mary pow
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The Price of Art

3/14/2023

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This year, one of my goals is to open up about the business side of making and selling art. In my previous post, I revealed the true cost of art when it comes to selling at art festivals. In this post, I answer questions about retail price and the value of art.

I am not a pricing expert; I'm an artist who struggles with pricing. I feel that I'm constantly reevaluating and adjusting my prices. Price and value are difficult and this post addresses what I've learned so far. I always have more to learn.
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Artwork price labels. I've already lowered one of these prices since I made these labels!
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Today I Choose Joy

Q & A on the Price of Art

​How is retail price calculated?
A traditional formula for calculating retail price is:
Costs of labor + cost of materials + business costs/overhead = Wholesale Price
2 x Wholesale = Retail Price
​
​What makes pricing art different?
A traditional formula like the one above is derived from manufacturing industries where there are high volumes of "widgets" being produced. In contrast, the very nature of art is that it is one-of-a-kind.

​Pricing art using a traditional formula doesn’t work well because the value of art is subjective. Basically, the list price is what an artist hopes someone will pay. But, the truth of the matter is that some art never finds a buyer. An artworks’ value is only determined once an artwork has found a buyer. ​When an artist and buyer agree upon a sale price, that is when its value is determined.

​When does an artist make money?
An artist only makes money once an artwork is sold. This is why an art career can be problematic to sustain. The costs of doing business are a huge gamble for artists who have no guarantee that their art will sell.
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A tent and display are costs of doing business
How do you calculate the retail price of your art?
Despite the difficulties of retail price versus value, we still have to start somewhere! Here is a simplified version of the pricing structure that I use to determine the retail price of my art:
​A = the cost of materials
B = the cost of business/overheads
C = the cost of labor (my time to make the artwork)
D = A+B+C = Wholesale price
E = Dx2 = Retail Price
​
​Why is the Retail Price so high?
In an art gallery setting, when/if an artwork is sold, the gallery takes half of the sale. In essence, the artist is paid their “wholesale price” for the art.
 
An art gallery takes half of the sale?!
It may sound like a lot, but an art gallery has its own costs and overheads (rent, employees, etc.) to pay and it needs to make money in order to stay in business. Just like an artist, the only way a gallery makes money is by selling art!

An artist may choose to sell their art without a gallery, but these settings come with a cost as well (for example, see the costs associated with selling at art festivals in my previous post). Selling art at retail price regardless of setting allows these costs to be recouped.
​
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Do you have more questions?
There are always more questions than answers when it comes to pricing art! However, I’m happy to try to answer your questions or listen to your comments. Let me know if you have any!
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Why I'm singing "I'm a loser baby"

2/23/2023

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The true cost of art.

I just returned from Florida where I attended two art festivals with my textile art: Mount Dora Arts Festival near Orlando and Coconut Grove Arts Festival in Miami. Both festivals are very popular, highly rated, juried events, and I was honored to be accepted! 

Last year I attended one art festival in Florida (Winter Park Sidewalk Arts Festival) and it went reasonably well. I learned a lot, sold a moderate amount for being a new artist, and gained many new friends and followers. My next step was to try two in a row to make the most out of my travel expenses.
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I had good reason to expect that the two festivals I got into to would be decent shows for me. I did my research on both events and I heard great things. But I'm not naïve, I know that doing any art show - especially if it includes large travel expenses - is a huge gamble. But I figured that if I could double the amount of sales I made at one show last year, it would be worth it. 

"I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?" 

Unfortunately, the end result of this experience has left me not only in debt, but also questioning my art. I've decided to share the true cost of selling my art at these shows. This is not an easy decision; I know that people unwittingly prefer to support winners and I could lose sales over this. I usually try to be as upbeat as possible about my art career in public. But I'm not sure it can get much worse; this week I definitely feel like the loser in Beck's song.
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Two Art Festivals in Florida, February 2023

Costs and Expenses

  • Fees paid to apply to two art festivals: $75
  • Total Booth fees (for a 10ft x 10ft space) for two festivals: $1250
  • Gas money spent on driving to and from Florida: over $600
  • Hotel costs during the drive: about $500
  • Hotel costs during the two events: $2800
  • Airfare to come home for a week in between shows: $360
  • Airfare for my husband to assist me with the 2nd show (two one-way tickets): $526
​​Total = $6,311.00

What costs are not included here?

