Gita Joshi does lot of coaching for artists. Early-mid career artists. Empowering artists to establish them.
• How did you get into art world?
Graduated in Art History back in the '90s. I thought you had to work for a museum and that was it. We know that the museum is quite closed off world. Wanted to make my own path. Don't have to work with just museum. Can be independent, have creative control. Premises in London in Waterloo. Received submissions, not good ones, not fit for me, but there is a knowledge gap there that I can help build them up and support them. Sessions at the gallery called "Getting Gallery Ready.' Only £5. Bit more info for them on what to do next. 2014, on the board of Camberwell Arts, meeting lots of artists, art dealers' input, more successful open studio event. Get more people in, use the audience they had and the audience we were sending. Blended together. Slowly build. Alongside having my own gallery. Podcast was born out of that as well. Around 2016-2017. Great conversations born out of that bringing into the public domain.Giving the artist a voice and increase their attention. Orgaically. Golden thread that runs through it. Saw a need for what I was doing.
• You say in your book that being an artists today is like being a business owner. Tell us more about that?
There is a business transaction happening there. Artists need to get paid, they need to sell their work. Need to take responsibility, self advocacy. Raise memetum until other people talk about them too. Creative calling, Not everyone everyone has to sell their art which is fine, it can be leisurely for them. But for who this applies to and who want to make a living, it is very much a business. Sales, marketing and product. Trinity. Both the maker/producer and manage, sales and marketing. Doing it in a manageable way. Small steps. Do it at your own pace, own decisions, empowering, freeing being a business owner. Not fitting into someone else's infrastructure. Get to build your own. Make your own destiny.
• Artists self representing. What does that mean? What should we be mindful of? What would main tips be for artists be?
- You can be your own agent, advocate. That can happen alongside working with galleries.
- What do you want to be known for? Getting your statement, catalogue, price list, in an online world, using your website as your digital world, showing digital fairs you have participated in. Staying on top of that. If I was my own bank manager what do I need to have in place? Laying the foundations. Marketing in older ways too. Mailing list. Building rapport with subscribers who sign up. Social media. Open studios. In person events. multi-faceted, All supporting one another. Gallery show. Doing it in steps and ways that are comfortable. Have a go. Some foundation to grow on.No matter what stage of your career, its about getting your art out there and sharing your message and being authentic. Finding your creative voice. There is a formula to self representing. Finding your voice in marketing too. There comes a point where some of it may need to be automated. You need to decide that. Also if to bring someone else in.
- Our first port of call is to follow someone on instagram. Consistency of showing up on it. Curators, artists, writers, for everyone. If you want to make a connection. Follow someone on instagram. That tool is sitting there. We are only 5 steps away from people online now.
• In terms of selling art, sales are going to happen and it will happen quickly. You talk of the long game and sowing the seeds. What are your views?
Consistency is massive. If we go to an art fair, there may we things we see but we see 60 things. Instagram is very low level advertising. Billboard advertising and tv and bus advertising is big business and high level advertising. Knowledge gap between what you're selling and your buyer potentially "adding to cart." Nurture them by showing up for them. Showing your practice. Share last year's wins. Validate their attention they are going them. Visibility. Being at the forefront of people's minds. It is about being patient and knowing what you stand for. A cheaper line of prints isn't always the answer, who do you need to become? What information do you need to put out there? Knowing what your niche is. Clear creative voice running through that. Takes time too build that momentum. Seeing your nerve. Going to events you get feedback. You may sell, you may not. The public, your neighbouring stands. Speak to art fair directors. Get that feedback. Confidence and where you position yourself and where you sell your products. Price from a position from where you can move up from.
• There is a lack of confidence in artists pricing their work, and not having enough confidence in what they do.
Yes, it's a barrier in a successful art practice. You need to have an understanding of why you do what you do. How you communicate on socials. People are interested in people. Your own story. Delving into what you do. That personal work. That's the personal stuff, what you stand for, your journey, it's unique. Your experience is unique, standing by that and getting to know that. Personal development angle. Comparing it to someone else who looks like they have it sorted online. A tip - confidence. What's working. Evidence of what has worked. What was a sale. Why did it work? Confidence of knowing you could pass the gate-keepers. Looking at the little wins. What you do on a daily basis. Gratitude is a big part of it. Reframe the story.
• How should artists better communicate their work?
People are interested in people. great to see some personality. Their brand. The brand is the artist. Don't use the model of a gallery who is glossy and cold. Fear of intimacy. Be intimate in communication. Be warm. Hear your voice. Artist statement (around 250 words) statement you stand behind, using that as the basis as what you chat about on socials. Show work in progress - it is great because you are taking people on a journey. It's not possible for everyone every day but its the best form of content for socials. People are more interesting than they realise. Remembering that in every moment. What have you done today that is share worthy? Source material from a pile of books. Documenting the work in progress. Career highlights. The new people don't know that so let them celebrate that with you. Don't let you feel like you are boring people. Your brand becomes recognisable from reposting. Consistency.
