86 Artists Magazine May 2020
Outfit BUSINESS OF ART
as a goal, start making a list of all
the things that you would need in
order to achieve that goal. This is
the point at which your intentions
become concrete. Consider time,
money, assistants, support, materials,
weather—everything.
What would it take to get where you
want to be? Sales, grants, a request for
help? List the appropriate steps. Would
you need gallery representation,
agents for your work, more network-
ing? What about regular time for grant
applications or a workshop on grant
writing? Are there people who could
help you if you were willing to ask?
Identifying the specific require-
ments toward achieving a goal allows
you to identify the impediments
you’ll need to overcome—personally,
professionally, psychologically and
financially. Working within a five-year
time frame allows the goal to develop
and the incremental steps toward that
goal to become part of a lifestyle.TRACK YOUR FINANCES
Some people excel at budgeting and
bookkeeping, but many don’t.
Consider setting aside an hour each
month to review and categorize your
studio expenses. Some people keep
boxes of receipts; some tag email
invoices as they arrive with a marker
to remind them that those messages
qualify as receipts. Many people like
using bookkeeping software such as
QuickBooks or FreshBooks, which has
a version specifically for artists. At
the same time, celebrate your income!
In my experience, one hour each
month is enough to start getting
perspective and to notice those small
purchases that eat away more of your
resources than you’d realized. Do you
always get yourself a “treat” when buy-
ing supplies? Does that art fair require
parking expenses that you forget to
include? It’s these seemingly inconse-
quential costs that are most important
to acknowledge in order to become the
confident studio chief that every artist
should know themselves to be.
Keeping your personal and pro-
fessional finances distinct is crucial.
Too many artists don’t maintain
separate bank accounts and mix theA THOROUGH AND SOLID GRASP OF
RECORD-KEEPING CAN REALLY HELP
AN ARTIST’S STUDIO PRACTICE.
use of credit cards. This is confusing,
and it often adds a layer of stress to
deciphering where money is going.
Not everyone needs a separate “Doing
Business As” (DBA) name for their
art-making, nor does every artist need
to register as an independent busi-
ness with an Employer Identification
Number (EIN)—although those
can be good options to discuss
with a lawyer and an accountant.
Nevertheless, in terms of finances,
you and your art should be clearly
separated. Even if another job or per-
sonal account is supporting your art,
keep those records clear. They may
not seem important now, but at some
point—such as when applying for
a grant or residency—you may need
to understand to what extent you’re
underwriting your practice.TRACK YOUR WORK
A software tool such as Artwork
Archive can help in many ways. For
those artists who have a lot of work
stored in various nooks and crannies
of the studio, an archive of the work
is a useful reminder of what’s avail-
able for sale. In addition to providing
a means to record images of artwork,
your art-tracking tool should also
allow space for dimensions, materials,
display history, pricing, edition num-
bers and other pertinent information.
A registrar of this sort provides a lot
of artists with a way to recognize the
amount of work they do and to gain
a sense of accomplishment.
Tools like Artwork Archive also
simplify the invoicing process. Some
artists get a better sense of how their
pricing fluctuates when they see the
change from asking price to sale price
at one show versus another. Trackinghow, when and where the work sells
also provides financial information
that’s useful in terms of deciding
where to put your energy.
Setting up an archive and reg-
istering of your work takes time.
I encourage people to set aside a day
to start the project. Create a buddy
system to commit to it, if necessary.
Though the task doesn’t bring the
same thrill as making art, this kind of
effort produces a tremendous differ-
ence to studio management, and I’ve
seen it revitalize a lagging practice.TRACK FLUCTUATIONS
Most artists know that some times of
the year are busier than others, but
tracking is a great way to see when
these periods hit; people are often
surprised at how closely the fluctua-
tions align each year. It will take two
years of tracking to really see patterns
develop, but this information is cru-
cial to knowing when to push harder
at art-making and when to use the
downtime for other kinds of activi-
ties—such as pursuing new clients,
updating your archive or developing
grant proposals.
Most businesses have one or more
seasons that are busier than others,
and knowing when those occur will
allow you to plan, save and work
toward your success. You can always
be cultivating prosperity once you
recognize that art-making is only one
partoftheoverallartist’spractice.C.J. Kent is a freelance writer and editor,
as well as a professor at Montclair State
University. She also founded Script and
Type (scriptandtype.com), which helps
people express themselves eff ectively in
writing and in person.