Art Life Podcast : John Bishop Fine Art: Recent Episodes
John Bishop
The purpose of this podcast is to create a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative company.
I was invited as a guest onto a podcast yesterday and of course, I said yes. If I have learned anything over the years, it's that anytime you have the chance to talk about your art, take it. The podcast is a Houston based production called THNX: A Feelgood Podcast, with host Rand Mintzer. Rand and I chatted for about an hour about everything under the sun, and the whole experience was delightful. The purpose of the interviews is to find people of interest, and ask them about the one person they would like to thank. It's a great concept when you think about it.
I thanked John Ross Palmer, a local painter who has had some international acclaim, and who started a mentorship programs years ago called the Escapist Program. John started a nonprofit that coined the idea of the Escapism movement, with the idea that artists need not be starving, and that there was a way to escape the whole gallery/museum tradition for artistic success.
I believe in my heart that if you survey a great many of the emerging artists in the Houston area, a significant number of those artists would owe John Ross Palmer a thank you too. It was then that I began to realize how important it is to have that sense of gratitude as I continue to build my art business. That same gratitude is a tool that we all should keep close as we meet other artists, collectors, gallerists, journalists, curators, and art critics. And therefore I want to say thank you to you as well. Your support for me and my journey means the world to me. You are greatly appreciated.
Now, let's go paint something!
__________________________
Season 4: Episode 12
__________________________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and he and Bogdan Mihai, are owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founders of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and Bogdan also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
gBogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
I have joined the Professional Artists Association's individualized coaching program. This year-long program focuses on my professional art career, and very specific goals. My coach, Cristina, meets with me virtually via zoom, and monitors my progress, keeps me accountable, and answers questions I have along the way.
With my new coach, I've created a list of five revenue streams that I would like to develop/enhance to strengthen my art business.
- Direct Sales: These are activities like open studio hours, events, art fairs, pop-up shows, and exhibitions. I am referring here to any activity that allows me to sell directly to the public, or my VIP collectors. These sales are great, because I get to keep all the money.
- Commissions: These sales usually mean that I get all of the money, but there is a negotiation here with the client that must be satisfied before the sale is complete. I generally hate this kind of work, because I feel like it stifles my creativity, and there is always the possibility that the deal goes awry.
- Teaching: This is also something I'm not comfortable with yet, but I do know that many artists make the majority of their income from teaching classes. This may take the form of art lessons, business tips, tutorial videos, or webinars. It is helpful to be viewed as a thought leader in our field, and becoming a teacher, or coach, can help to market the other parts of my art business as well. It can build community, and that is hugely impactful over time.
- Online Sales: I know that other artists are able to sell their work online, though it has yet to work for me. We are living in an unprecedented age when a single artist has the ability to market to the entire planet virtually for free. Not developing a strategy for online sales would be a huge mistake, even if it means there are several false starts in creating a system that works.
- Galleries: Being represented by a gallery gives a legitimacy to an artist, and collectors are often more likely to buy from someone they perceive to be an expert in the art market. And if that weren't enough, the galleries have lists of collectors that I don't have.
So there they are, the five revenue streams I hope to develop over the next 12 months as I work my way through the coaching program. The trick now is to develop the right strategies and steps to move me toward achieving success in each of these five areas.
_______________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and he and Bogdan Mihai, are owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founders of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
John shares how he has enrolled in the Professional Artist Association's accelerator program complete with online coursework, webinars, and one on one coaching. It was a significant investment, but one that hopefully will see him into the next phase of his art career. John muses on this new development while painting an abstract piece. You can watch the video podcast at
https://youtu.be/VP1AQjmLlNY or enjoy the audio version wherever you get your podcasts. Hope you enjoy it.
_________________________
Season 4: Episode 10
_________________________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and he and Bogdan Mihai, are owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founders of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and Bogdan also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
An essential tool for sales is to know what needs your product fulfills in potential customers. So if we can apply the same measure to our art businesses, we can better approach what our collectors desire, and understand why they might buy our artwork over another. I've been journaling today, and came up with 6 needs that I believe my art solve for my collectors. What does your art do for the people who buy it?
_____________________
Season 4: Episode 9
_____________________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and he and Bogdan Mihai, are owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founders of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and Bogdan also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
Do you paint for local interest? We recently had people come into the studio looking for artwork that represented Texas. What a missed opportunity! I do nothing that represents where I live, and there are alway people looking to buy artwork that reminds them of a particular trip, or a place where they once lived. While I have no intention of just painting cows and barns, I do think it would be great to have some art that reflects where I live, where I'm from, and what kinds of symbols and images that geography brings to me.
__________________________
Mini Podcast 08/19/2024
__________________________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and partners with Bogdan Mihai, as owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founders of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and Bogdan also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
Spring has sprung, and as John and Bogdan deal with everything from running a new nonprofit to planning for Comicpalooza, the season has meant a flurry of activity and challenges for the art couple. John talks about all of the exciting things going on in their art business, and the opportunity to write a whole new curriculum for teaching other artists about what running an art business can mean.
_______________________
Season 4, Episode 8
________________________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and partners with his husband, Bogdan Mihai, as owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founder of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and his husband also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
There is an inherent flaw as an artist to try to be all things to all people. While it is vital that we experiment, find our style and our voice, and explore where are artistic inspiration leads, how we are perceived by potential collectors can make a huge difference in how seriously we are treated as fine artists. The problem comes then in making choices that either present us as exclusive, high-end, art professionals who command the high prices required for our name and excellence, or do we create stuff that sells so that we can afford to keep the studio open and food on the table. How do we as artists manage to live in both worlds without alienating our collectors or being accused of "selling out"?
