The Price of Art

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Last July we rented a booth at the Blue Ridge Arts and Crafts "Freedom Festival" show over the July 4th weekend. [We do this show every year.] A lady was admiring one of my matted prints priced at $85.00. She asked me, "Can you do better on this price?" My answer is the subject of this posting.

"Yes, I can do better. How about $125.00? Or even better than that, how about $170.00?"

My art is a travelogue, a diary or journal, a photographic record of the places I visit, the people with whom I meet, chat, get to know and love. The images I print and offer for sale are a documentation of my life; and my life has value.
It has long been a contention of mine that artists (including myself) often fail to adequately account for the value of their time when they are deciding upon the price of their artworks.
It has been my experience that when I raise my prices, my unit sales go up.
I'm looking forward to see what this year brings, a year that has begun with a general fear in the population of recession. Reminds me of when Johnny Carson started a nation wide shortage of toilet paper!
Stay tuned.........