Constance Scopelitas, Founder & Owner of Constance Art, has been a successful artist for many years. She joins The Savvy Entrepreneur Show to talk about the business of art, and her journey as a visual artist.
Everyone knows it’s a difficult path to make a living as a musician or artist. But it bothers Constance — a lot — that art and music schools and universities continue to crank out graduates, yet never include in their curriculum how to actually start and grow a business around their art.
She shares the story of how she built Constance Art through luck, trial and error, and a lot of hard work. And she offers some valuable pieces of advice for others starting out — things she wishes someone had told her. Listen to hear more about the business of art!
What follows is a loose transcript of her interview. But, if you’d prefer to listen to Constance’s lovely voice telling her story in her own words, you can listen to an on-demand version of the podcast here.
Doris Nagel 0:41
Hey there, folks. Welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur show! We’re broadcasting from the Greater Chicago Milwaukee area.
If you’re an entrepreneur, or small businessperson, or you’re thinking about becoming one, this show is for you.
I’m Doris Nagel, your host for the next hour. I’m a crazy entrepreneur myself. And I love helping other entrepreneurs. I’ve counseled lots of startups and small businesses over the past 30 years, and I’ve started or helped start several different businesses to the savvy entrepreneur show has two goals, to share helpful information and resources, and second to inspire to make your journey as an entrepreneur faster and easier and maybe just a little bit more fun!
To help with that, I have guests every week on the show. And my guest this week is Constance Edwards Scopelitis.
She is the CEO and founder of a business called Constance Art, and she joins me today by phone from Indiana. Constance Art is a full-time visual arts studio. She says 90% of her work is one off. I don’t know if that means one off in terms of artwork or one off in terms of clients, but we’ll find out more in a minute. She says 50% of annual income is generated through oil portraits with clients in the private and corporate sectors.
She has a degree Fine Arts degree from Indiana University. I’m the University of Illinois grad and there’s a huge rivalry so I won’t hold that against you, Constance, I promise! She continued her studies with the legendary American painter, Isabel Bishop, and she did further studies at the Art Students League in New York City. She has been awarded several national and international fellowships and regularly exhibits her work in national and international art fairs, including Art Miami during Basil Week. I haven’t been down there, but I hope to get there soon.
Thanks so much for being on the show today, Constance! Welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur.
Constance Scopelitis
Thank you, Doris.
Doris Nagel
Constance, tell us a little bit more about your business. What kind of art do you do? Who is your target audience? And how do your customers and clients find you?
Constance Scopelitis 3:34
Those are very good questions. I have an unusual business, I would say, for as an artist, in that I live a kind of double life. What I mean by that I was highly trained formally to do portrait art. But this is because my training goes back to the 70s, when figurative art and portrait art was really big in the art world. It’s still respected, don’t get me wrong.
But I established a portrait art business because I had a knack for capturing the likeness of a subject. I really believe that that is a gift. I have definitely practiced and improved it and built upon that skill. But if you find yourself being able to do that, then it launches you to where one positive successful job or commission gets you the next commission.
Doris Nagel 4:43
Because people see it hanging, and they say, “Wow, that’s a great portrait of you! Who did it?”
Constance Scopelitis 4:50
Exactly. So, once I established my portrait art business, I actually travel to people’s homes. And I have a lot of business regionally as well, most of my business would be regionally, but I now travel coast to coast.
I just got back from Florida with a wonderful client. And I do what I call memoir. I ask interview questions and I try to get a sense of how that person views themselves. No matter what I see, a portrait is about what the person, the commissioner, wants to see at the end of a project, right? So commissions are different than just creating art. You create art that comes from within yourself.
That’s the other side of my business. And that’s just been an absolute whirlwind, wonderful side of my life. And I’ll explain that in a minute. But with commission work, you are working for someone, and you must please them. And some artists just can’t take that.
Doris Nagel 6:00
I’ll bet that’s difficult at times, even with portraits. I’m sure there’s times where you see a side of this person….
Constance Scopelitis 6:06
Yes, and they don’t necessarily want me to see it. They don’t want me to reveal that. But I need to reveal it. Because otherwise I can’t really capture the person.