______________________
Season 4, Episode 7
______________________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and partners with his husband, Bogdan Mihai, as owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founder of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and his husband also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
After a lot of thought and discussion, we've decided to change how we're branding some of our online content. Up until now, all of Bogdan's and my content lived on my YouTube channel, and while that has been working, it doesn't really present Bogdan in the best light. If there are people who are interested in Bogdan's work more than mine, it may be confusing for them to have to go to my channel to find his content. Conversely, those interested in my art may wonder why so much of the content is focused on Bogdan's work. We've decided to separate our content into John Bishop Fine Art, and Bogdan Foto Art, and to create a new YouTube channel called John & Bogdan to house our shared content.
Now that the new year is off to a good start, and the new nonprofit is up and running, we were able to host our first fundraising Gala celebration on March 1st. John is now creating new work for the Comicpalooza coming in May.
_________________________
Season 4, Episode 6
_________________________
John Bishop Fine Art is an art business run by visual artist John Bishop. John is based in Houston and partners with his husband, Bogdan Mihai, as owners of Buburuza Productions, LLC, and co-founder of the charity Aripa Arte. John is an abstract painter and illustrator, a blogger, a vlogger, podcaster, and creative writer. He has authored several children's zines and books, as well as co authored books on photography, and art business themes. He and his husband also own and manage a company in Romania, and travel often to Eastern Europe. He maintains a studio at Silver Street Studios in Houston. John posts a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. He wants to discuss what he's learning, what he's experienced, and whom he's met in his journey of running a freelance creative business. John's art explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Join the conversation, the community, and share the journey together.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
Well after a year of waiting, the Aripa Arte nonprofit has finally been granted 501(c)3 status by the IRS. That means that we are now a legitimate, tax exempt, public charity and can take donations, apply for grants, get huge discounts, and actually do some good in the world. So exciting.
____________________________
Season 4, Episode 5
____________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
This week's podcast is all about Bogdan's current trip to Romania. He has gone to Bucharest to meet with local artists, interview them, and purchase some of their work to offer context to the inaugural gala of our new nonprofit organization, Aripa Arte. Join John Bishop as he describes what the nonprofit is doing, what it hopes to achieve, and how you might can help make it a success.
__________________________
Season 4, Episode 4
__________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
The new year is already proving difficult, and it's only week three. Between the polar vortex, issues with travel arrangements, and botched deliveries, our beautifully scheduled content calendar is already mixed up. That's ok though, because the beauty in having a detailed plan means that I can mix and match elements until the whole schedule makes sense again. That is exactly what I have been doing all week. We finished our Board Retreat with Aripa Arte (our new nonprofit), planned and realized our monthly open day, hosted a reception for our tenant exhibition at the studio, and got Bogdan off on a plane to Romania... all before the freezing weather stunned south Texas for three days. I literally could not shower for three days.
The exciting news is that our new book, Collecting Art: An Artist's Perspective is out and ready for downloading on my website www.johnbishopfineart.com. We decided to give the book away for free, hoping for an email and a subscription to our monthly newsletter. We have ordered some physical copies as well, and those will be available for sale in the Houston studio. I hope you will take advantage of the gift and give me some feedback on the manuscript. The whole purpose of the book was to create a dialog with our collectors, and build community around our art business. Give it a read.
_______________________________
Season 4, Episode 3
_______________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
The new year has come, and the parties are over. As we turn our gaze to those end-of-the-year duties: catching up with paperwork; closing out annual processes; and looking forward to taxes, reporting, and the goals and objectives that should guide us through the months to come.
Every year we make some sort of trip, away from home and the studio, to give ourselves uninterrupted time to spend on the task. The hope was always to highlight the importance of what we were doing, and to remove the normal distractions from our day to day lives. This year, we stared at the list as though for the first time. I get it, something’s broken.
I get the impression that we’re using the wrong tool somehow. In my career in libraries, some of which were large organizations, we relied on strategic planning, goal setting, and work plans to keep the ship moving in a direction that was effective, reportable, and motivational to the many, many people involved. Is there a chance that we’re just over-managing the process?
I sincerely believe this is where we have been missing the mark. There is a distinction between my goals as an artist, and those of my art business. Those two realms are not mutually exclusive, but they must be approached differently. While someone may become a doctor to fight disease, or a lawyer to fight injustice, one opens a law firm or a medical clinic to earn enough money to make those things possible. If we are trying to earn a living from our creativity, we must distinguish between the business of art, and the art itself. Both can be important.
I need to make a distinction between my artistic life, and my business goals. As I see it, my business breaks down into three main categories; quality; celebrity; and income. If I imagine my goals being built on these three pillars, then I can understand how to formulate meaningful and measurable objectives around quality control, publicity/marketing, and financials. Certainly my “brand” as an artist is intimately tied to me. I am the business. But that branding can be separated from my personal life and reserved for my professional, creative product.
__________________________
Season 4, Episode 2
__________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a abstract visual artist living in Houston, Texas. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
John discusses the new year, and plans he and Bogdan have for the art business this year. Rosa Ana Orlando will be speaking to a group of collectors this week, on what it takes to build, maintain, and ultimately divest yourself of an art collection.
________________________
Season 4, Episode 1
________________________
“Art Life Blog with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
Join John as he talks about their new direction in marketing and public relations for John Bishop Fine Art and Bogdan Foto Art. He discusses his current solo show, Earthen, on display at Silver Street Studios, part of the Sawyer Yards art complex in Houston, Texas. John also muses on the changes he and Bogdan are making in approaching their collectors, and trying to change the focus of their outreach toward art collectors, and less toward artists themselves.