  1. The cost of materials I spent to create my art.
  2. The cost of my studio rent in order to have a place to make art.
  3. The cost of my tent and display so I can show art at outdoor festivals.
  4. The cost of a vehicle that will transport the art, the tent, and the display.
  5. All of the miscellaneous costs that simply cannot be counted in order to run a business.

Artists are not paid for their time.

It's hard to imagine all of the time the entire art-festival-going process takes. Usually I try not to think about it since none of it is paid time. But, in an effort to be transparent, here's a look at some of the time I put into doing these two art festivals. 
  1. The time I spent creating the art. This really can't be measured. Years, months, days, hours...
  2. The time spent driving to and from the art festivals: 52 hours.
  3. The time I spent setting up my tent and art display. This takes about 4-6 hours each time.
  4. The hours that the art festivals are open to the public. The two-day show was a total of 15 hours. The three-day show was a total of 23 hours.
  5. All of the time I spent taking down my display and tent. This takes about 3 hours each time.
  6. All of the time it takes to run a business. Seriously, I don't even know how to measure this. I guess the best I can say is that I spend several hours on my business every single day. This is separate from making art.
Total hours put into the festivals (does not include making the art!) = 108 hours

The hardest question I always get asked is:
​"How long did it take you to make this?"

Sales

"Okay," you're probably saying, "but how much money did you make?!" 

Here is the dismal truth...
​
Show one: $698.00 in sales 
Show two: $2,323.00 in sales

Total after expenses =  -$3,290.00
This result is extremely embarrassing to share. Sure, there are places I could have cut costs. I could have slept in the cheapest (worst) hotels available. I could have driven through the night (dangerous and stressful). I could have done the second show without my husband's help (no lunch or bathroom breaks and no support) and saved on his airfare. But regardless of expenses, the amount I made in sales wasn't worth it.

​Art festivals are great for public interaction, feedback on my art, and it's always wonderful to hear compliments about my art. 
​
Sadly, compliments can't pay the bills.

Conclusion

Where do I go from here? I don't know. I have more questions than answers.

​Is it me? Does my art suck? Should I get a "real" job? If so, what makes something a "real" job? Maybe it's not me, maybe it's the economy? Perhaps people are too worried about inflation? Do people ever spend money on art? Do any artists make money at art fairs? Maybe it's my medium? Perhaps people aren't interested in purchasing textile art? And around again: Is it me?

Who knows. All I know is that I can't NOT make art. (I've tried to stop.) So despite the huge emotional toll all of this puts on me, I'm already planning for my next art festival. 

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Spring comes slowly

4/20/2022

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​Spring comes slowly
 
Spring comes so slowly in Minnesota. It forces patience upon you, however unwilling you are. Every morning you wake up to another sprinkling of snow, no matter how much you long for the flamboyant beauty of your crabapple tree in full bloom. You are tired of the waiting. You say, “I can’t take it anymore. I cannot handle this for one more day.”
 
Especially after such a long winter. A long, bitter winter filled with trials and tribulations that scraped your insides out and left you raw.
 
Don’t you deserve some easy beauty? The hot sun on your shoulders, flowers blooming, butterflies floating through the garden.
 
But the world owes you nothing. If you want to find beauty, you’re obliged to notice the simple, subtle beauty of spring coming slowly. So, fine. What else can you do? You take your walk in the cold, blustery day and you notice the loons are on the lake. That’s spring. And you see that the fat robins have eaten every single berry on the tree since the last time you looked. That’s spring, isn’t it. And by the time you walk around the entire lake, and your thighs are numb with cold, you are entirely sick of trying to notice the simple things.
 