But this sends me off into an interesting tangent. With my formal training, I used to do straight ahead jazz. They would call it portrait art, which means what you see is what you get, it looks like the person
But now that that I’m years into this, I’ve been able to morph my portrait art into a more contemporary style. I paint what I feel like what I see. If you’ll answer my interview questions about where you go when you close your eyes and you daydream, it’s amazing what some people’s answers are.
One recent gentleman said the tennis court. That’s his happy place. How do you romanticize tennis into a portrait, because I also try to have the sensibility that I’m portraying someone in such a way, no matter what I put in there.
For example, in my self-portrait, I have a lightning bolt on my chest. That’s perfect for me, because I have a lot of energy. And I have a lot of lust and passion for life. So I’m a lightning bolt. But waves calm me down, I’m a fire sign. So I added waves at the bottom of a portrait. I’m also a bit of a hippie child. So I have some tie dye and, and flowers and things in there to represent that.
But everybody is individual. And there’s more to a person than just their face. And I’ll also say that beauty is rare. I’m not just doing portraits of beautiful people. Let’s face it, most people are beautiful at 17. And then we start showing the our world experiences in our posture and in the lines on our face.
Which of those does the person want to own? Which ones do they want to cast off? Who wants to keep their double chin? Who would like me to sculpt their jaw line back? It’s really funny and interesting.
Doris Nagel
It sounds like a bit of modern day photoshopping?
Constance Scopelitas
That’s exactly right. Only it’s in this old-world field of oil painting, and then mixed media collaging. I actually collaged a child’s violin bow into the canvas on a recent portrait. You know, to show that the child was just crazy about music and their violin lessons.
Doris Nagel 9:03
So let’s say someone wants to commission a piece of art from you. How does that work? Do they just say, “Hi, I want a piece of art for my living room”?
Constance Scopelitis
Yes!
Doris Nagel
How in the world do you take that and turn it into a piece of art? I mean, at least with a portrait you have a real-life person — someone you can ask questions about, and who is sitting there in front of you. How do you how do you do that?
Constance Scopelitis 9:31
Well, I have a short answer for that. And then another tangent: I am considered — if you have to put me into a genre in the art world — I am considered a narrative figure artist. And what that means is I take people and human stories and put those into a canvas as a narrative, a story. I’m a storyteller. I’m not doing landscapes, for example.
Doris Nagel 10:06
Or abstract art — you know, blotches and things?
Constance Scopelitis 10:15
No. No abstracts, no still lifes, no bowls of fruit. There is a place for that. And I have artist friends who do it, and they are fantastic. But I could not paint a rose. Well, maybe I could learn, but you get the idea. I’ll leave that to them and their expertise. I’m good with drawing the human figure and capturing the likeness of a human.
I’m inspired by the stories of us, by human psychology, even the politics of gender, race and identity. I have so many ideas, there are not enough hours for me to actually execute everything I would like to do.
So, most people commission me to do my paintings. People will come into my studio or into my gallery exhibition, and they will say, “I can picture that in my home. I love the narrative. And I want that I have something like that done for my family, my home.” Commissions are based on people’s desires.
You know, I had a family who lived in California who wanted something about the beautiful vineyard fields of grapes out in Sonoma & Napa Valley because that was a big part of their life. And so theirs was almost a landscape in a way. But it also had a goddess in it, along with Bacchus, the Roman God. And they were in the middle of that, and it worked out to be a really great commission.
I’m considered a contemporary artist at this stage in my life. I get involved in new forms of art and art media. What that means is I’ve actually gotten into hiring teams of young, brilliant computer coders. I’m not going to take the time, at this stage in my life, to go to school for two years and learn how to computer code. So I hire a team to do that with me to make my original artwork.
Let’s say I’ve done a painting, and I want the painting to come to life. I started developing that technique about 12 years ago. When you walk up to one of my paintings, you can touch the surface because it’s on a monitor that’s framed. And you can touch screen and change the way my art looks. It’s a really fascinating, fun, fast-paced, and expensive endeavor.