___________________________
Season 3: Episode 09
___________________________
“Art Life Blog with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
My solo show starts next week, and I am losing my mind. Actually it's all very exciting. Join John as he discusses what he's doing to prepare for his solo exhibition in Houston, and all the other things that seem to be happening at the same time. How does one deal with all the stress and pressure? It's all about doing your best, giving yourself a lot of permission to be human, and realizing that this will all be over soon.
______________________
Season 3, Episode 8
______________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
Trying a new format here for the podcast, where I only really talk about my art, and not about other aspects of what we're doing with the art business, and the new nonprofit. I have to apologize, but I did notice that I show a couple of pieces of art on the video feed that you obviously can't see on the podcast, and I promise that I won't make that mistake again. But join me for a casual discussion of what I'm doing to get my artwork ready for a solo exhibition I have scheduled in a month's time. Let me know if you like the new format.
_________________________
Season 3: Episode 07
_________________________
“Art Life” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
We're back from Romania, where we met with artists and gallery owners to try to get a clearer understanding of how our new nonprofit, Aripa Arte, can best serve the needs of Romanian visual artists. It was a wonderful trip, and together with the great opportunities we have for exhibitions here at home, and the continued work to build our own art business, things have been crazy busy around here.
______________________________
Season 3: Episode 6
______________________________
“Art Life Podcast” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: httos://www.aripaarte.org
Podcast episode where I discuss all that Bogdan and I are doing to try to expand our revenue streams, while still getting more views and subscribers from our social media channels and YouTube content. Even when I look at all the other content creators out there in our niche, they seem to be far more concerned with inspirational messages and bragging about their giant houses, fancy watches, and crazy-big homes. That's not what we're about at all. The new nonprofit was designed to help real people who need real help, not create followers who want to dominate the world with their financial success. Oh well, we're going to keep doing it all, even if we don't achieve the fame and fortune enjoyed by others.
____________________________
Season 3: Episode 5
____________________________
“Art Life Blog with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Aripa Arte Nonprofit: https://www.aripaarte.org
John and Bogdan have recently started a new nonprofit organization called Aripa Arte, with the goal of helping contemporary artists in Romania and elsewhere. If you have any ideas, input, or suggestions as to what kinds of information should be included in a curriculum for artists looking to learn how to run an effective art business, please contact John either in the comments, or directly. Help us make this new NGO as successful as it can be.
_____________________
Season 3: Episode 04
_____________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Have you heard the saying that, if you want something done, assign it to a really busy person? I hope that’s true. In addition to all of our work with creating fine art, marketing, selling, keeping open studio hours, social media, vlogging, blog writing, podcasting, paperwork and keeping the government happy, we’ve decided that we should do more. What could go wrong?
So, we’ve opened a new nonprofit company called Aripa Arte. The idea is that our NGO will help contemporary Romanian artists, as well as to promote Romanian art abroad.
Doing my homework now becomes so important. No only do I want to have a clearer picture of how the art market works in Romania, but I also do not want to do anything to get in the way. If I swoop in, uninformed, and set up a competing gallery to represent contemporary artists, I could jeopardize complicating the current gallery structure already in place. If I start to compete for funding, that may mean that I hurt established institutions and galleries who depend upon that money. I believe that any NGO we create must augment and support the art establishment, while serving specific needs they leave unaddressed.
So our next plan was to actually create a nonprofit charitable organization that would attempt to expose contemporary Romanian artists to an international market, as well as to generally promote an understanding of Romanian art abroad. This would allow us to fundraise for specific programming for particular artists, as well as to bring attention to the rich artistic traditions of Romania.
So the initial paperwork is complete, and we have established a nonprofit company here in Texas. We will need to meet this next week to approve the bylaws, apply for a tax ID number, open a bank account, and start the more complicated process of applying for 501(c)3 tax free status. I cannot begin to imagine how I will be able to keep up with the administrative requirements for a nonprofit, in addition to that our our businesses in the USA and Romania, but I am a busy person… so apparently I’m just the guy we’re looking for.
______________________________________
Season 3: Episode 3
______________________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
We are literally just back from our annual goals and objectives retreat, and this year it went far more smoothly than I would have suspected. Every year we take some sort of trip, or isolate ourselves in some way to spend uninterrupted time crafting our goals and objectives for the coming year.
We deviated slightly from the way we have done goals in prior years, in that we stepped up the organization of the planning to comport with key elements in running the business. Before, we have always looked at our goals as a sort of shopping list for our dreams. We created a list of what seemed lovely at the time, and then crafted objectives that would help us to realize those dreams. That has been great, but in the past couple of years, we noticed that by the summer, we largely couldn't imagine why we felt so strongly about the goals that we had identified six months earlier. So what was going wrong?
I don't think there was a particular issue with the quality of our goals, but rather that they were like a Christmas list to Santa. All our goals were lovely, and would be wonderful if achieved, but they weren't alway key to the growth of the business. So, while it would be wonderful to attend an art fair in Barcelona, would spending the time and effort to exhibit abroad move the needle for our profits this year? We had lovely goals, but they didn't always seem to work together toward a clearly measurable success.
This year, our goals were based instead on several pillars of good business management. We've grouped our ideas considering the need to create and maintain plans around production, prospecting, promotion, productivity and profit. There were two goals that were new to us this year. One was the need to craft strategy around the creation of our new company in Romania, and the second addressed the birth of our new nonprofit corporation Aripa Arte. While both are related, each of those undertakings have unique needs, and will require us to spend some time and effort planning for their success.
_______________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Anyone running a small business knows that we are required to do all of the same things that larger businesses do... ourselves. Just because I'm not a large corporation does not mean that I can neglect all of the things that those larger organizations must do to be successful. I have to create products, market, sell, keep records, pay taxes, budget time and resources... and ultimately make a profit. I have to be an accountant, and a photographer, and a sales executive, and a craftsman, and a writer, public speaker, and risk analyst. I have to do it all.