The subtle beauty is actually making you angry, because why does it have to be so hard.
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Then you see something, a stalk of dead grass blowing in the cold gray air, waving to you, holding a beauty so understated that it makes you want to cry. And you walk past it, thinking, “no I won’t stop and acknowledge this. I want the gaudy in-your-face-ness of summer.” But it comes slowly. And the simple beauty is so touching that you retrace your steps to try to capture it in a photo.
 
Of course, the photo cannot capture what you see, what you feel – but it is there; you cannot unsee it. You must continue your day being grateful for the small things, because what else can you do. There is no forcing spring. It owes you nothing. You take what you can get.
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Solo Exhibition

4/19/2021

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Perception is Reality

I'm so honored to have been chosen to have a solo exhibition at The Phipps Center for the Arts! It is on display now in Gallery One through May 22, 2021.
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Artist Statement


​There is no singular way to perceive the world. The notion that each person’s perception is their reality fascinates me. That means our world – the world of humanity – is a combination of a vast diversity of realities. I investigate this concept through my art.
 
As I work, I imagine that each person has a window through which they “see” the world. Individually we are never able to see the whole scene. I consider the challenges people have with understanding the world from another person’s perspective. Further complicating things, I consider the contradictory qualities that exist in humanity. At the individual level as well as at the societal level, contradictions are everywhere. As I work, I ponder the ways our various viewpoints interconnect and I explore how our contradictory nature tests our ability to work together.
 
Through my art, I strive to express these colliding, collaborating, and opposing perceptions. 

Setting up the Exhibition

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Video Walkthrough of Exhibition

Gallery Hours

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Let Me Know What You Think

If you visit my exhibition, please let me know what you think! Write a comment on the Facebook Event page, send me a message, or comment here.
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A Certain Depth of Blue

9/28/2020

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A certain depth of blue, such as the rich blue of this velvet lining, is where my soul wishes to reside. You'll find me there, down in the depths.
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View Shoulder Bag

Shown here is the green/blue 'In The Depths' color way. Hand-crafted with linen, cotton, and velvet fabrics.
find it here
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8x8x8 Faces

9/1/2020

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A New Series

Hey friends, I've started a new project! It's a series called 8x8x8 Faces. Each artwork is soft pastel, they are 8x8 inches square and take about 8 hours to complete.

If you'd like to participate in my new series, it's $100 per face and you provide the photo reference.

Need ideas?
Turn that senior photo into a work of art!
Send me a favorite photo of your child and I'll turn it into something to cherish!
Turn your boring business pic into something worth sharing.
Go here for 7 Tips: How to Choose a Reference Photo

Face 1

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Work in progress
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Face 1 complete

Face 2

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Work in progress
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Face 2 complete

Face 3

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Work in progress
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Face 3 complete
If you'd like to keep up to date with this series of artwork, follow me on Facebook and Instagram @marypowdesigns
Go here to participate!
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I Could Have Done More

8/3/2020

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I keep them in my bathroom.

​For most of the summer there it is: a mason jar filled milkweed. Caterpillars in various stages of their life-cycle, munching away. I have them in my bathroom so I can shut the door - to keep them in - and the cats out. But the door usually gets left open.

I tend to count them whenever I go in the room. Has a new one hatched? Are they all here?

I discover one is missing, and a heaviness settles in my heart. I count and re-count. It's not there.

Several days later, I find a caterpillar on the stairs. Quite a long journey from the bathroom for such a small creature. I gently scoop it up and bring it back to the milkweed. When I set it on a leaf, it curls up. It doesn't move.

Starved to death.
​ 
My heart aches.

I could have done more to prevent this from happening.

The pandemic has put my emotions in stark relief. I feel like I'm not doing enough, not doing the right thing, not trying hard enough...

I don't know what the truth is, but the majority of my caterpillars have become butterflies. 
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Your White Fragility, Cracked

8/2/2020

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Your White Fragility
by Mary Pow
 
Are you fragile –
Will you break?
An ooey gooey egg.
Ooze into a hole,
 
And hide away.
 
