© Mark W. Pettigrew
When launching any new business or nonprofit endeavor, one has to give careful thought to the issues of logistics and implementation. Sometimes, financial limitations can hinder even the best ideas. But it's been said that "where there's a will there's a way", and that's particularly true in this age of computers and the Internet.
It used to be that professional visual artists needed to have a fair amount of money just to pay for storage of the works of art which they had created. Either they had to have enough money to buy or lease large and spacious homes or studios, or they had to pay for storage units (preferably with climate control) in which to keep their unsold paintings or prints or drawings.
If they wanted to market their art via the many indoor and outdoor art fairs and festivals throughout the nation, they also had to deal with expenses associated with transporting and displaying their art to and at such fairs and festivals. Such expenses sometimes included large vans or trailers in which to transport their art to such events. Also canopies to set up on the sidewalks while selling their art.
That's still true with regard to people who work with traditional art mediums such as oil paint and canvas. But digital art offers a much smarter option, because physical prints don't have to be created until after they've been bought and paid for, at which point they can be immediately and directly shipped to the folks who have bought them, even if one buyer lives in one part of the world and another buyer lives thousands of miles away from the first buyer. Instead of sitting beneath a canopy on a hot day, interacting with potential customers, artists can be actively engaged in the creation of new works of art. It's arguable that expanding the amount of time artists have for making actual art (and not marketing it) potentially expands the overall amount of high quality in the world.
Companies such as CafePress.com and Zazzle.com offer services for various art-related products, and they rely totally on this "made to order" model of doing business. Neither of those companies could be considered to be creators of fine art products; but then again, neither could most publishers of greeting cards, and there's plenty of good money to be made by publishers of such cards, some of which can still be quite beautiful.
Also, there are now many printing services which similarly offer made-on-demand fine art prints on archival canvas, watercolor paper, photo paper and similar materials.
An added advantage of the digital option, insofar as the artists themselves are concerned, is that they're still free to sell the original paintings or drawings or pieces of sculpture on which the digital prints are based, in local brick-and-mortar galleries. If they still want to participate in art fairs and festivals, and if they can afford the expenses associated with doing so, they are certainly free to do so. It doesn't have to be an "either/or" situation.
Therefore, the digital option has significantly expanded artists' opportunities to make money from their art, and it's made it possible to offer those works of art to more people, some of whom might not be able to afford to buy the original works of art.
In some cases, depending on how the original works of art were created in the first place, the quality of the digital prints can actually surpass the quality and archival stability of the originals! Images made with pastels and oil pastels, for instance, can be very susceptible to smudging, unless they're treated with fixatives (which can sometimes alter the colors in ways which displease artists). Watercolor paintings can fade very quickly, if displayed in direct sunlight. But if they've been digitized first, it's a simple matter to make a new print from the digital file (after making any color corrections which may be necessary). Such digital prints are likely to last more than 100 years without any noticeable fading of the colors, which is more than one can say for some fine art materials which can be purchased at art supply stores.
Since the archival stability of the inks used in one's printer is pretty much the limiting factor, it doesn't much matter how the original image was created, provided that the printer is capable of adequately representing the colors in the original. Children's crayons and artists' oil paints are now on an equal footing, with respect to the issue of archival stability at any rate. Of course, each medium has its own unique look, so there may arguably be a good reason to choose the artists' oils over the crayons despite their significantly higher cost. But I find it interesting that children's art which might once have been discarded as trash can now be made into salable fine art prints, if one so desires.
Of course, if the art was created with digital tools such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter, the distinction between original art and reproductions becomes somewhat meaningless, unless the artist deliberately chooses to limit the total number of prints which will be produced, out of an effort to boost the perceived value and prestige of each individual print. Some digital artists choose to produce such "limited editions", while others prefer to sell their images in the form of less expensive "open editions" so that the current state of the economy is the primary limit in terms of how many people can afford to buy their art.
Some artists take a mixed approach, in which both types of prints are offered. For example, an artist might sell 4x6 and 8x12 prints in the form of unsigned open editions, while selling larger and more expensive versions of that same image in the form of hand-signed limited editions.
Because of my extremely limited budget, it would not currently be feasible for me to produce or store a significant number of high quality prints in advance of selling those prints. However, I have access to a significant number of graphic service companies which can create professional quality digital prints on an on-demand (made-to-order) basis. Such companies can then ship those products directly to the customers who buy them from me.