The idea that I can back away from my responsibilities because I may fail seems inconceivable to me. If I believed that, then I would never create art. I am a better artist today than I was five years ago. If I were to abstain from painting until I was really good at it, I would never get better.
So what if I extend myself to various platforms at the same time. As long as I do not burn myself out, what does it matter if I am not the best blogger or podcaster out there? I can see at a glance that I am a much better today than I was when I began. So no, I do not seriously consider that I'm hurting my business by not being the best at anything.
Which brings me to creating business goals and objectives. I'm not claiming that I will always meet every goal, or even that every objective we create is achievable. However, the process of creating an actionable plan for our business, one that we can use to evaluate and to measure our success, is hugely important. And that's why we have always spent time at the start of every new year to forge a set of goals and measurable objectives for our art business. We carve out time to host a Goals Retreat, where we go somewhere that is not home, and not the studio, and dedicate uninterrupted attention to evaluating the previous year, and making a plan for the year to come.
To me the most important thing to remember when I'm creating business goals and objectives, is that they are MY goals and objectives. I have every right to change them, ignore them, or fail at them. I can never assume that a failure of a goal or objective is a personal failure, or even a business failure. Don't ever allow self sabotage.
____________________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
The holiday season is here. I can't believe I'm saying that. Q4 has come, I've purchased my first bag of Halloween candy for the neighborhood kids, and it's getting darker earlier and earlier. Of course, living in south Texas, there's no chill in the air or foliage splendor, but the signs of change are there nonetheless. The year is wrapping up, and all the associated benefits and problems that brings are upon us.
I don't know if it's true for all art businesses, but we tend to slump in the Fall, right up until the Christmas shopping bug takes flight. That's been true for us this year as well. Bogdan and I have kept busy with FotoFest 2022, Silver Street Studios, John Ross Palmer's Escapist gala celebration, Kym Harrison's "Blaze" exhibition, and preparations for Uncle Bob's Photo Zine Market here in Houston, and "The Other Art Fair" in Dallas. We've been running like mad since we came home from Romania, but the relatively few sales make the 4th Quarter all the more vital for our creative freelance business.
_____________________________
Season 2 : Episode 15
_____________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Woo Hoo, we're back in the USA. I don't know why I sound so excited, we actually were a little bit sad to leave Romania, but it's always good to be home. We missed the cat, and she seems to have forgiven us for leaving her. Special thanks to artist Deborah Ellington, who cat-sat while we were away. I think the kitty was happier there, so I'm glad we came home when we did... they were falling in love.
We came back really happy though with the whole experience. We accomplished everything we had hoped, plus a lot more. We got the business set up, hired an accountant, opened a bank account, got phones, and of course caught up with visiting friends and relatives that we hadn't seen in years. Bogdan's cousins own a winery, and ended up hiring us to do some video and photography for their company, so we actually had our first Romanian gig and actually deposited some money into that new account. We're feeling really good about it all so far.
We actually met with a couple of artists and gallerists, and though I think they were all happy, they all lamented just how difficult it is to make a living off of art in Romania. I guess that means that whatever our plan may become, we will have to look to Europe and online for our income. That's just one more wrinkle we will have to iron out.
Back here in the states, we're getting settled in for the 4th quarter, and Bogdan is participating in FotoFest, the huge biennial photography exhibition and celebration here in Houston. He'll be meeting with 16 reviewers who will consider his photography work for possible representation, publication, or exhibition. Fingers crossed he makes some good contacts from Europe. I know the last time he participated, it changed our lives significantly.
__________________________
Season 2: Episode 14
__________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston... and hopefully soon in Romania as well.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
We're Still in Romana, and this seemed like a great time to update you guys on what's going on, since yesterday we completed everything we came here to do. We wanted to come to Romania, open a business here, get set up with phones and an official address, a bank account, and an accountant. We finished all of that just yesterday, so I can proudly say that we've accomplished everything we wanted to do, and have learned a lot along the way.
Bucharest is still a hot mess. Graffiti covers most every flat surface and traffic and parking are dismal. But still, it's better. There are electric scooters everywhere, and Uber is a life saver.
But I've confirmed my suspicion that I don't want to live in Bucharest. Right now, it is fairly inexpensive to buy land, and we have looked at a few properties while here in the country. We are focusing on two areas, close to Bogdan's relatives. The idea is that, if we need to return to the States for a while, or travel on the art fair circuit in Europe, we would have someone trustworthy available to watch over the place while we are gone. That has limited our search to Plataresti, and Campulung in Arges. Apparently there is another Campulung up north.
Both Bogdan and I feel that it would make financial sense for us to invest in some property in Romania at this time. Prices seem low right now, and we feel certain that as the war in Ukraine resolves, and as the Romanian diaspora begins to return home, property values will rise. The whole idea of opening a business here was to afford me the ability to obtain a residency status here in the country. The residency would allow me to stay in the country for longer periods of time, as well as to earn money while here.
A huge unanswered question for us revolved around the art community and art market in Romania. We attended an art exhibition reception here in the city, and spoke with the artist Mic Rasvan Dan, about his first solo show, and his work in general. We also met with two other artists, Catalin Tzetze Radulescu, and Iulia Paun. What we're gathering is that artists are more than willing to connect and develop friendships, but that there is virtually no community of artists established. Tzetze even told us "we are like gladiators". So the idea of stepping into an association of artists, or an organized networking opportunity is just not going to happen. I guess we could create something ourselves, once people know who we are.
