Sausalito Artists @ Work Use High Tech Promotion for High Touch Work
Local Artists Embrace Social Media and QR Codes for 4th Annual Open Studios at ICB Buidling — Labor Day Weekend, September 3, 4 & 5
www.sausalitoartists.com
31 August 2011 – Sausalito, CA: Call it high tech meets high touch. Sausalito Artists @ Work (www.sausalitoartists.com), one of the largest collectives of local artists in Northern California, is embracing cutting edge technology to build relationships – and find customers – for this year’s fourth annual Open Studios, taking place Labor Day Weekend at Marin’s historic ICB Building.
“I am a bit of a technology junky so the idea of incorporating the code into art promotion is very exciting to me,” says artist Sue Averell, an internationally recognized artist and the founder of Sausalito Artists @ Work, celebrating their fourth annual open studios September 3, 4 & 5. “While in Chicago at an art exhibit I discovered the QR Code. In the next several months I will be running ads in a couple of choice publications, and will contain a QR Code that links to a page about my Sausalito Gallery and Studio. The ads will be in distribution for at least a year so to keep it fresh I will be updating the URL to which the code links.”
The QR code is actually a technology that has existed for a while, having been developed in 1994 in Japan where it is widely used , even billboard size. The code has also caught on in many European countries but is just now starting to be used here in the United States. To promote the Sausalito Artists @ Work Labor Day Open Studios, large signs will be place on the outside of the ICB Building and on the studio doors of participating artists. The codes will link to the artists’ websites and social media sites, and also help identify them as members of the collective.
“Technology has made art accessible to everyone and that is a very good thing,” said artist Cynthia J. Duncan, noting that now through the Internet art lovers from around the world can see, appreciate and even buy her work – something unheard of when she became an artist 20 years ago. “Recently, I had someone from Norway remarking on my paintings. I was able to put up a picture on my web site of a client’s living room in Holland, showing one of my paintings and sharing it as though it was just down the road or in my same town.”
Recently, a group from Sausalito Artists @ Work gathered to upgrade their social media skills and learn more about how Facebook, YouTube and Twitter can help them connect with customers.
“Collectors love the story behind the artist and social media is way for artists to tell their story,” said artist Kathleen McMahon, noting that relationships are one of the most important factors in selling art. “Things like Facebook Twitter and Four Square provide artists, who may not necessarily have strengths in marketing and selling their art, a platform to create community and build relationships in a targeted way.”
These advancements in marketing art are no surprise to artists Sherry Miller, long-time member of the ICB group.
“In 1994 I predicted that the Internet would let more people see a Rembrandt painting in Holland in six months than the number of people who had seen the same painting in 500 years,” Miller recalls. “We can easily display and sell paintings online. We can attract people to our paintings online through our blogs, social networking and by commenting on other sites and including a link to our work in the comment. We can invite hundreds of people to our art events with one click. And we can maintain interactive conversations, including images, with our collectors and potential clients. We can also track prices, find galleries, read reviews. These are monumental changes from the art world of 1960 in which I entered.”
Sausalito Artists @ Work are part of “the most artistically vital spot in Sausalito” (Marinscope): the ICB. Born in the spring of 1942, out of the pressing needs of the War effort, the ICB – Industrial Center Building — rapidly became a center of ship building in the district that came to be called “Marinship.”
The last Marinship launching took place 1945. Now, more than 65 years later, the 110,000 square foot ICB is known for launching the careers of artists. Noted for its generous and flexible industrial style spaces, the ICB has become the creative and commercial home to dozens of painters, sculptors, fabric artists, jewelers, photographers, multimedia producers, sound studios – the members of Sausalito Artists @ Work.
“New technologies are just one more color in our palette of reaching clients,” said Averell, noting that the famed Sausalito Arts Festival will be taking place just a short distance away from the ICB. “The Sausalito Arts Festival always features a high caliber of nationally located artists. Our locally-based and tech-savvy Sausalito Artists @ Work collective is a wonderful counterpoint. We’re encouraging arts lovers to visit both.”
Sausalito Artists @ Work is comprised of Mari Aaronsouth, Chris Adessa, Sue Averell, Deborah Bertola, Patti Lorenzi, Cowger Ellen Levine Dodd, Cynthia Duncan, Miriam Ellingson, Frances Galli,, Kristen Garneau, Elizabeth Gorek, Bonnie Himberg, The Artist Hines, Brian Huber, Carol Jacobsen, Walter Kuhlman, Kathleen McMahon, Sherry Miller, Cheryl Rabin, Dani Roach, Anna Noelle Rockwell, Joanne Salz, Darcy J. Sears, Hillary Sloss and Gail Sterling.
The Sausalito Artists @ Work Open Studios has no admission fee and is open to the public. Open studios run Saturday, Sunday & Monday, September 3, 4 & 5, 11am ‘til 6pm. Featured will be paintings, photography, sculpture and fiber art by more than 25 “Sausalito Artists @ Work.” www.sausalitoartists.com