Or is it possible –
Perhaps I’m wrong?
Your fist raised high
You find you’re strong.
 
And you uncurl.
 
Your shell is cracked,
You stand up tall.
That precious shell,
The pieces fall.
 
Thank God, they fall.
 
Released from shame,
You say his name
“George Floyd”
Again, “George Floyd”
 
And you move forward.
 
Look at you –
You’re in the street.
That shell is crushed
Beneath your feet.
 
And your eyes open.
 
Silence does harm,
You see. You warn,
“I won’t stay silent.”
You are reborn.
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"Cracked" • 18"x 24" • soft pastel • 2020 • Mary Pow
Cracked is a painting that I completed in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, which happened only a few miles away from my home. While I worked on this painting, I simultaneously wrote the poem Your White Fragility. These two works are entwined.

The poem Your White Fragility, along with the painting Cracked equals a third work entitled Your White Fragility, Cracked. This artwork is intended to be a piece about the promise of change.
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Quarantine Project is Complete

7/24/2020

2 Comments

 
My Art for Social Distancing project - Portrait of a Quarantine - is finished! Thank you to all of you who participated in my quarantine project by submitting photos of your experience during lockdown due to the Coronavirus.

During the past three months I completed 12 paintings for this project, and in the process raised over $600. Half of these funds went to the Emergency Relief Fund for Artists and the other half went to support my studio. I am so grateful for your support during this time.

Portrait of a Quarantine

A MOM'S CARE
QUARANTINE VIEW
PROM-LESS PANDEMIC
LOVE YOU MOST
DOG WALKING DAYS
GRANDPARENTS' FIRST VISIT
TINY TEACHER
STAY HOME AND BAKE BROWNIES
LIVING THE LOCKDOWN
DISTANCE LEARNING
QWIRKLE DURING QUARANTINE
QUARANTINE SCHOOL DAY
Things have been challenging, but ​I hope my project spread a little bit of joy. 
Thank you! 
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2 Comments

New Studio in the Northrup King Building

7/9/2020

 
It's been my long-time dream to have a studio in the historic Northrup King Building. I didn't think it would ever happen. But, when the quarantine drastically prohibited me from working in my own crowded home, I realized the time had come to move...
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The Northrup King Building once housed a seed company. Now it's the largest art complex in Minneapolis! Over 300 artists have spaces in the building.

​You can visit my new studio and gallery!

I will be open to the public for Open Studio Saturdays every Saturday from 12-4pm, starting July 11th.
I'll have original art for sale (both textiles and pastel paintings), as well as note cards, prints, handbags, and more.
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Map & Directions to the Northrup King Building
Studio 195 has an exterior door located at Dock 7. It's easily accessed from the main parking lot. Look for the big red 7. 


Covid-19 safety precautions are in place. Please wear a mask. Hand sanitizer is available inside the door.
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    Mary Pow

    I am an artist and designer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. My specialties are textiles and pastels.

    I also enjoy reflecting on the human condition.

    In my blog, I write about my musings and my art.

    Find my bio 
    here.


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  • Textiles
    • Portfolio
    • Pillows
    • Handbags
    • Textile Belts
    • Available Textile Art
    • Retired >
      • Retired Handbag Styles
      • MinneBites (retired)
  • Soft Pastels
    • Gallery >
      • New Work
      • People - Commissioned Portraits
      • Works in a Series >
        • Lake Nokomis Area
        • Mom's Bouquet Series
        • Social Justice Series
        • Portrait of a Quarantine Series
      • Archive
      • Artist's Collection
    • Limited Edition Prints
    • Commissions
    • Available Pastel Paintings
  • ABOUT
    • Contact
    • Visit the Studio
    • Biography + Artist Statement
    • Awards + Press
  • Events
  • Shop
    • Shop Textile Art
    • Shop Pastel Paintings
    • Shop Prints
    • Shop Note Cards
    • Shop Handbags
    • Shop Turtles