But that leads me to the business part of art. If you want to be successful as an artist, in my opinion, you must be a risk taker. If you play it safe, and you stay in your genre your entire life…. Because let’s face it, artists in general live to be pretty old. We’re alone and in a calm place much of the time.
Doris Nagel 13:40
I’m guessing that’s probably true of lots of artists – that it’s a profession or a calling that you can do for many years. For example, I went to see the Chicago Symphony a couple of years ago, just before the pandemic, and I was amazed at how old so many of the musicians were. And I’ve been told that’s not atypical. If you’re a flutist, for example, it’s kind of depressing, because there’s two – maybe three — flautists for every for every orchestra company and they are able to play for many, many years.
Constance Scopelitis 14:29
If you’re good, you’re good. But you’re right. What opportunities do younger people have?
Doris Nagel 14:36
Well, it’s a bit of a digression, but I brought it up just to echo your comment for you that a lot of artists can be very productive, and maybe even produce some of their best work later in their later years.
Constance Scopelitis 14:54
I feel like that’s true for me. I feel like I really came into my own in my mid 40s, and then took another big leap in my mid 50s. It’s really been interesting to see the trajectory.
Doris Nagel 15:13
Did you always want to be an artist? And then how did you decide you wanted to make this your business? Lots of people dabble in art – they draw sketches of things and such, but they don’t become professional artists.
Constance Scopelitis 15:30
The cliche quick answer to that is an artist doesn’t choose to be an artist. Art chooses the person. It’s like you realize you’ve got something inside you that needs to be spoken on some platform.
When I first went to college, I thought, “Oh, I’m good at art. I’ve got that. Why don’t I go major in creative writing?” Well, after one semester, I thought, “No, no, no. Get back to what you know, improve, learn, and stick with your passion.”
So it was good that I tried that for a bit. I do enjoy writing, and someday I’ll get some writing down or out of me, but the visual arts are something where I have visions, I dream ideas. I’ve always slept next to a notepad. And in recent years, of course, my iPhone Notepad, where I can make sure I remember a certain idea.
But, it’s not really a choice. And if it’s not a choice, it means it’s an inner drive that helps you create your life. I had to make up literally had to make up my life. I came from a very humble family. My mother was at home, my father went to work, left the house at 7:30 was home by 5:30. It was a paycheck to paycheck family.
And when my parents died, there was not one dime in the bank. And the idea of life insurance and such was not in my upbringing. I’m a whirling dervish. In the middle of the rest of my family members. I’m the only one who did not suffer some kind of depression. Everyone in my family was so lowered. They were chained smokers and coffee drinkers from 7am to 11 at night, and I never fit into that.
Like maybe some children, I asked my parents “Am I adopted?” I just had a different personality. So when I was 14, my parents darkened my bedroom door as a team, which was unusual. And they came to me and said, we think you are a very smart girl. And we think you are college material. But we’re here to give you a heads up that we are not going to be able to help you go to college.
Looking back, I am so I was so thankful that my parents did that. Because at the time I was 14, my parents were 34, and I had three younger siblings all the way down to three years old.
So I went out and got a job the next week — those were in the years where they would hire a 14 year old to be a waitress. I worked 20 hours a week throughout my entire high school years.
I graduated from high school early, went off to college a semester early, thinking I was going to be a writer, went to IU in Bloomington, Indiana, and quickly decided I’m going to I’m going to give this a shot and I’m going to go into fine arts.
At Christmas time of my freshman year, I came home to announce to my parents that I was going to major in Fine Arts. My mother cried. My father was speechless. And then he turned his back and walked away and said, “Well, you’re just gonna starve to death.” Exactly like that.
And it is difficult. It’s so difficult. But here’s the one thing I’ll say. There’s a quote and I I think it was a novelist. But I’m not gonna be able to tell you who it was at the moment. But everybody, yeah, Google it. It might have been john Updike. But anyway, a statement that said, Nothing good comes from a perfect childhood.”
