time before you sell your first piece and when you finally do, you should be happy with the amount you have been paid.
Venue
There are a number of places artists can show their artwork. A good number of coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants often showcase local artists and most take a much lower commission than a gallery; some take no commission at all! These venues are particularly great for emerging artists, because they offer an opportunity for the artist to reach a very wide and diverse audience. As an emerging artist, the more people that are able to see your art, the higher your chances are of selling something! These shows are also a great way to beef up your CV so that when you are ready to approach galleries, you have some experience in mounting shows behind you, and you can show that you have been active in getting your work seen and sold.
Since these venues charge low - or no - commission, you will be able to keep your prices lower than those found in galleries. Remember, you don’t want to undersell yourself, but you do want to remain reasonable; in a cafe or restaurant setting, your price tag need only to reflect what you personally would like to make off each piece, plus the nominal commission if required. It is also important to remember that the audience in restaurants and cafes are usually not actively seeking art when they are there; it’s not their primary focus. These are the people that may see your work while diving into their appetizers or sipping on their coffee, and decide they absolutely need to have it in their living room. They may not have a problem spending $8 on a cup of coffee, but your average consumer is usually a little hesitant about spending a few hundred dollars on a painting or sculpture. Accessible pricing can increase your sales to those people who buy on impulse.
Another great place for emerging artists to show their work is the summer festival circuit. There are plenty of artists that make a decent income doing the festival loop during the summer months. Not only is a great way to get a tan and do some traveling, but, as Kim Fjordbotten point out, it is also a terrific way to test your market and see what people are interested in. Often, when your work is hanging in a gallery or a cafe, you are not present to get the chance to hear people’s comments about your work. When you’re working the festivals, you get to meet and talk to those who are intrigued with your work. She also reminds artists not to undersell their work at these outdoor events. Many people are under the assumption that they should charge less for their pieces if the are selling outside; an informal setting calls for informal prices. If anything, Fjordbotten says that there is even more effort and cost associated with selling work outside in festivals like the Whyte Avenue Art Walk. You need to factor in these additional expenses when pricing your work; make sure you include the cost of traveling to the site, setting up and taking down your booth each day, purchasing all of your merchandising equipment, and marketing, in addition to the base price for your work. The festival circuit is a lot of fun, but it’s also a lot of work, so be prepared!
Galleries are the ideal venue for professional artists. Having your work accepted for show in a gallery not only confirms your status as an artist in the eyes of the serious buyer, but it also means you can start charging more for your pieces. Being represented by a commercial gallery means you have more time to devote to your art making. Most galleries will take a 50% - 60%commission from the sales of your work, but this price comes with benefits. If you have done your research and signed with a reputable gallery, you will no longer have to spend time setting up exhibitions, marketing, and selling. Instead, you can focus your energies on doing what you love most, making art. Commercial galleries make their money from selling artwork, so you can bet they are going to work their hardest at making you better known in the art community. The sales may not come rolling in right away, but with a little patience you can expect to see some results. Tim Rechner, an Edmonton artist represented by the Front Gallery, says that “not selling paintings is not ideal, but I feel it is important to be stubborn as far as not devaluating your work due to desperation. It is important to believe that all energy devoted to making art is worthwhile and important.”
When you’re pricing your art for gallery showings make sure that in the end you will still be receiving the amount of money you would have originally asked for the work. If a gallery is taking a 50% commission on your pieces, make sure you charge enough to cover the gallery expenses, as well as your own. For example, if you are showing a piece of work you had priced for yourself at $500, you would want to double the price so that after the gallery has taken their 50% cut, you will still receive the full amount you had wanted. Anything less and you will be selling yourself short. People who are serious about buying art will only buy from galleries, so don’t hesitate about your prices.
By now it is probably obvious that there is no one clear cut way of pricing your artwork. There are things that should be avoided when starting out, and there are also things you should be aware of. If you have decided to make a profession out of your art making, make sure you not only have the work to back you up, but the experience as well. As Frank Haddock notes, you need to understand that not everyone is going to want to buy your work, but there are buyers out there, it’s just a matter of keeping your work in the public eye so it’s available. Keeping your artwork in the closet only proves how much you don’t want to sell it.
Being an artist is far different than the romantic portrait painted by the media; most artists are not flaky, nor do we spend our afternoons lounging around painting or sculpting. We are business people who, quite often, work harder and longer hours than most people do.
How do you value something invaluable?
The first thing you should determine, before you even begin to consider selling your artwork, is why you’re making it. Buyers will want to know what your process is, what ideas you’re trying to possess, as well as what influences you.