Make the Most of Your Public Appearances

by Alan Bamberger of ArtBusiness.com

Many of today's talented and creative artists also know how to work the crowds at events where their art is the center of attention. They know that collectors love to speak with them at gallery openings, open studios, art fairs, and anywhere else they appear alongside their art. They use their public relations skills to effectively convey who they are and what they're about in order to increase their sales and advance their careers.

Relating to people at openings, either one-on-one or in groups, is not easy for many artists, however. This is true primarily because they're not prepared to be the center of so much attention all at once. The good news is that any artist can overcome difficulties and make the most of their public appearances. All that's necessary are three basic ingredients: A brief scripted talk, a committment to make yourself accessible, and a video showing you and your art.

Your Talk

Giving a brief talk at your openings is a great way to introduce yourself and attract new collectors. If you think you'll get tongue-tied, think again. You happen to be the world's foremost authority on your art. You have more than enough interesting stories and anecdotes kicking around in your head. All you have to do is take the time to verbalize them, write them down, organize and rehearse them. Your goal is to connect with people by telling them who you are, describing your art, and answering their questions. Here are several tips on how to script and deliver an effective talk:

Begin by writing down everything you can about your career and your art. Free associate and don’t bother with organization, grammar or spelling. You want to get as many ideas down on paper as possible.
When you have enough material, separate out those statements that best characterize you and your art. These should include brief background information, why your art is significant, where your ideas originate, and how you incorporate them into your work. Keep in mind that many people who attend art openings enjoy the art but know little or nothing about the artists. These are the people who you want to attract and win over.
Keep explanations simple, avoid controversial issues, and convey ideas within positive frameworks. For example, one well-known artist portrays his art as a vehicle that transports viewers to places where people of many backgrounds live together in harmony. An accomplished woman artist intends for her art to help people confront and overcome health problems. Another artist talks about how his art embodies his transformation from despair and substance abuse to respect for himself and all living things.
Even though your art may contain negative or disturbing images, portray them as representing positive end results. You can do this without deceiving, misrepresenting, or otherwise feeling that you're compromising your values by focusing on how they point toward what people want, would like to have, or one day will have rather than what must be sacrificed in the process. Say, for example, that ‘My art looks towards a world where everyone conserves energy and shares our natural wealth’ rather than ‘My art is about greed, over consumption, and the destruction of corporate capitalism.’
Convey to people that your art has meaning on a variety of levels. In addition to its visual appeal, for example, it might also speak to a greater mission, life experience, or ideal. You want collectors to feel that they're getting more than home or office decorations when they buy your art.
don’t try to sell your art or pressure people into buying it. Sales activities should take place one-on-one and preferably through gallery personnel.
Keep your talk to five minutes or less with an additional few minutes for questions. Keep your entire presentation to under ten minutes in order to avoid boring people or losing their attention.
Practice your talk alone, in front of the mirror, with friends and acquaintances, and under whatever other circumstances are necessary for you to memorize and feel comfortable delivering it.
Practice answering questions that people consistently ask you about your art. Keep answers positive by returning to the same themes that you touch upon in your talk.
When you're speaking, take no more than four to six questions from the audience. A good target range per answer is about thirty seconds (watch live television interviews and you'll see that longer answers tend to lose viewers' attention). Answer additional questions and address more complex topics one-on-one.
Even though the great majority of questions and feedback are positive, prepare several damage control type responses that diffuse or deflect those infrequent negative encounters.
The best time to give your talk is during the early second half of an opening or event. This gives people plenty of time to look around, acclimate themselves, socialize, have a glass of wine, and enjoy your art.

Making Yourself Accessible

How you act at your openings and how available you make yourself are just as important as what you say in your talk. Always arrive early and be on the floor right from the start. Continually circulate and keep interactions brief so that everyone who wants to meet you gets their chance. If someone tries to monopolize you, politely excuse yourself after a minute or two.

Make every effort to fulfill modest requests such as signing gallery invitations or catalogues, letting people have their pictures taken with you, and inscribing sold art when buyers request it. If collectors bring in old books, catalogues, or invitations that mention your name and ask you to sign them, do it. A few people will always try to take advantage of your generosity, but the overall goodwill that results from these acts will far outweigh the occasional negatives.

