Get Your Artwork in Seattle Shops
Seattle is a mecca of small businesses, many of which support local creatives.
After a year of closures and extra precautions due to the pandemic, shops and galleries are opening their doors once again . Seattleites are spending less time at home and more time out and about. A perfect opportunity for creatives to shift focus back on showing their work and connect with small business owners in person.
Selling Work For The First Time
Any creative benefits from creating a portfolio of multiple pieces to sell (with hanging artwork, most Seattle shops will request you be able to fill at least 10 feet of space). Not only will having enough work to fill a space make the shop look beautiful, but artwork tends to have the greatest value when you create consistently. In other words, make lots of art, and consider waiting to sell until you can aesthetically fill 10 feet of space.
“If you build it, they will come” is an over-used, misguided motto. It’s a misquote from Field of Dreams that was taken completely out of context. While creating is the first step, the truth is that it’s your job to find small businesses to show your work, not the other way around. You’ll find small business owners who like and connect with your work, but YOU are the one who has to find them.
Here are some local Seattle markets and programs you can sign up for:
(let them know CREATEUR sent ya ;)
Seattle Art Post’s ‘Art in Shops’ Program
Once new and emerging creatives have built up a portfolio, there are many choices for how and where to show and sell work. Try creating an instagram for your art only, a Behance page, a free website with SquareSpace, or an Etsy shop. You want to be able to provide an online link along with an artist statement to the shop manager or small business owner. Working with a shop that already sells similar art can help put the imposter syndrome at ease, providing a sense of validation and showing you that your art is valuable.
Exposure to Local Shop Owners & Managers
Once you create work you love, set a price, and get the courage to put your work into the world, how do you get anyone to buy it? Simply creating isn’t enough to get your work sold. It is your job to put that work out there. Exposure is key.
To sell online, you need an audience. If you don’t have much reach yet, that’s when working with a small business can really help. Small businesses already bring in customers who might not have otherwise come across your work. And a relationship with a small business would be mutually beneficial because you can bring your audience into the shop.
Here are some local Seattle shops that are always looking for new work to support:
(let them know CREATEUR sent ya ;)
Chocolati Cafe in Greenwood and Greenlake
When choosing a shop, know your audience. If you make funky paintings that would appeal to a hip crowd, work with a shop that brings in this type of collector. On the other hand, if your art is serene and peaceful, a quaint shop might be more fitting than a shop with a rock-and-roll theme.
Showing in Local Shops
Imagine this: you’ve been building a portfolio for months, and you finally see it all on the walls of a shop while shoppers are doing their thing. They notice your work, go up to it, take it in, see it’s for sale, and ask the staff how to buy it. Boom, you have a new buyer who would have probably not otherwise ever seen, let alone bought, your art! (Don’t forget to bring business cards to leave at these shops for people to take if they like your style of work and want to see what more you may have available!)
In-person art shows are magical. The color, texture, and size of a piece are more likely to draw in viewers. But making an art show happen, particularly a solo show, requires a ton of work. Without a shop to help do the legwork of keeping the doors open and bringing in customers, you’d be stuck paying for a venue, manning the show, and building up enough buzz to get anyone to walk in. If you have dreams of a solo show and feel working with a gallery is a bit further down the road, working with a shop might just be the simplest, most effective option.
