​My appreciation, love and joy for art started early. My parents, both avid art collectors, exposed me to paintings, drawings, and classical sculpture at a very young age. Toting me and my sister along to galleries, antique stores, and art museums. Little did I know that this early exposure to the arts, would be what I needed to breathe the life back into me later on in my life.

To review, wholesaling is when artists sell their original works at a reduced price to retailers, who market and sell them to the public at a marked up, retail price.  This process—in theory—allows artists to focus primarily on the making of their art while leaving much of the selling side of things to the retailers.
 
As we mentioned last week, the key to wholesaling is producing multiples of your artwork. You must find a way to create your product in bulk, in a lean and cost-efficient way, that allows you to sell in greater volume to the wholesaler at a lower price. If you aren't willing or able to mass produce your work, wholesaling is probably not for you.
 
ADVANTAGES OF WHOLESALING – they are big!
 
For many artists, the primary advantage of wholesaling is the time that is freed up for you—the maker—to concentrate on what you love most: creating and being an artist, not a marketer or salesperson of your own work. There is, however, no way around some degree of recordkeeping.  You will still have to keep track of your sales volumes and stay on top of delivery deadlines, but the day-to-day process can be much more focused on being an artist instead of a business-person.
 
Another huge advantage of wholesaling, when done correctly, is that this process can provide a consistent stream of revenue for the artist. Particularly if you garner repeat customers—those who want to continue to buy from you on a regular basis—this can mean a steady business for the foreseeable future.
 
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Each week we issue a new installment of our Q&A chat with each of our featured Grotto Gallery artists for the "Escape the Madness" exhibit which runs through January 12th.

This is our 14th Installment in the series, and today, we talk with Michelle Startzman, from Phoenix, Arizona.

You can also learn more about Michelle in an earlier installment here:  Meet Michelle Startzman.
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Greetings. Each week we issue a new installment of our Q&A chat with each of our featured Grotto Gallery artists for the "Escape the Madness" exhibit which runs through January 12th.

This is our 13th Installment in the series, and today, we talk to Marty Orosz, from Prescott Valley, Arizona.

You can also learn more about Marty in an earlier installment here:  Meet Marty Orosz.
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Welcome back!  Every week we issue a new installment of our Q&A chat with each of our featured Grotto Gallery artists for the "Escape the Madness" exhibit which runs through January 12th.

This is our 13th Installment in the series, and we are talking with Jules Gissler from Phoenix, Arizona.  You can also learn more about Jules in an earlier installment here:  Meet Jules Gissler.
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​Hello again!  Every week we issue a new installment of our Q&A chat with each of our featured Grotto Gallery artists for the "Escape the Madness" exhibit which runs through January 12th.

This is our 12th Installment in the series, and today, we talk to Lydia Quinones, from Phoenix, Arizona.  And we've added a little Bonus Fun-Fact to this one - scroll down to find out!

You can also learn more about Lydia in an earlier installment here:  Meet Lydia Quinones.
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Welcome back!  Every week we issue a new installment of our Q&A chat with each of our featured Grotto Gallery artists for the "Escape the Madness" exhibit which runs through January 12th.

This is our 11th Installment in the series, and today, we talk to Steph Peters, from Mesa, Arizona.

You can also learn more about Steph in an earlier installment here:  Meet Steph Peters.

This year we've been focusing on topics around revenue generation for makers and artisans.  Early in the year we started with a series on Branding, then Retail Markets & Shows, and then E-Commerce.  This quarter we want to shift to Wholesale concepts.
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In the next few weeks we'll be exploring wholesaling as an artist or maker—what it is, how it works, what the advantages and disadvantages are, and how, if you decide to pursue a wholesale plan, to set prices that fairly and consistently reflect the value of your work and product.
 

In this Article:

• What is wholesale?
• Key ingredients to success
• The gap between art & mass production
• Tricks to reduce your production time
• Pricing basics
• ​Sell More, Market Less

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​Welcome back!  We are excited to share a little Q&A fun with each of our featured Grotto Gallery artists for the "Escape the Madness" exhibit which runs through January 12th.

Each week we will be releasing a new installment - and today, we talk to Erica Montgomery, from Phoenix and Tucson Arizona.

You can also learn more about Erica in an earlier installment here:  Meet Erica Montgomery.

We are excited to share a little Q&A fun with each of our featured Grotto Gallery artists for the "Escape the Madness" exhibit which runs through January 12th.

Each week we will be releasing a new installment - and today, we talk to Brian Lensink, from Phoenix Arizona.

You can also learn more about Brian in an earlier installment here:  Meet Brian Lensink.