After tiring of the gallery/festival circuit, I wanted to have more control in marketing my own prints. So about 2 years ago, I became a small art studio/gallery owner in the beautiful mountain valleys near Park City, Utah. What I have found is a wonderful tool to not only maintain the control I needed, but also a way to increase my personal productivity and art sales.

One does have to invest a small amount of capital to make this happen, but in the end it is worth it. To help promote my  printmaking, I have located an etching press and exposure unit (working studio) inside the gallery space. The gallery, which is located next door to a famous restaurant, attracts tourists almost year round. These clients love to visit the space and watch the etching process happen. When a sale is made the profit is yours. The gallery is open the same hours as the restaurant (4 nights a week for 16 total hours)!

A word of caution-- owning an art gallery albeit a romantic notion, is a lot of hard work! If you operate the gallery using business sense you can build a successful life for yourself.

This is my website: www.goldenkoistudio.com Please stop by and take a look!

I recently started an enewsletter for marketing my gallery. I would love to hear of other creative self-promotion stories from artists thinking outside of the box. Anybody out there pushing the self-promotion envelope?

MEMBERS COMMENTS VIEWING 1 - 1 OUT OF 1 COMMENTS From: PaintsWithStick 01/08/2008 07:42:58 I have been totally self promoting for 40 years; mainly through retail festivals. I use my mailing list, small classified ads, press releases and occasional exhibit, teaching, art restoration or juried shows. Once in awhile a gallery approaches me.  Ususally, galleries and juried competitions do not like representational wildlife.  I am seeking a new way to continue selling my work and stop most of this traveling (for several reasons). We are to relocate soon and I have actually have been thinking of a studio/gallery. Recently joined an artist co op in the area we are moving to. The co op is comprised of elderly weekend artists and it is going to be very interesting - they know nothing of selling and promoting and think they have all the answers. I work long hours and never say "no" to a commission. Let's stay in touch.