_______________________________
Season 4: Episode 13
_______________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan and I made it to Romania this week, and have been hiding out at his mom's house in Campulung, eating like kings, and waiting for the jet lag to subside. We have ventured out a couple of times into the mountains nearby, and have been enjoying the beautiful landscapes and the remarkable people from this area. So beautiful.
We've just gotten word that our Romanian company has been approved by the Ministry, and we are official Romanian businessmen now. All we have to do next week is finalize some paperwork with the attorneys, get set up with a Romanian accountant, and open a bank account in this country. Funny, because I make it sound as if this is the end of a process, and really it's only the beginning.
We've been struggling with ideas of how we could make living here, even part time, a success, and it is a daunting task. I think we find ourselves running into three main obstacles. One is Ignorance, another naivety, and ultimately, arrogance.
We really don't know a thing about the art scene, the art market, or the decorum needed to approach people in art here in Romania. While there is nothing wrong with asking questions and learning new things, there is the chance that we are going to look super dumb as we try to introduce ourselves around. I'm a little afraid, given how relatively small the art community is here in Romania, and how tight knit that community is likely to be, that getting branded as dumb early on might be a badge we continue to wear into the future.
The second pitfall is related to that, and it's naivety. Americans are known the world over as being nauseatingly positive, Pollyannaish, and all around dreamers. My experience living in Eastern Europe, and being married to an East European for 21 years is that these folks are not overly optimistic. These are glass-half-empty folks. I have spent years trying to get Bogdan to dream big, see possibilities instead of barriers, and to have the self-worth to give himself permission to succeed. When we show up out of nowhere, and have the hopes of building an art empire here in Romania, I'm not at all certain they won't laugh in our faces.
Finally, and perhaps most dangerous, is the fear that we will be perceived as arrogant. My experience tells me that if I'm a bit dumb, and kind of a dreamer, my attempts to assert myself into a network of artists, all of whom are likely more trained than I, I may appear to be presumptuous. Already we have written to some gallerists mentioning that we will be in town, and asking if we might stop by and introduce ourselves. Who do we think we are assuming that established gallery owners would wan to meet us?
I'm afraid that coming from the USA, where you don't need an art degree to succeed as an artist and you don't need to have been working for years as an artist's apprentice, or have been shown in all the right galleries and art fairs, we could come across very badly. And again, once that perception appears, it may be very hard to correct.
So how do we avoid these pitfalls? I'm not certain that we can. I do however believe that the best approach is to strive always to be as humble, curious, respectful, inquisitive, and deferential as we can possibly be, while always being as honest as possible as to how we feel, what we are asking, and how appreciative we are of anything given to us. If we can just hold our heads high, while being totally honest and completely interested in learning about their world, we should be fine.
So next week we will be in Bucharest, and the real experiment begins. We're gathering information on the cost of living, looking for advice on how to proceed, scoping out relationships that we might need to develop, and trying to do all of that in a way that doesn't make us look
Just want to give you guys an update on the Romania experiment. We leave in a week, and will fly to Istanbul, then on to Bucharest. We'll be in Romania for just over three weeks, and in that time, we'll need to finalize the establishment of a business, open a bank account, secure the services of an accountant, scope out the art scene, and possibly look at some real estate. You know, your average holiday abroad.
If you haven't been following our newest adventure, Bogdan and I have been running our art business here in Texas since 2015, and are now considering purchasing some property in Romania and living there for part of the year, or permanently.
We know that we can't sell our home and afford something closer to the city, and moving farther away from Houston (or any other large city) would only diminish our income more. The option then becomes for us to move to a place where we can afford to live off the proceeds of our art. If moving to a remote rural setting in the States won't work, we can move abroad, where our regular income will stretch much further. One possibility is Romania.
So we've met with a Romanian lawyer, and an accountant, and the process has begun. Owning a business in Romania will grant me a special visa, which will allow me to stay in the country for longer periods of time, and to earn money while I'm there. As far as we can tell, once established, we could live comfortably in Romania for about $2,000 per month.
What would we stand to lose if we try to live both in the USA and Romania? We're not likely to sell a lot to Romanians. But because Romania is in the EU, we can travel around Europe to art fairs and galleries.
But there's also the realization that living in Romania can be tough. While I am moving to a new adventure filled with possibility and opportunity, Bogdan is moving home. He will be moving back to his family, who haven't been there for all of the changes he's made to his life, his values. In many ways, I think the move to Romania scares him more than it does me. I have to be super sensitive to that as we explore this new chapter in our lives.
__________________________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Let me set the stage for our dilemma. We have a bit of cash now between our savings and money we inherited from Mom and Dad. We’ve looked around Houston, and indeed around Texas, and we simply can’t afford to purchase a property that would support our goals and dreams for the business. We do not qualify for a loan, since we’re freelancers and don't have a steady source of income. Art sales have been improving after Covid, but those sales could evaporate at any time. Selling art has severe peaks and valleys, and with no other stable income source, we cannot sustain this pattern forever. We will eventually run out of money.
Here’s what I’m thinking. We could also move someplace else, where we actually could afford to live, and still have access to a large art market… We’ve done a couple of reconnaissance trips to Mexico, where our dollars would stretch farther, but Bogdan is feeling a real pull to return to Europe. There are places like Portugal and Spain that offer a cheaper life, but not all that much cheaper if you ask me. Then there is Romania… where we could afford quite a lot with our dollars, where we could live cheaply, have access through the EU to the rest of Europe as a market, and where we would be close to Bogdan’s family and aging parents. So we’re considering Romania as a strong contender.
