PAINTING

From Paintings to Payment

Kasey Wanford is an abstract painter here in the city of Portland, and I had the opportunity to interview her about selling and marketing art with a painting focus. Shared below are some of the highlights.

Due to the nature of a phone interview, some words may have been garbled or incomprehensible after recording. These sections will be marked with any variety of a question mark within brackets [???].

Emma Sewell: So, I guess we can kick things off! Would you like to introduce yourself and give a general summary of what you do?

Kasey Wanford: Sure! Yeah, I’m Kasey Wanford, I’m a friend of your mom’s, and I am an abstract painter. What else do you wanna know?

Emma: So, with the whole abstract painting thing, that actually gets me really curious, ‘cause I know I don’t explore a lot of abstract work in my own work, but what actually drew you into abstract painting?

Kasey: I always kind of liked it. I mean, there’s a spectrum on abstract painting. There’s some that you’re like “What the heck?”; it’s like splatter art, right? But then you see some that you’re just like blown away by, and you don’t know why. You can’t explain it in words, how it makes you feel, but I was always fascinated with how you can stare at something that’s not representational; you know it’s not a thing, it’s not identifiable, and yet still feel something.

Kasey: I didn’t think I was an abstract artist. You know, for years I didn’t think I was an artist; I just thought I was art-y, kinda crafty. I like to look at art and was fascinated by color…but then when I started painting as a hobby, I started painting landscapes mostly. My grandmother was a landscape artist; she used oils and she painted beautiful pictures of the countryside in Utah. So, I always had her as an influence on how to be an artist. I was painting landscapes like my grandmother, but then after a while I got bored with that, and I realized that I love landscapes, [but] it’s not my favorite art. My favorite art is contemporary; it’s modern, and why not paint the kind of art that I would want to have in my house?

Kasey: I started kinda just playing with the idea of abstract without really knowing how to do it. Some of my landscapes started becoming a little more modern with geometric patterns in them, and then I was like “Oh that’s cool, I like that!”. I started doing more of that kind of thing, and then eventually I just went full modern/abstract; I haven’t looked back since! Actually, this week, I’m working on a landscape.

Emma: Hell yeah! It’s all going back full circle. It’s really funny that you mention too that you have an actual history with landscapes before you got into more contemporary work. I remember last semester I ended up learning more about all the movements of [design], and seeing that transition from landscapes to abstract work as well in the early 20th century again proves that time is a circle.

Kasey: Right, yeah!

Emma: Totally, I love that parallel. Well, first of all, [I’m] very sorry that I couldn’t make it to your recent showing because I know you got a new piece in that gallery that you went to.

Kasey: Yeah, that was a fun night.

Emma: I totally missed out! I was actually curious: I personally have very little experience with galleries and trying to show off my work in galleries. So, I’m curious about how you’ve found or made those opportunities happen for yourself.

Kasey: Well, it’s a work in progress.

Emma: Totally.

Kasey: I don’t really know the answer to that. For that particular gallery, they had an open call, and the Ford Gallery is run by a great fellow female artist who actively promotes emerging local artists.That particular show was a female-only show, so that was really nice that she was curating the show just for local women artists. So, that was pretty cool, and I’ve been in another group show at that gallery just for abstracts, and that was also fun.

Kasey: So, how do you get into galleries? Well, you don’t [cloak?] call them, or corner them and say “Would you look at my work?” From what I hear, it’s more of a gradual relationship building, so you go to lots of their events, and you meet other artists who might be showing there. Eventually, they get used to seeing you around. You know, I think it’s all about relationship building and networking. I know you can submit to galleries if they’re asking for submissions and I’ve done that. It’s basically putting a PDF catalog together of your work, attaching it to an email, introducing yourself in the email, and I have not done that yet but that’s on my to-do list.

Emma: Yeah, you’ll make it happen eventually! I kind of love that description, because I think I’ve heard similar methods. Again, you go to the events that you want to go to for things that you’re interested in, and eventually they do get used to you, kind of like how you introduce a person to a cat.

Kasey: Exactly. You approach them slowly!

