"Tourist Season" ended this weekend, here in our small town.
Of course, it wasn't exactly that sudden, but most locals consider the final major event of the summer-- our annual Film Festival-- to mark the end of the busy period where most of our businesses are supported by visitor dollars.
It was a tough season for the art business, this year.
"Windup Kitten" original watercolor by Braden Duncan
We saw two long term art galleries in down close their doors, and the spaces they vacated remain unleased. I'm not sure whether the number of visitors was down from past years, but we definitely noticed that our average sale dropped to a new low for the "season."
Overcoming Seasonality
Before we took over this gallery from its previous proprietor, we were already well aware that business was going to be very seasonal around here.
That was something I was already familiar with, having gone to many outdoor arts and crafts shows at festivals and fairs. Come the end of September, we'd be pretty much done for the year. Quite a few active artists are familiar with that pattern...
So far, our primary focus for offsetting seasonality has been to build our online sales presence, especially in the areas of "artsy-gifty" items-- that way, we will be less dependent on people actually walking in through the front door. So far, that has been moderately successful, although art is not always easy to present online.
BLOGGING About Art?
Sunbathed Daisy
We also created this Steemit account with an eye towards slowly building a secondary (or tertiary) income stream from an art-focused blog... hopefully in conjunction with helping out artists on Steemit by following, promoting and upvoting their work.
Granted, this part of the plan remains in its infancy... and our current four cent upvote isn't much to write home about-- yet. But hopefully that will get better, too, as we get more active with this project and become more involved with some of the online communities.
Thoughts on Art and Seasonality? As an artist, do you find you have distinct art "seasons," as far as sales go? Have to done anything to try to even out the flow, or are you OK with seasonality? Leave us a comment!
The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.