Additional suggestions

Keep a sketch pad on hand and present occasional quick drawings to children.
Approach people who appear to be studying or discussing your art and volunteer to explain it or answer any questions.
Create your own logo or trademark and add it to your signature like Warhol did with his soup can. Make it something you become known for. Make it something that anyone can instantly identify as having come from you.

Your Video

Putting yourself on television always adds credibility to your art as well as to your reputation. A ten to twenty minute video showing you making art, doing special appearances, receiving awards, being the center of attention at crowded openings, visiting unusual places, meeting interesting people, and having you or others speak about your art is a terrific public relations tool. Follow the same basic guidelines you use when putting together your talk and you'll have a finished product that attracts people to you and your work.

Professionally produced videos can cost thousands of dollars, of course, but no matter what your budget, you can get the job done. If you have little or no money, borrow a friend's video camera, put it on a tripod, and photograph yourself working on a piece of art while explaining what you're doing. Have a friend follow you around your studio filming you while you talk about yourself and your art. If you can afford several hundred dollars, hire a student or recent graduate with video production experience to script an interview or two, film you as you go about your daily activities, and do basic editing and voice over work.

At each of your openings, set up several comfortable chairs or couches in a quiet location and have your video play repeatedly. It'll work like a continuous talk and give people who don’t get a chance to speak with you or those who are too shy to approach you an opportunity to get to know who you are. It may turn out to be just what certain collectors need to make that leap from really liking your art to actually owning it.

About the author

Alan Bamberger is an art consultant, advisor, author, and independent appraiser specializing in research, appraisal, and all business and market aspects of original works of art, artist manuscript materials, art-related documents, and art reference books. He has been selling art since 1979 and rare and scholarly art reference books since 1982, and has been consulting and appraising for artists, galleries, businesses, organizations and collectors since 1985.

Bamberger has written about the art business since 1983. His syndicated column, "Art Talk," debuted in 1985 and has appeared in Wahl antique and collectibles newspapers and magazines nationwide including Antique Week, Mid-Atlantic Antiques Magazine, Yesteryear, Antique and Collectables, The Collector, Antiques and Auction News, Antique Gazette,Old Stuff, and Collectors Journal. Bamberger has been a columnist for Coagula Art Journal and Art Calendar Magazine, and has written numerous articles about the art business for publications like American Artist, Antiques and Fine Art, Antiques West, Antique Trader, San Francisco Review of Books, and Art of California. He has also written three books, Buy Art Smart and Art For All, published by Wallace-Homestead in 1990 and 1994 respectively, and The Art of Buying Art, published by Gordon's Art Reference in 2002.

Bamberger has appeared live on CNN's Daywatch, KTLA's Making It (Los Angeles), and KRON-TV in San Francisco, and answered art business questions on New York City Cable TV's Project Art Show. He's been quoted in the New York Times, Great Britain's Guardian Unlimited, Marketplace (National Public Radio), the Los Angeles Times, New York Newsday, the San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire magazine, ARTnews, and Wired and has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, the San Francisco Examiner, Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, Your Money magazine and other publications. He has given expert testimony in court, done numerous radio interviews, spoken with Spencer Michaels of The News Hour With Jim Lehrer regarding a PBS news story about eBay, consulted with financial columnist Andrew Leckey for annual predictions on what's hot in the art market, been interviewed by Random House editors for the art section of their book The Practical Guide to Practically Everything, and is a listed expert in Tony Hyman's Trash or Treasure. He also speaks to museum and collector groups across the country and moderates the "Topics in Art" forum on the Antique Week website.

Bamberger is a member of the Association of Online Appraisers, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. He has served on the board of directors of Creativity Explored, an organization dedicated to encouraging artistic expression in the developmentally challenged, on the exhibition committee of Visual Aid, a service organization serving artists with AIDS, and worked with ArtSpan which produces San Francisco Open Studios.

Rose Rushbrooke
Artist