Emma: Honestly, that’s a pretty solid way to go about using because I will be honest: I’m not the best networking person myself. You saw me at that show; I was kinda just standing there like “These are people around me.”

Kasey: I don’t love crowds; usually I’d much rather go home than stay out at night, but there’s another thing to talk about galleries. You can be an artist without being in a gallery. Some people say it’s better that way because galleries take 50% of any sales; if you’re able to market yourself and spend the time doing that, then that’s another way to go. I think being hybrid would be ideal; I’d love for someone to take on more [???] responsibility in sales, so I can spend more time painting, and then I wouldn’t mind giving them 50% to do that.

Emma: That’s so real.

Kasey: Again, it’s different now with social media and websites; you don’t have to rely on a gallery as your distribution channel anymore.

Emma: Yeah, I’ve noticed that where artists kind of have to take on a lot of different hats just to even get their art over there at this rate. Your point about hybrid art selling actually transitions perfectly into my next question. So, as far as I’ve heard, I’ve heard you’ve been getting into independent art selling, which is very exciting outside of galleries and getting people to market your art. What has that experience been like for you so far?

Kasey: So I’ve had that [a website] for a while now; I have an e-commerce website where people can look at my art and, if they want, buy it directly, and I ship it directly from my house. Then, I’m also doing summer art fairs where I pitch my marked tent, bring some art out, and along with like a hundred other artists we all hang out in the sun, enjoy the day, maybe get some sales!

Emma: Exactly, like, just stick the fishing reel out and literally just wait.

Kasey: What I’ve noticed is that, if they’re going to invest in some original art which is usually going to be more expensive, they want to meet the artist and they want to have a conversation with the artist, you know, talk about the art, and see the art in-person. E-commerce is just one of [the] great ways to sell art. It seems more effective to do it in-person, I’ve found.

Emma: I know a lot of people have found success, especially digital illustrators like myself; [they] definitely find comfort in selling at conventions and things like that. That’s something I’m going to look into, so I can sneak my way into that avenue.

Kasey: Those things have a lot of people.

Emma: True, a lot of people! I guess that leads into my final question; this is more general. After talking about how you’ve shared and promoted and sold your art, what do you think would have helped you when you were first attempting to sell your work?

Kasey: When I first started, it was on Etsy for six months and I didn’t see a lot happening with that. I just wanted to be an Etsy artist; I wanted to make art, throw it online, sell it, and keep making art. I didn’t realize when I was first starting out how much marketing and behind the scenes to sell the work would be. I would say it’s 50% of your time, sometimes more than that. For me, art is a job, it’s my career, and it’s only part-time because I have a family too, so I’m spending at least 50% on the marketing side.

Kasey: I wish I’d known that at the beginning; maybe I would have changed my approach or maybe I would just hit the ground running with the marketing instead of realizing slowly that this was going to dominate so much of my time with the sales and marketing. Just because you build the website doesn’t mean they’ll come. Back in the day, I was in marketing and advertising at the very beginning of the Internet; just having a website was enough. It’s not like that anymore. You really have to work at it to draw people to your website, to make people interested in what you’re doing, and it’s a lot of front-facing on-camera “I want to know about you, the artist, as much as I want to know about your art”. It’s a lot of work.

Emma: I’m trying to be better at social media marketing, but that’s a good reminder that I should definitely be doing that and putting the prep work into it.

Interviews with Professionals

Carla Rossi

Portland Building Installation Space

RACC Grant

Creative Capital Artist Opp Page

Seating Justice

Sou’Wester Residency (best starter residency! Pay residency but you can apply for a free one if qualified)

Caldera Residency

Playa Residency (Jury and Pay)

Sitka Center Residency

State Parks Residencies

Sarah Turner

Precipice Fund

Ford Family Foundation

Oregon Community Foundation

Miller Foundation

OPPORTUNITIES FOR PAINTING MAJORS

Gallery Shows, Commissions, Nonprofits, Museums, Residencies, Fellowships, Teaching Workshops and Classes, Art Festivals, Freelance, Etc.