Networking...

   Selling art is not so much who you know but rather who knows you.  If you hide and keep your stuff in a drawer, by one definition it will never become art and you will never sell.  Networking and the Internet is the modern way to do this but don't dismiss old fashioned leg work, people to people, one person at a time.
   My advertizing is all word of mouth now but I never fail to begin the conversation.
   One place often overlooked in this attempt to sell yourself is your old High School.  The love of gossip that you might have hated then can now be used to your advantage.  People like to talk.
   Sleepy towns can produce great people.  Clint Eastwood and Ken Kesey were both from my little town, Springfield, Oregon.  I was raised in Corvallis, Oregon, even a smaller town which has seen the rise of other now famous people.  I know a Movie Star, a Writer and an Artist, all from my little high school, all childhood friends.  Reconnecting with old classmates is another way to enlarge the circle of those who know you.
   My barber, my banker know what I do and have my business card on their wall.  I don't join clubs but that would be another way, some kind of opportunity to tell people what you do.
   I need the help of other people or I can't continue what I do.  The next sale allows for more materials for the next piece I have yet to think of.  People want to be helpful too.  My "stuff" has been in the lobby of my bank many times, it is the rack you might hang your hat on at my local barbers, and above your table at a local cafe I frequent.
More of my STUFF is here.

Dictates of Art

Commercial Art needs to be bulletproof no room for graffiti, a lot of safety concerns, if it is painted it may not rust, low maintenance, not climbable,
no public risk.  The gentle scrolls and open spaces found in older metal work are made busy with the four inch "rule" so a child's head cannot pass through the space.  A vertical structure, like a railing must be able to withstand 300 pounds of horizontal pressure, no wiggly railings allowed.  Sharp edges are not allowed.
   These are not bad rules, they have probably saved lives over the years.  Like a poet limited with iambic pentameter, they set conditions for a particular art.  Within these parameters you can pretty much create anything you want to.
   I think there must be committees that choose "Public Art" and I think they have a bit of a McDonald's Complex.  It is strange to me that one of the great successes of McDonald's is that one can get the very same cheeseburger anywhere in the world.  We LIKE that yellow color, those reassuring arches, the plastic tables.
We find comfort in the familiar and reassurance in a standardized french fry.
   Something different can just cause problems.  We want the reassurance of acceptance, others like it.  It is tested and true and safe and acceptable.  Without controversy or problems.
   A local metal artist created a really nice safety rail system for our bus transit system and with three styles available you can see his work all over our city.  He did a great job and I admire his work.  He is clever and industrious and a great marketer and soon you will find his same three rails all over America.  That I don't like.  Oh, more power to him.  He will gain wealth and fame but shame on the purchasing agents who will reduce his work to the standards of McDonald's.  Like "golden arches" soon we will recognize public transport by the rails they display.  And shame on us that we would even want such sameness everywhere.
   I know now why graffiti artists crawled out of the woodwork demanding to be heard, wanting to express themselves, making something individual and personal in a world increasingly the same.  A muffled cry in a sea of yellowness.
You can get lost HERE

Perfection!

A fellow artist gave me the courage to do this. She paints on everything, her kitchen counter top,
her bathroom floors, on anything that will hold the paint. It looked like so much fun but I was "just a welder", hadn't painted since I was in grade school and I had no idea what I was doing.
"Have fun!" was the guidance she gave me, it doesn't have to be perfect! This was my first attempt and the paint was still wet when it sold!

Updated!

I kept this old blog just so I would have two I think. It is funny rereading these old posts, and seeing my idea, almost two years old now. I didn't follow through with my idea of hanging art all over town but someone caught it and now there is art everywhere! There are no bare walls in most of the local business now and artists have a variety of places to show and rotate their art!
Galleries probably don't like this concept because most businesses don't even charge a commission. They like rotating art in their shops!
The other reason I kept this site is that in the first blog there is a link to EIGHT of my websites,
mostly all connected to my love of metal art. It takes some time but if you ever get bored you can travel through them and get a lot of ideas for your gardens and outdoor spaces.