Naturally, such companies charge money for their services and for the related materials, so those costs must be considered when pricing the finished products. Similarly, the artists themselves should be properly remunerated in one way or another. But that's no different from any other business. No business is 100% profit, and the same principle is applicable to fund raising projects for nonprofit projects and causes. Logically, operating costs must be covered before any additional proceeds can be donated to worthy causes.
When it comes to the question of which graphic service company I ought to work with, in order to create salable products from my digital files, I'm constantly on the lookout for such companies. There are a lot of good options from which to choose.
One such facility, operated by the man who owns Gallery West in the Fairhaven neighborhood in Bellingham, is located just a few blocks from Hillcrest Chapel, where I attend church. Anyone who doubts the quality of their digital prints should visit Gallery West, in order to view the lovely (and very large) prints made from the owner's own landscape photographs of photos of nearby attractions such as Mt. Shuksan. Gallery West is a very classy art gallery, and the digital prints sold there reflect the owner's commitment to high quality.
What makes things even nicer from my perspective is that Gallery West even offers framing services in relation to the giclee prints made there. (They seem to be very nice frames.) So I have the option of selling prints both made and framed there, based on the files which I submit to them. Naturally, that should help to reduce turnaround time, from the time when such products are ordered to the time when those products are received.
Of course, I can also sell such digital prints in unframed format, if buyers prefer.
Here's how I hope to work with Gallery West, in relation to the Artistic Rescue Project: When I receive an order for any product promoted and advertised via this blog or another similar option (such as an order form sent to me by a person working as a field rep in exchange for sales commissions), I will take the related digital file to Gallery West, with printing and framing instructions. When informed that my order is ready, I will visit that gallery in order to view the finished (and possibly framed) digital print, in order to assure myself that it exhibits a level of quality which is up to my standards. I will then ship the product to the customer who has ordered and paid for it, or I will instruct the owner of Gallery West to do so on my behalf.
This workflow will make it feasible for me to sell fine art prints, for fund raising purposes, without the hassles and expenses associated with production and display and storage of individual products which have not yet been sold. This overall approach represents fiscal prudence, as I see it, because it doesn't require that I raise enormous amounts of capital in order to conduct business. Of course, it does require that I create a method of efficiently and safely conducting sales transactions with my customers over the Internet (unless it utilizes an alternate option for financial transactions), but I've already investigated many viable e-commerce options.
In the short term, I may have to resort to the distribution of PDF order forms, which buyers can mail to me with their payments in the form of checks or money orders. Down the road, though, I plan to have a full e-commerce site, complete with a shopping cart. (I'm already a customer of Chase bank, and they recently started offering an Instant Storefront shopping cart option, which would be especially convenient for me since payments could be instantly deposited into my Chase business bank account.)
I should mention that over the years, I've created an extensive database of photo labs and giclee printing companies (such as the Color Group in Seattle), so Gallery West isn't my only option insofar as the aforementioned scenario is concerned. The main reason I'm currently considering working with Gallery West is that I really like the quality of the prints I've seen there, and I like the idea of working with a local company so that I can regularly deal with them face to face, to assure my buyers of the highest quality (even if orders have to be reprinted in order to correct printing defects).
Of course, this business model will require that all of the artists working with the Artistic Rescue Project present me with high resolution, high quality digital files based on their paintings, photos and/or other types of visual art. But that shouldn't be hard to find. These days, any artist who hasn't yet created such files based on his or her art had best start doing so now, if he or she wishes to remain competitive with the many, many artists who have begun to take advantage of all of the advantages digital technology has to offer.
When I moved to Bellingham late in 2010, I was pleased to discover that the town had a very active artists' community. So I'm convinced that I'm currently living in a very good place, in terms of finding talented visual artists who may be willing to work with me in mutually beneficial relationships pertaining to the Artistic Rescue Project.
Also, I'm not limited to the local scene, when it comes to locating such artists. I may also use the resources at Professional Artist magazine to locate additional artists with whom to work.
In some cases, I may also acquire high quality images by buying "extended licenses" from sites such as iStockPhoto.com and Veer.com, so that I can acquire additional high quality images with which to expand the range of products being sold by the Artistic Rescue Project. These will help to compensate for the fact that my current catalog of original photos focuses a lot more on some types of images (such as flowers and gardens) than on others. My personal goal, of course, is to continue to create original photos and works of art in order to expand my own catalog; but in the meantime, I can raise additional funds by properly compensating other visual artists for their creative contributions to this project.
The main consideration, with regard to this option, is that extended licenses from these sites are generally more expensive than the basic licenses they sell. So I can't go hog wild when adding new images to my catalog of printable images.
