The Sage Creative

Hey there, Today, I want to tackle a topic that's on many artists' minds: does selling art on platforms like Etsy, social media, or a personal website affect one's art career advancement in the eyes of "industry approved" galleries? It's a question that's sparked a lot of discussion, and I think it's worth diving into. First, I want to disclaim here that I am not an expert in this topic. I am an artist, but I don’t have any work in galleries. This is what I’ve learned from my research talking with others. Jason Horejs, Xanadu gallery owner in Arizona, says that "it depends." Horejs believes that while some gallery owners might worry about artists selling merchandise alongside their fine art, in practice, it's often not as big of a deal as we might think. He points out that serious art collectors are usually more interested in original pieces and aren't deterred by the availability of prints or other merchandise. In fact, branching out...

Many artists, maybe even you, grapple with the question "Is selling my art online worth it?"  After opening my online shop last November, someone asked me this very question. At the time, I didn't yet have the words to describe my feelings and what was driving me to sell my art online. I knew in my gut that it was worth it for me, but I didn't know how to answer her question. To be honest, I was too deep in the process, too overwhelmed by other doubting questions in my head like "What are you doing? Is this going to work? Will anyone even buy anything? Is my art even good enough?" to stop and think about the bigger picture and whether or not my efforts were worth it. Three months later and little more perspective between my then-overwhelmed self and today, I can honestly say "it" was worth it for me.  So what is "it"? "It" is your time, money, and peace. You will have to spend time, money, and frankly, forego some peace in the b...

I have always loved to create art, and like many artists, maybe even you, I've long been interested in selling my work. However, art is not my full-time career path and being a part-time artist on top of working a full time job and juggling the rest of life's demands is nearly impossible for most people. Sound familiar to you?  In fact, 10 years ago, I tried selling my art online. I worked three jobs all summer to pay for an art and imaging center to take very expensive digital images of my largest pieces; I paid $3,000 (no joke) at the time for a web designer to setup a website for me to display and sell art prints with cart checkout functionality (because sites like Shopify and Squarespace didn't exist back then); and I bought hundreds of dollars worth of prints to hold an inventory.  After opening up shop, I made a handful of sales, made a few annoying trips to the post office to mail one-off packages, and then I let the business dissolve, never to be profitable. Why? Be...