I love that saying, because I had hunger as a child. I had deficits — I didn’t have medical care, I had things that were tough. And so the idea of trying to make a living as an artist, sure, I knew it was going to be hard. And it was, but I wasn’t as afraid of it, because I thought I knew how to live on one chicken for three nights in a row.
Doris Nagel 20:18
After you finished your studies, how did you go about setting up a business and getting started?
Constance Scopelitis 20:35
I was so deliberate and energized by being successful at it, almost proving something that I walked into the downtown in South Bend, Indiana, and I walked into an old warehouse building that had a little general store in the bottom and the whole upstairs was empty. And I just blurted out to the owner, “I’m an artist, I need a studio. If I can fill all the space upstairs with other artists paying rent, would you give me an art studio?” And they said Yes!
So one of the things I learned very early is if you don’t ask, you won’t know if you’re going to get a yes or no. And trust me the biggest part of being a creative person or an artist, musician, the biggest thing is the word “no” all your life. I hear the word “No” a lot. The rejections are rampant, but I just keep going, because the “Yesses” turned out to be pretty darn good. You know, it balances out in the end.
Doris Nagel 21:46
I think that’s a great piece of advice for really anyone who wants to start their own business in general. You will get a lot of “No’s.” It’s not all sunshine and rainbows and unicorns. Yes, there’s a lot of wonderful things about having your own business and doing what you love, but it can be tough.
You know, it’s struck me since we first chatted, when you said in our offline conversation before the show, that really all these people who are artists, musicians, writers, you know, all sorts of creative people actors, are really mostly giggers, right? At least if they are making some money doing it.
There’s obviously a lot of people who work in corporate America or waitressing or whatever, and they do their art on the side as much as they can. But the vast majority are probably gigging. Gigging is a word that irritates me because it sounds sort of like it’s not as important as a real job. But in fact, these people — you and many other artists like you — are self employed small business people. That means you’re running a business. And there are things to think about with that.
And yet, as far as I know, at least in music, there were no courses about the business of music. Things like how do you set up a business to actually make a profit and pay your bills?
Constance Scopelitis 24:12
Yes. And I think the business of music is harder than for visual artists. Most musicians have to be in real time to get door sales, ticket sales. It often doesn’t add up too much and you have to divide it amongst the band. And music platforms have taken away the value of buying a CD.
One of the lucky things about the art field is that there were already business selling platforms established before I ever got out of art school. It was the art fair. That’s where you saw artists set up an outdoor tent, and put up their easels or their fake wall or their temporary walls and hang their works and have people walk by. It is genuinely a great platform.
When I first started showing my work in the 80s, I was able to book myself with commissioned portraits nine months out of the year, just by doing one single one day Art Fair in Indianapolis on the art museum grounds. It was fantastic.
Now, I always had a side gig in the early days, and it was something that still kept my hand in my work. When I got out of art school, my hair was down to my waist, and I looked 16. I had to get my act together! So I cut my hair to my shoulders, and introduced myself as Constance. Even though my family called me Connie, I decided to go by my birth name Constance so I sounded more professional. And I’ve had kept that since I was 21 years old.
Anyway, I taught myself — before there was YouTube — how to do drawings of buildings, by looking at things like elevation and blueprints. And I would go to real estate company offices and say, “I have a few friends who are selling real estate. And I understand you have monthly meetings, sales meetings, where you just get together and talk about your strategies and all that, can I come in and make a presentation?” An the I would pull out a drawing of a house and say, “Wouldn’t it be great if your sales people could present these house drawings at the bank closings as a gift for their business?”
They loved the idea, and said I could come do that. Doris, after that, I had so much work I went almost blind drawing little bricks, they were only eight by 10 inches. I had a Polaroid camera in those days, because I didn’t have enough money to invest in a Nikon yet. And I would go to an address, take a Polaroid picture of a house and take it home to my drawing board and map it all out and draw a drawing.
So that was my gig while I was developing the financially more important work of portrait art.
Doris Nagel 27:33
Constance, we were talking before the show about the fact that universities just don’t prepare artists of any kind to be in business for themselves. Whether it’s art schools, music, schools, writing schools, colleges within general universities, they’re essentially sending out armies of future self-employed business people.