After living in Texas, the distances aren’t that daunting in Europe. I believe I could drive from Bucharest to Vienna in the same time as driving from Houston to Dallas, and I do that without a thought. We also wouldn’t have to give up on the States completely at first, and could spend a bit of time traveling between the two places for a while.
But the most significant benefit I see is that I can purchase a piece of land, develop it into a place to live, to work, to expand the business, to house guests and collectors, as well as Bogdan’s parents when needed. I can live a simpler life, with more natural foods, access to adequate and affordable health care, and a rich tradition of support for the arts. So that’s what we’re thinking. If we can’t afford the life we want here, let’s find a place where we can. Once we are rich and famous, we can make other decisions for our lives and business. For me, right now, this seems like a simple choice.
_______________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan and I recently sat down with Jenny Guarino, a fluid artist who maintains a working studio in our building, Silver Street Studios in Houston. We’ve known Jenny for several years, and have not only been impressed with her amazing artwork, but as well with her rather ambitious annual travel schedule. Jenny and her husband are Australian, but her husband’s extended family still reside in Italy. They maintain a life in Houston, but regularly travel for extended periods to Australia and Europe as well.
As Bogdan and I try to plot out the trajectory of the next phase of our art careers, we’ve been thinking a lot about the possibility of setting up a second home in Romania. Partly anticipating a time when his mother needs some additional help, but also realizing just how much farther our money could go in a place like Romania.
Jenny was the perfect person to talk to. She has direct and ongoing experience as to what it is like to try to run an art business that can be run from a variety of continents, splitting time and energy between various studios, art markets, and collectors.
By the way, if you’d like to check out Jenny’s amazing artwork, her website is https://www.jennyguarino.com/ or come by Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street in Houston.
______________________________
Season 2: Episode 9
______________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Having a good week this week. We've had some good sales at the studio, and it's looking like this may be a really strong month for us after all. If you've been listening to other episodes, you'll know that we recently have been looking at buying some property in which to base our art business. You may also remember that our plans pretty much fell through as we were unable to secure a loan as freelancers. Looks now like we're staying where we are, and making some renovations to our home to make it more conducive to our plans.
In the background though, Bogdan's family have been scouting around for some property in Plataresti, a small village about 30 minutes from the capital of Bucharest in Romania. The idea is that, since our money can stretch so much further in Romania than here in the USA, we could buy and develop a property that would allow us some space and privacy, while still being close enough to Bucharest to take advantage of all the amenities and art markets there.
Well it looks like they may have found a property that would be of interest. It has some land, and already has a house on it, so there are already water, sewer and electrical hookups in place. It is close to some family members, so in addition to Bogdan's mother being able to stay at the property and watch over it, there is an entire extended family around to help us manage the property when we're away.
The real question then is, how present do we need to be in the USA, in Houston, to maintain and grow an art business here in the states? How much do we need to be present in our studios here, and how quickly will we become forgotten or ineffective if we stay away for periods of time? Is it possible that technology, things like blogs, vlogs, podcasts and social media can bridge those distances? These are significant questions that we must weigh carefully when moving forward with any plans.
______________________________
Season 2: Episode 8
______________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Today I would like to talk a bit about the 10 things we need from an art studio space to move our art business to the next level.
- We must have a space that people will visit. Where we are now, that’s not an option, not only because we are remote, but also those HOA restrictions we have to contend with. Working from our home would require us to maintain studio space in Houston. We have recently made the move to a much larger studio that Bogdan and I will share, which means that both of us will not need to drive into the city every day. We can work from home often, and greatly reduce the amount of driving we must do. The studio is a convenient, high end, and safe venue that people are happy to visit, and makes us look more successful and professional in our business.
- We must have a gallery space to show our work, and from which to make sales. The current studio at Sawyer Yards in Houston takes care of that as well. There is enough space for us to create a separate gallery section that is distinct from the day to day workflow of running the business. We can check that off our list as well.
- We also need to be able to have enough space to host events; collector evenings, meetings, classes, exhibitions. The studio in Houston gives us enough space for these types of events, and already has parking, bathrooms, and the infrastructure to make that easy, safe, and inviting.
- We need to have a dedicated space for running a small business. Again, the new studio provides the space we need for computers, filing systems, delivery address, etc. that allow us to run a business effectively.
- Sometimes we need to be able to work outside. At the studio in Houston, we can’t really do things like use power tools, spray paint a canvas, use smelly varnishes, lay things in the sunshine to dry. If we worked from home, we would have enough space for those types of projects.
- We need adequate space to create our work. Now this is a problem. While the studio in town is larger, it’s not large enough to accommodate both of us working from Houston. We could however, use the money we intended to spend on purchasing a new home to remodel and renovate our current house to meet these needs. As it stands, we have a garage space, and a large covered patio that could easily be enclosed to create studios for each of us. We can afford those kinds of alterations, and that would give us a lot of flexibility for working creatively from home.
- We also need adequate storage of art supplies, seasonal displays, event and catering supplies, chairs and tables, camera and lighting equipment, as well as completed artwork inventory. We do have plenty of room for that sort of storage here at home, and with the purchase of a new van on the horizon, we could transport those things to and from the city with ease.
- We have to have enough room to continue to run professional photography and video production services. That means we need space to set up backdrops, lighting, tripods, video prompters, and a place to photograph artwork, people, products, and anything else that helps support us financially. The studio in Houston gives us that space, as well as an easy address for people to come to.
- We also need space and equipment for video production and editing. I long for the days when I had a room that was already set up with lighting, backdrops, and cameras to create vlog, podcast and social media clips. Having this set up in our home/studio environment is a must, and we have the room to do it.
- We need to have a place to live that is safe and comfortable. We actually love our home, looking out to the lake, in a settled and safe community. That issue is completely resolved if we stay where we are.
