Self-promotion as an art form
I was privileged a few weeks back to have been the guest speaker at the
Maine Media Women’s monthly chapter meeting in Rockland. I was
invited to speak about the art of self-promotion. I thought I would
share with the rest of you some of the points I usually make at such
a talk. This discussion could apply to promoting anything you do...just
change a few of the words.
I don’t think I ever really meant to become someone noted for his
ability to promote art, but that is what has happened. I am asked to speak
on the subject occasionally now and I really don’t have a lot to
share about it. It takes only a few minutes to explain how I make people
aware of my art form.
What I have done from the beginning and up to this point is to simply keep
a day planner, a book with the days of the week laid out for you in a blank,
black and white format. I then make entries in this book of not only appointments
and such, but actions I should take that may bring notice to my art. Some
of these entries are ridiculous or outlandish, but I enter them anyway.
It may take a day or two to finalize a decision about an action on them,
but it has at least been entered in the book.
Some of my entries from the past that come to mind: Find out who is the
arts editor for The Wall Street Journal and give them a call and tell them
about what it is that I do. Send them a postcard or a small introductory
portfolio. Write a thank you note to so-and-so for the advice on how to
improve the presentation of your art. Write and ask if you could be featured
on the Today Show. Let your senator and representative know about your
art form and what that could mean to the state.
That’s basically all I do to promote my art. The hard part for me
is that I am just not wired that way. I don’t like to sell things
to people. I want folks to just want my art and come get it.
This is the point at which many artists fall down, in my opinion. They
want their art to be seen by people, yet they’re not able by dint
of their artistic personality to promote it. Then there are those artists
to who seem to want solely to create and don’t care about anything
else but the creating and have no desire whatsoever to promote their work
nor care if their art is ever seen. I am not talking about those people
here.
There are also exceptions to the need to promote...early discovery, uniqueness
of form, attention from the right source, famous relatives pushing for
you, flukes, etc.
What I am addressing is the ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill artist
who is just trying to pay a mortgage and feed his family. I guess I’m
just talking about myself.
Not everyone is going to like your art. You wouldn’t expect the Andy
Warhol Museum to call and ask you to exhibit your Canadian seascape collection,
would you? ...Really? ...Why not? Of course they’re not going to
call you, but you could call them and ask if they were interested. If they
said no, you could call them again in half a year and ask someone else
who works there. If you were to contact 50 venues, one or two would take
an interest in your work. It may take them a while to do anything about
it. They may never do anything about it, but in the meantime, you’ve
made contact with another 50 venues...and 50 more after that. How’s
that saying about having irons in the fire go?
I’m not trying to instill fervor or self-realization. What I am saying
is that your art most likely will not walk itself out of your studio and
into the public eye. I am saying that certain promotional things might
be obvious if we but look for them. I am saying that you could perhaps
find some point of uniqueness about your art, pick up the phone and tell
someone who might care about it.
I wrote a poem and sent it to Billy Collins, then Poet Laureate of the
United States. It was written on stationery that had my letterhead on it
with my Web page address. I got a letter back from him directly that read,
in toto, “Thank you for your letter and your poem. I am in awe over
your ability to transform the lowly styrofoam cup into art. Keep up the
amazing work.” That was it...amazed by the art, but not apparently
impressed with the poetry. The lesson here, who knows if there is one?
He may be at a reception with the ambassador to Bali one day and the subject
of art may come up and I’ve taken another small step forward. I also
continue to write my poetry. We do, after all, have a new Poet Laureate
as of a short while back.
J. Jules Vitali is a sculptor, columnist, inadvertent moral philosopher
and poet who resides in Freeport, Maine. He is the creator of the art form
StyrogamiTM
which can be seen on the web at www.styrogami.com. His work can be seen at the
Northport Landing Gallery in Northport. There is an article about Styrogami in
the April issue of Yankee Magazine and his work was recently discussed on Public
Radio International’s “Brain Brew.” He is also an Artist in
Cellophane (www.artomat.org).