After all, most musicians, writers, actors, and artists of all sorts will be working for themselves or with a couple of others. But they get really no training on how to make money, how to set up a business, or the ins and outs of finding clients, keeping clients, or paying bills.
Ever since you mentioned this topic to me and I started thinking about it, I find it absolutely astounding that there are few – if any – required courses on how to actually set up, market and run a business.
How is that even possible?
Constance Scopelitis 28:37
Can I be perfectly frank about my feelings about art schools these days? I think it’s irresponsible at a minimum and, and perhaps even immoral on a certain level, to be charging young people all this tuition to go through four or five years of school and then put people out on the streets without preparation.
The history that’s behind the model of art school – at least for visual art school – that it is a sin — let’s just use that fun word — a sin for an artist to expect to be anything more than a romantic starving artists living in a garret, presenting their works and looking for the patrons.
It is still embedded in the psyche, especially here in America. In Europe, I believe the artists are a little more lifted up. They’re considered the maestros of their villages. They’re considered the heroes of their neighborhood. If you’re an artist there, you are really looked up to and your neighbors are supporting you, even with small purchases in a miracle happen. Yeah,
Doris Nagel 29:31
It seems like you should do art for art’s sake. But who will pay the bills? Maybe that worked in the Renaissance period in Italy, but ….
Constance Scopelitas 29:42
Oh, it didn’t work even then. Michelangelo starved to death and went mad because the Vatican with all of its money never paid him while he was working all those years on the Sistine Chapel.
Doris Nagel 29:55
I guess most writers and artists and musicians back then had these patrons, right. But how do you find a patron today?
Constance Scopelitas 30:10
The statistics on who’s attending art school these days show that it’s mostly children from wealthy families. And they have the natural patron of their families who are willing to support them as artists. The majority of art students today are coming from wealthy families from abroad from Asia, and American families who are in a position to support that.
Doris Nagel 30:42
So you’re saying that becoming an artist of any kind is becoming almost elitist? If so, where is the art and the theater for the people?
Constance Scopelitas 30:51
Yes, it’s a changing world. My own career has morphed into having table income from portrait art, which is old world, really. If you asked an SEO czar about my website, it’s almost impossible for me not to be mixed in with the photographers, because when you type in the word “portrait,” photography comes up, right? If I put an SEO key words like “fine art” or “oil paintings,” nobody knows what that means. Because you go to a museum to see that, right?
But even that’s a problem, because museums are getting less attendees, too. Some museums — even in my own city — have decided that they need to bring in the masses through some form of entertainment, because it seems as if paintings and sculpture are not enough. That’s been very disturbing for me. I’m probably dating myself with these comments. Because I think if you can’t be quiet for five minutes on a bench and look at a painting, you’re just in another stratosphere.
Doris Nagel 32:15
I agree it’s changed. And I’ll give you an example. When my daughter went to college just a couple years ago, you know, we took a tour. For the engineering, chemistry, and computer science departments, they have these huge new buildings. A huge, brand new campus, sponsored by Intel, and Microsoft and Yahoo, and Google.
I had graduated from that same university in English. And when I showed my daughter the English building, it looked as old and dumpy — actually, it looked worse – as it looked when I was there. Obviously, there’s no corporate money to fund a swanky new English building. I’m guessing that if I went to the art or music buildings, it would be the same. So I’m not sure about the future of liberal or fine arts.
Constance Scopelitas 33:17
In fact, there’s a new trend in art schools, specifically on the East Coast and the West Coast. Back in 1982, I had a chance to go back and get a full-fledged master’s degree in painting. And I really had always thought I would do that some day. That is the one regret I have in my life about my career is that I didn’t quite have the courage to do it, because of the finances.
I thought about it again in 1985. But I did the math to go to a three year program and pay for housing. At the time, I had a newborn infant, and I was a single parent, so I would also have to pay for childcare. All told, I was going to be something like $80,000 in debt. But the starting salary for a college art professor, which is what I thought I was going to do, was $17,000.