The importance of routine for creatives seems to me to be essential, even if we think we don't want it. I have found that there is a huge benefit to my creativity, production, and work/life balance when I have a basic framework of order, schedule, and routine in my life. I think you may have experienced the same.
As artists, or creative professionals, we need to feel as though we are free to express ourselves without restriction, to have spontaneity, to follow the art where it leads us. But I have found that when I have structure around my day, I can carve out space for that kind of freedom of expression much more effectively than when I don't.
So what is your dream day? How do you allow yourself to be creative within a framework of routine? Let's talk about it.
_______________________________
Season 2: Episode 6
_______________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Our art business has reached a crossroad, but that's not a bad thing. Over the past 7 years, Bogdan and I have been able to create a small freelance creative company that somehow survived almost three years of pandemic. Against all odds, and despite our total lack of preparation, we have built a collector base, and an inventory of art that sells consistently. Of course, we don't yet sell enough to live off our art, but we manage to stay afloat due to savings that we accrued over the years. Those savings are finite, and we know that we must take some big steps to create the environment necessary for our business to grow, and expand. In order to do that, we need to make some significant changes in our lives.
We're looking to purchase some real estate that would allow us to live and work from one place, be located near some art center, and give us the space we need to create our art, as well as grow the business over the next several years. So we're looking to move.
While this episode in our lives is exciting, it's also terrifying. Tune in and get more of the story, or at least as much of the story as we know right now.
_______________________________________
Season 2: Episode 5
_______________________________________
“Art Life with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Should we go to Romania? Bogdan feels the need to return to Romania to somehow chronicle the story of refugees fleeing from the war in Ukraine. So much to think about as we try to find a way to respond to what's happening in the world. But as we struggle with the possibility of travel, we're continuing to create new artwork, prepare for a variety of art exhibitions and receptions, and even found time to do a road trip to Round Top, Texas. Come along, and check out what we've been up to this week.
________________________
Season 2: Episode 4
________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
We’ve spoken about the importance of goal setting, and laying out the matrix of how my objectives and activities fold in under those goals… but we haven’t spent a lot of time talking about how to make those objectives measurable. In my last post, I shared my concerns about giving us permission as artists to evaluate and measure our success based upon criteria that better suits our type of creative businesses. We should definitely do that. But the missing piece in my mind is how to create these specialized objectives in such a way to make them realistic and measurable in the world we work in. How will we know if we have met our goals?
There was an interesting article published in 2019 out of Pepperdine University. While the authors, and those they interviewed, all grappled with the notion that an art career is unlike any other, some described it as a non-linear path, others as luck.
Kostin Anastaccia, & Karl Winter. 2019. “How Artists Measure Success”. Pepperdine University Graphic. http://pepperdine-graphic.com/how-artists-measure-success/
Obviously I’d rather be painting than doing my quarterly sales taxes, or posting my work on social media. But it seems so naive of us artists to keep repeating that mantra as though it were significant. Everyone knows that. Everyone spends a good portion of their lives doing things they’d rather not do, just to make a living… so they can afford to do the things they prefer.
Most artists will have to purposefully, deliberately, and consistently work the business side of our art careers. In order to do that, we need to plan well, evaluate our successes and failures, and strategically move our creative businesses forward in a professional manner… including prioritizing creative output that is key to our business success. So how do we create those objectives that can be realistically achieved, and measured?
So best of luck in your own planning. And as you work hard to create strategic plans that will catapult your creative business into your wildest dreams, I know, … you’d rather be painting.
________________________
Season 2: Episode 3
________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Last year I spent a lot of time struggling over creating realistic goals and objectives in my art business, because I felt like I was stretching ideas and strategies in an awkward way. I don’t mean to suggest that as an artist I don’t need goals and objectives, but rather that I didn’t feel completely comfortable that I was measuring the right things. It just didn’t feel right. So I set myself the goal of understanding why I felt that I was trying to put a square peg in a round hole when planning my art career.
I think the main obstacle I faced was my unwillingness to assign the same measures for success to my creative life. Think about it. If you’re running a shop selling buttons, a big measure for you success would be the money you make from those sales. Makes sense. And the company that sells more buttons is considered to be more successful than those who sell fewer. Again, makes sense to me. And further, if a button store sells little to no buttons, it’s hard to imagine that store as having any success at all.
Apply the same notion now to art. Can you be successful as an artist and not make money? Well, yes. I think we can all point to numerous examples of artists who are remarkably talented, who do great work, and yet they’re not making money… at least not while they’re alive. So if you’re measuring your success as a creative, it’s easy to miss the measures that matter most in our field.
I tried to approach the problem in a different way. I decided to create a list of 5 living artists that I admired, and then associate one word to each. Why did I admire each artist? The hope was that if I could identify real-life examples of creatives I found inspirational, that might help me identify what I considered success to look like. I realize that this list may be different for each of us, but that’s ok.
______________________
Season 2: Episode 2
______________________
“Art Life Podcast” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Quick review of John and Bogdan's business objectives for 2022. Goal setting is so important in any business, but particularly so in a freelance, creative environment. Even if you're the only person in your art business, it is imperative to have an organized plan for your year, even if you make changes along the way. A goal without a plan is just a dream.
_______________________________________
Season 2: Episode 01
_______________________________________
“Art Life Podcast with John & Bogdan” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
“Conversations for Freelance Creatives” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
This week Bogdan and I talk about Q4, and the need to be ready to sell during this holiday season. So many businesses sell more in this quarter than in the rest of the year, and art sales should be no different. We're getting ready for our big biannual sale at Sawyer Yards in Houston (October 2), as well as beefing up our online presence to catch those holiday shoppers. Let's face it, art sells as an impulse purchase, so we need to position ourselves to be in the right place when those impulses hit.
