In the very back of the guidebook, after the worksheets, I have posed a series of questions to reflect on after an engagement. Whether you made a sale or not, this list of questions is worth the entire price of admission to many who have testified to me in person. I have the whole list in this recent post called “Snap out of it!”

But for now, I really want you to think hard about this question: Do YOU know why THEY should buy YOUR Art?

Do you know the real value you have on this planet?

Unlike a purchase of a basic commodity – a bed, a car, a new phone, or whatever – an Art purchase is beyond any other purchase we make. We, as artists, makers, and creatives are not like the rest of the populous.

Whatever your medium and whatever your genre; creating something from a lump of clay or scraps of wood or on paper or canvas is all that I am referring to when I say Art. You might design coloring books or rubber stamps, coffee cups or costume jewelry, or be a highly trained and skilled glassblower – it’s all Art.

I am convinced that there is a part of an Artist’s brain that just thinks differently. I believe Artists see colors differently. We see shapes, shadows, and formations of light where others see nothing at all. We experience moments or ideas that we can’t explain and yet we can get it out in our art. We know we are part of a collective mind attached somehow to a certain unique set of awarenesses and instincts.

Adding to all that, we have a special urgency, a drive to get our Art seen. The concept of a starving artist (which I don’t want you to explore) is testimony to our irrational desire to adapt in whatever way we need to feed our passion to create.

Do you believe in your Art?

Do you know why someone SHOULD give you money and become owners of your creative expressions?

Let’s start a list, shall we?

  1. Because your Art will be a part of their own growth and connectedness with the Artful soul that lives inside them.
  2. You will influence their core and enlighten their thinking about art each time they come into contact with your artful items in their homes and lives.
  3. Because they will feel better about the world for having taken the step and collected Art.
  4. You will be a source of goodness and they will feel happy when they encounter your art in the years ahead.
  5. Because many people want to be a contributor to the world of Art and support Artists.
  6. They want to feel the innate and humbling value of patronage.
  7. It makes them feel that they can become part of a bigger and more important social construct.
  8. They can begin to see themselves as part of a tribe where kind and loving people co-exist and support the finer things in life.
  9. Because YOU will have an immeasurable impact on their lives.
  10. They just plain love ART!

To deny the public an opportunity to own and forever enjoy your art is to say that your voice and vision are not worth sharing.

(Deep Breath) I am an artist. I am responsible for sharing my vision with as many people as possible. Click To Tweet

What other reasons can you come up with? You don’t need to add them to the comments, I just want you to go through the exercise. Really think about what your art can do for others. And then make a list and put in in your guidebook. Read it as you start your next show. Or read it as you start your next piece of art. Think deeply and react lovingly.

It’s Art. It’s important.

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