I’m pretty good with math, and I got my pencil out. And the ROI, as they say, to pay off that art school debt for a $17,000 a year job was just not there. So that’s when I got an extra boost – I decided then that I’m just gonna go to the next step in launching my career and sticking with it and promoting myself.
I had a few big breaks. In 1999, I got picked up by a major national gallery in Maui, Hawaii. That happened because I had clients in Indiana who had connections. That’s why I want to keep returning to how important it is for a person in the arts to network, network ,network. Keep connected to the clients who are already happy with a painting they have purchased or portrait they’ve commissioned. They’re happy to hear from you.
You ask them, “Is there anyone you can introduce me to that might enjoy my work?” Or, “Is there a gallery you buy art from that you might be able to introduce me to so that they can review my portfolio?” I’ve gotten into quite a few galleries through the connections of a happy client introducing me.
Doris Nagel 36:11
I guess the message is that you have to ask. Some may say no, but you’ll get some “Yesses,” too.
I think this goes back even to the whole university idea of not teaching people how to find business. There’s still this idea that art is supposed to sort of speak for itself, that great works speak for themselves. But that’s totally against what you’re suggesting, which is you need to go out and beat the bushes, and keep beating the bushes.
Constance Scopelitas 36:41
A lot of my peers did go to teach college and were professors. And now that they’re retired, they’re making some really great art. But I didn’t want to wait until I was retired to make my own art. Because if you’re a teacher, that takes up every bit of energy you have, if you’re doing it right. You’re wiped out by the end of the day. Maybe you’re making some art on the weekends, but that’s about it.
If you want to make art your business, you need a singular tunnel vision. You have to keep up on your craft, you have to be really committed, you have to be highly disciplined. If I didn’t have a natural discipline to get up in the morning, put myself together and get out the door and come to a studio, I wouldn’t have get anything done.
And you can’t fake your way through. Making really good art takes time. So there’s no short changing that.
But I want to circle back to that point about art schools and why they don’t teach business and related skills. It’s because art you’re supposed to enter your art training and art learning as a purist. They want to know if you really have ideas that need to be manifested onto some medium.
Not everyone is good at every medium. I got kicked out of ceramics. I was so bad at it that it was funny at the time. Everything I made had air bubbles in it, so it would explode in the kiln and screw up everybody else’s projects. So I wasn’t good at ceramics. But I can draw anything. I can paint anything.
But you’re supposed to be a purist, find your medium, and learn your craft and develop your skills. And the idea of mixing business into it — well, let’s just say that if anybody in my contemporary field listens to this interview, I will get some grief over talking about art as a business. It’s still a complete “no no” in my world.
Doris Nagel 38:54
Maybe that’s controversial, but I’ll throw another statement out there which might also be controversial. I’m going to bet in today’s world that some mediocre artists probably have super successful businesses. They know how to run a business and market themselves and collect money effectively.
And there are probably some phenomenally talented artists can’t market their way out of a paper bag and are suffering because of it. Am I wrong?
Constance Scopelitas 39:27
You are absolutely right. When I go down to participate and show my works at Art Basel week in Art Miami, which is such a respected venue, I feel so so fortunate, and grateful and thankful to my art representative who takes me down there. Just to be there is really just, I mean, I can’t say enough about it.
But when I’m down there, I am stunned sometimes, because some of the art there is absolute “bleep bleep” – completely substandard.
Doris Nagel 40:01
That’s not surprising. There’s another parallel with writing. If you look at the top 10 books on the New York Times bestseller list, there’s a lot of garbage on there.
Constance Scopelitas 40:16
I agree with you. But at least there what sells is on topics that the common man understands. An art audience only buys art based on what they see is what they’re going to get. They don’t want to be challenged in any other way. They just want the beauty of that seascape, and I get that there is a place for that.
Some people just don’t want the symbols and the things that I sneak into my canvases. They ask, “What does that mean? Is that something I’m supposed to be in agreement with?” Some people even get unnerved with those layers. Yes, in contemporary art, there’s more of that. Although if I see one more Warhol knockoff, just shoot me! But people continue to buy it and he is still the top selling dead guy. He and Picasso go back and forth every year as the most popular contemporary artists.
