Posts Tagged ‘Inspiration’

Art Entrepreneurship: Showing you Care

January 4th, 2010

What status is art at this time? Is it being held in high regard throughout the country? Is it as important as it should be? Art entrepreneurship is a lucrative business proposition for the artist and the business person. But, where do you take it? Where can it go? The wave of the future is in art workshop centers and you can take it virtually anywhere.

When times get tough throughout the world, people are in distress over wars, hurricanes, destruction and chaos. What do they turn to for their relief? Art is always the answer. Whether an artist composes a song, writes a book or paints a painting, artistic expression is the balm that soothes all ailments. As an entrepreneur, you can care and you can show that you care. An art workshop center is exactly what your community needs.

The art workshop itself is a great way to get people together. They can have a place to express themselves and their concerns. If you have never thought of art as therapeutic, you have missed the point. Art can be an escape from the world around us. It can be the medium by which we resolve issues. It can be the rest and relaxation we need in our otherwise stressful lives. And people have a chance to connect to other people on the same page at an art workshop.

The art workshop center is the place they can go. Of course, they can do their art at home and most likely will. But, they also have a place where they can come and have a cup of coffee, look around at what others are doing and get some inspiration. Inspiration sparks hope in hard times and your art workshop center should be full of inspiration. Your art work, your artist’s artwork, your students’ artworks and artwork of great artists throughout history all should adorn the walls as a way of helping artists to focus, get inspired and launch into their own self-exploration.

This is your pitch. It may sound harsh. But, it’s true. We’ve already explored pitching art to parents because schools are failing them miserably. “The Great Art Pitch: Educate the Parents on the Benefits of Art” discussed giving parents the solution to the failing situation of the schools. But, as well know you don’t have to pitch your art workshop center just one way.

You can also put out the idea that your art workshop is better than therapy. It is better than anti-depressants. Activity keeps people hopeful. Give someone something to do that is both creative and fun. You have just made their life much better in so many ways you can’t even imagine them all.

Get your art out into the community and you will not only gain exposure for art, you will gain exposure for your art workshop center. Auctions are a great way to get people together to bid on the artwork that your students have produced. Imagine telling your students that they may make some money from their art. Now, go back to the chalkboard and figure out how many more students you will soon have.

While auctions gain exposure, open houses will as well. Having an art display at your workshop center should be an ongoing project that you maintain as well as promote from time to time. Bring people in to see the art and let them experience how therapeutic it was for your students as they deal with the many issues facing our world, our nation, our community and even ourselves.

The pitch can go on and on and your art workshop can be worked into just about any situation you have the imagination to explore. Art is the answer for many people. Art can be the answer for everyone. You are the entrepreneur and you have to bring people to understand this concept. It’s not enough to say you have an art workshop center. You have to make it come alive!

Choosing Canvas Art

December 16th, 2009

If you are considering purchasing a piece of canvas art either for the home or office, it can be difficult to know where to begin. This article provides details of ideas which may provide you with some inspiration. It is worth selecting the right piece of art for a room, a good choice can result in a stunning focal point and a bad choice can cause people to cringe. Obviously the canvas should reflect your personality but should also compliment the feel of the room.

Choosing the style and subject of your canvas art is important, it is great to be able to choose subjects to suit personal taste but it should be remembered that the subject should be suitable for the space. For example a canvas of organic fruit would be better suited to a kitchen rather than a bedroom.

If the room you are looking for art for already has a theme complementing it with the canvas piece works well. If you often entertain the canvas art chosen can create a great focus to a room and create a feature to get your guests talking. Make the subject of the canvas as interesting as you can, consider getting a photo to canvas which will really get the guests talking.

If the decor of your room consists of bright colours think about getting a retro canvas art which will fit in with the existing scheme well. With hundreds of striking designs available on on-line galleries there is no limit to the choices of art available. Also changing an existing piece of canvas art is a cost effective, quick method of revamping a room without the need for messy paint brushes.

Canvases are normally available in sizes from 10″ to 72″ tall and up to 36″ wide, the bigger the canvas the better although a canvas that is too big will make the space feel cramped and overcrowded. Buying the largest canvas you can afford is not necessarily the right move and there should be a space of 16″ to 24″ around the canvas to keep everything in proportion, a small canvas would be lost in a large space and would look plain silly. A canvas should hang at approximate average eyelevel which is considered to be around the 5ft6 from the ground (this may not be possible for large canvases.

If you have a large wall and are worried about the expense of a very large canvas you can save pounds by choosing between two and four pieces of corresponding art which will cover the same area at a fraction of the cost.

The shape of canvas should enhance the shape of the wall space and room, if in doubt a square canvas is usually a safe bet. A rectangular canvas would be well suited to a long wall and a square canvas to a short wall which helps square off the room. A simple method of transforming a room is to hang a piece of canvas art directly above a fireplace. The secret is to use the measurement of the fireplace and purchase a piece of canvas art to match the proportions. So if your fireplace was 3m wide and 1.5m tall a canvas using this ratio, say 72″ by 36″ would look fantastic.




By: Jenny Austin