• Absolutely. Posting twice a week, or every day, try to get a routine at peak times before breakfast, during dinner and in the evening. Be savvy. What you may think is boring other people won't. Coming out of the pandemic, what do you think artists should be focusing on now?
Everything is online now. Continue to build your audience. Now we can go out and see things, different form of networking. Nice to see people living in your area. Deeper connections. But there is a hesitancy of booking a fair booth or booking to go to a show. What if it's cancelled? Taking small steps. The country is at different stages as is the world but only we are in the same, safe space. Right across the board. We will continue to have online. Nurture the online buyer. The online presence has been accelerated through Covid. Different income streams running together. Landlords are welcome to artists using space, putting work in the window to look somewhat animated. Artists coming together and collaborating to use space. Leveraging partnerships and networking.Collaborative. Saves on time, materials, etc. Creative projects between selves liberating, empowering, confidence and experience. build on to get extra visibility. Art in the public space. Recognising that as as a partnership. Don't be passive. Be proactive.
• When artists submit work to you, what do you look for?
It's fine for artists to work in any medium but artists should be consistent in what they submit. 5 images that sit together well. Come from the same body of work. If they are in the experimental phase of their practice, I scroll on. If you are putting out different things, it's confusing people. If one is sculpture, another an oil painting, I'm confused. it isn't reaching your end goal. it confuses the potential buyer. It isn't helpful. Being business minded. What is going to be front of house.
• What motivates and inspires you?
What is possible. Community, society, people. I'm always learning and growing. Self, personal development. The more healing I do. intuitively know. Healed through creative practice. interesting and empowering. The more we acknowledge that.
• Best tips from a successful show?
Have confidence in talking about your work. Don't get drunk! Be grateful for whatever happens. Prepare. Make sure you're organised. Have a set price point. Perhaps have a prize draw. Mind-check your energy. Be careful of "mood hoovers" sucking the energy out of you and the room. Change your energy to be more magnetic. Step into gratitude. Be your authentic self. Build rapport. People often buy from people they've built a relationship with and who they click with.
Make Your Mark Summit coming soon with VAA
visual-artists.org/home/mentorship for mentorship get in touch at hello@visual-artists.org
Reflection:
I recently found Gita Joshi on Instagram as she had featured an artist in her new book, "Show Your Art,' that I follow. She mentioned a very interesting quote and I was immediately drawn to her knowledge. She said:
"When I wrote Show Your Art, the subtitle, how to build an art career without a gallery, was based on a lot of keyword research. The book delivers on the subtitle.
I've said many times the intention for the book is the empower the artist to take their business, visibility and audience into their own hands. Then when you approach a gallery, you're able to go into the relationship at peer to peer entry.
What doesn't work so well for me or any galleries I know, is the cold email from an artist that goes along the lines of "I'm a struggling artist and need a gallery to sell my work."
The undertone here is the artist as victim, and the galleries as a rescuer, a position they didn't ask for. A responsibility they didn't ask for.
It recreates the child-parent or student-teacher dynamic. Not peer-to-peer business relationship.
Working with a gallery is a business relationship. Selling through a gallery is a business relationship. And you get to build your art business first."
This is pretty eye-opening advice to be mindful of the way that I will be engaging with professionals when university is over and to level myself with them. I am the one creating work, the gallery is at the other end of the business transaction. That is not to say that nice relationships and niceties cannot be born from correspondence, but t be mindful of how I frame emails when the time comes and not to beg if I ever lose momentum in the future.
Through her instagram I found out about this event, and from the back of how immediate and powerful I found this information, booked a ticket with Eventbrite. A lot of the information wasn't necessarily new but hearing it at this point in my journey, now that I'm on the other end of trauma and recovering from a bad few years, trying to take back control of my life and completing my degree, it was powerful to hear some of these words. Things like self representation, advocacy, having agency, having respect for myself in terms of pricing. None of this is new as I've heard it a number of times throughout university, but it hits different now.
Another nice things from this was the community aspect of the chat. There was a number of other artists, writers and professionals including someone who makes their own canvases, who shared their websites and instagram details and we followed each other from this. There was also discussion in the chat around collaboration and doing something that way. IT's certainly something to think about.
I need to look more into VAA and what they offer. They offered a 10% membership code at the beginning of the talk and offer some kind of mentorship scheme. I'm imagining it's like the AOI but for painters?
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