Doris Nagel 41:20
Clearly, you do need to think about art as a business in order to survive, in order to pay your bills. Much less live a comfortable or a very comfortable life.
What are some of the things that you think aspiring artists need to think about before they take the plunge and set up their own business? What are the lessons you’ve learned and advice you’d give them?
Constance Scopelitas 41:52
There are some stairsteps that I can definitely recommend to somebody fresh out of art school. If you want to hang your work in a coffee shop or in a restaurant, go for it, because you need to at least start getting your name and your images out there. But don’t depend on that, because that is considered just wall art. It’s not going to elevate you in any way. But it’s a way to get started.
If there’s an art fair platform you’d like to try, be sue to pick one of the good ones. There are some excellent Art Fair platforms – they’re the ones that you have to be juried into. And that’s a good thing, because it keeps you away from the art fairs where here you have some really strong art, but next to you is the kettle corn popper. And I’m saying that because that happened to me once. And there’s a lot of those kind of art fairs out there.
Doris Nagel 42:46
And craft fairs as well, right?
Constance Scopelitas 42:49
Yeah, try not to go to the craft fairs. Get on the Google machine and find fine art fairs. Now, it costs some money for the booth – it could be $300 or more. And then you have to drive your stuff there. And you have to set up and you have the grueling work of talking to people, and maybe the weather to deal with. But don’t let any of that stop you. Beg, borrow, or steal the booth money and just do it.
Beyond that, I recommend to artists to make sure that you get outside of yourself, get some objectivity. Get someone’s eyeballs that you trust to come look at your work periodically once you’re out of school, and give you advice about whether you are ready to launch,
Because I I’ve got to tell you, I have seen so many artists, even in my big building that I had my studio in, launch too early. And then they’re mortified with embarrassment 10 years later that people have that work hanging on their walls. You’ll walk someplace and find your art in a vintage resale store because it was crap, you know.
So pace yourself, take your time. Launch when you’re truly ready.
Also, archive your work. Take photographs of everything you do and keep a log of when you made the work. Did you sell the work? Who did it sell to? And how much money did it sell for? And where is it located?
I just I don’t know why I knew to do that. But I started doing that at the very onset, I have archives that go back 40 years now. And they’re in every form: slides, transparencies, digital, and photographs — I still have five by seven glossies of some of my work.
Another very important thing: if you want to compete amongst your peers, be in competitions, get grants and fellowships, you must write about your work. If you can’t sit down once a week and practice writing about why you are painting what you’re painting or why are you sculpting a particular subject, and why you are interested in expressing this, then you have no artistic statement. Your artistic statement gives you credibility in the art world who is going to be judging you at a higher level.
Doris Nagel 45:27
So it’s basically an elevator speech for artistis? Venture capitalists always tell startups that they need to practice pitching your business – what you do and why you do it. And this sounds like the same idea.
In terms of marketing, have you found things like trying to get yourself mentioned in in press releases or local business journals, or newspapers helpful?
Constance Scopelitas 46:06
Yes, yes, and yes. What that does is keep your name and your presence in the forefront. It reminds people you’re not dead. I joke, because artists like to be alone doing their thing. I love my isolation because I get a lot done.
But I firmly believe in doing press releases. And I believe in looking for gallery representation in your own city. Conquer your own locality first, and then bust out. There’s never going to be a big enough audience just in your own city or your own state. I did that very successfully for the first 10 years, and then the second 10 years, I started getting represented by galleries. Galleries just started picking me up all over the place. Some of them were successful in selling my work, and some weren’t. But that’s like marketing and selling any product.
In general, you need to create exposure, right? If you can find exposure, then all you need is one good client to walk into your show and become a patron. And then it all becomes a cumulative.
I have taken out magazine ads and probably broken even, so I say take or leave that option. What works best for me is just showing up to things. I will go to the opening gala of the symphony in my city, I will go to other artists’ art shows or to art events. I will go to the Indy 500 race track — you can’t believe where you might pick up a client, just by being there and talking.
And, there is always what I raucously I call the “schmooze and booze trail” that you have to do, that most types of artists need to do. Because if you can engage an audience in you as a person, and then help them understand what your art is, it helps you make a sale of your art. People like to take something home and they hang it in a prominent place in their house, and then be able to tell the story to their neighbor or their families that would come for dinner on Sunday. They’re exited about the piece, but they love the story of the artist as well.
Now, not all artists have enough personality. They’re shy, they’re way too introverted. And for those artists, they need to be extra diligent about reaching out for help to get gallery representation where the gallery takes that on for you.
I happen to be able to self-represent pretty well. And the galleries that I have shown the most artwork in over the last 25 years have been run and owned by women. Those have been my most successful galleries.
Doris Nagel 48:54
Are there an increasing number of galleries owned and run by women?
Constance Scopelitas 49:00
Unfortunately, no. The arts are so difficult, Doris. Art galleries open, they close, they stay open for a while, and then something comes along and they all close. And then some of them rebirth themselves? Oh goodness, you have to be just as hardy to be a gallery owner as an artist.
Doris Nagel 49:20
If listeners are interested in learning more about your art or finding more out about your portfolio and the kinds of things you do, what’s the best way for them to reach you?
Constance Scopelitas 49:50
My last name is a bear to spell — it’s a tough one. So that’s why my business and social media is named Constance Art. If you go to my Constance Art Instagram account, it is full of visuals. My website is constanceart.com
I’m also on Facebook. And LinkedIn and Instagram, and I have two websites.
And that is enough. I gotta tell you, as an artist, I’d rather be doing my art. Social media takes hours a week for me that takes me away from my art.
Doris Nagel 50:57
I’m living proof that you can spend your entire day on social media, and if you’re not careful, it’s a rabbit hole that you can disappear down without any pay off. I should probably do a whole show just on that.
Constance Scopelitas 51:10
True. But, at the same time, I got picked up by a gallery in New York during the pandemic because of my social media. So I will never poopoo it again.
Doris Nagel
You just never know. And you also mentioned that you spend time mentoring and helping others. And so, I’m sure if listeners are struggling as artists and maybe looking for some advice, you’re open to connecting as well,?
Constance Scopelitas
Absolutely. They can email me, or they can go to my website and they’ll see my contact info there. website. Yeah. Try it. If you do ask. Yes
Doris Nagel
Constance, it’s been a delight talking to you. I feel like I could talk with you for hours. Thank you again for joining me today. It’s just been a delight getting to know you and hearing a little bit about your world.
Constance Scopelitas
Thank you, Doris, too.
Doris Nagel 53:00
We have just a couple of minutes before we wrap up. I want to pass along a really good book recommendation. I just finished reading Simon Sinek’s “Leaders Eat Last” — its definitely a worthwhile read.
Simon Sinek, for those of you who maybe have been living under a rock or in a cave or something, is a very charismatic and articulate motivational speaker. He has a real knack for getting to the nub of things. I still think his best book is “Start with Why.” I think that is a must read for any entrepreneur.
But “Leaders Eat Last” is interesting because the subtitle is: “Why some teams fail and others succeed,” linking together that great teams start with great leadership. And you need teams to really function to make your company hum along. But it’s really difficult for that to happen unless you provide the leadership and support. In this book, he focuses on the military as an example of leadership and how that trickles down to the team. But the lessons are absolutely applicable in small businesses and large businesses too.
It’s a worthwhile book, pick it up when you get a chance. Actually, I recommend almost anything Simon Sinek has done. He’s got several TED Talks out there, several books, and he is truly a great read. He’s just very insightful.
Again, a special shout out and thank you to Constance Scopelitas, the founder of Constance Art, talking about the business of art.
Thanks for listening! You can find more helpful information and resources for small businesses on my website, www.globalocityservices.com.
My door is always open for comments, suggestions, questions, or just to shoot the breeze, email me at dnagel@lakesradio.org. I promise I’ll respond.
Be sure to join me again next Saturday at 11am Central noon Eastern.
But until then, I’m Doris Nagel, wishing you happy entrepreneuring!
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