In preparation for the 4th quarter rush, both Bogdan and I have prepared a lot of new work for sale. Bogdan has more of the sculptural photography pieces, and more local images of Houston and Texas in the studio. I have loads of work framed and ready to go, as well as the new work I'm preparing for the PRPGMX Art Lab program I'm enrolled in, and the commission work I'm finishing up. Should be a great event, and the inauguration of a great buying season.
The annual photography festival and exhibition is wrapping up in Tucumán, Argentina, where Bogdan has been showing his work since August. He is about to exhibit in a juried show in Poughkipsee, New York in November. We also met with Micheal Swank at PRPGMX in Mexico City about Bogdan having a show in his gallery there, as well as him serving as a juror for future photography shows at the gallery, and an invitation for him to curate photography shows at the gallery as well. Don't know what we did before we met you Micheal, but we're awfully glad we did.
I was honored this week with an invitation to serve as an Ambassador for Read Pakistan, a remarkable NGO that is doing some amazing work around the work in support of reading, and libraries. So excited and honored to be working with them.
_____________________________
Season 1, Episode 25
_____________________________
“Conversations for Freelance Creatives” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
We've been working on upgrading Mom and Dad's house to use as a home studio, and that work continued this week as well. We've been working a lot on creating art this week. I (John) have been working on a commission, and Bogdan on some new ink work on paper.
Bogdan was also accepted into a group, juried show in Poughkeepsie, New York, at a gallery called The Trolley Barn, and I started the new session of the Art Lab with PRPGMX Gallery in Mexico City with Micheal Swank.
We also visited other artists. Marisol Valencia and Falon Mihalic are local artists that asked Bogdan to take some fine art photographs of their amazing artwork, and Elena Sandovici had a special event at her lovely Houston home for collectors and friends. It's always great to spend time with other artists.
“Conversations for Freelance Creatives” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanonins...
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopf...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfin...
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Just got back from our week-long trip south of the border to beautiful Guadalajara, Mexico. Bogdan was lucky enough to be included as an artist in the first annual FAIN Art Fair in Guadalajara. FAIN is a group out of Argentina, who I believe last year did their first fair in Mexico City, and this year have expanded their reach to three Mexican cities: Monterrey, Guadalajara, and the capital. The entrance is free, but the curation process is such that Bogdan's photography was accepted, while my abstract work was not. So although they bill the event as being designed for emerging artists, they do have some pretty good curation going on. Not just anyone gets in.
We tried to figure out how we would get 11 framed photographs to Mexico in our luggage, and it became quickly apparent that they weren't going to fit. Even if we were to have been able to package them all together, neither of us would have been able to carry them onto a plane. So we decided to contact a printer/framer in Guadalajara and produce the images in Mexico prior to our arrival. I can't tell you what a delight it was to work with Paulina and her team. They printed the images on high quality paper, provided us with cut plexiglass, and allowed us to show up before the event and construct the framed work in their offices. That was an added expense for us, beings how we already had the work printed here at home, but we were able to save a lot of money, as the whole process was much less expensive that it would have been here at home. For some reason, it is prohibitively expensive to ship things to Mexico from the States, and apparently, it's not nearly as expensive to ship the other direction. Printing in Mexico also meant that we didn't need to worry about transporting anything across the border.
The show itself was very well attended, and I believe Bogdan's work was a hit. We saw hundreds of people over the three day event, and everyone seemed legitimately interested in the art. I don't know if it was because there was an entrance fee for admission, or perhaps it was because the show was new to town, but there seemed to be a very high quality to the crowd, and they seemed to really be into his work. I can't remember when I last spoke to so many people about the "story" of Bogdan's photos. It was quite rewarding, and quite inspirational for us both. I've never been to an art fair as a vendor, but if this experience was typical, art fairs are definitely the way to go.
At the end of the weekend, Bogdan sold only one photograph, but to a young woman who's story blew us away. She is a great art lover, and has a very stressful IT job. She was talking with a counselor, who suggested that she needed to develop passions outside work, and challenged her to actually start to collect art as a hobby. She researched the fair's online catalog, and fell in love with a particular photograph of Bogdan's. Being a dutiful and responsible person, she waited until the fair began, and she visited all seven gallery sites before circling back to purchase her first art investment, Bogdan's image. She was so excited, and such a lovely person. That alone made the trip worthwhile.
So at the end of the day, we spent a lot more than we made at the fair. Was it worth it? I think it was. Bogdan met and chatted with a lot of people who he would never have met otherwise, and obtained over a hundred followers on social media over the three days. We met other artists, made contacts with framers and printers like Paulina, and we squeezed in a sort of a vacation. There's no doubt in my mind that the event was a success, and one I would repeat any time in the future.
In this podcast, John talks about how puzzling it is to try to determine why someone listens to a particular podcast or vlog series, and not another. The question then arises as to what are the reasons that the listeners of this online content in particular listen to Conversations for Freelance Creatives. People gravitate to a variety of online content based on their needs for authoritative information, entertainment, and some degree of escapism. Perhaps the latter, a lifestyle type format would make the most sense.
_________________________________
Episode 22
_________________________________
“Conversations for Freelance Creatives” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Lots going on this week. John was able to deliver all but one of the Panca Marga paintings purchased at the gallery opening last month, and place all of the unsold artworks in the studio. Bogdan is busy reinventing some beautiful line art drawings and illustrations with hand embellishments and gold foil. He has also bee working more on his sculptural photography, and getting it all ready for the open studio art events for the next two weeks.
Both Bogdan and John were honored by being accepted in the 37th annual open juried show hosted by the VAA, Visual Artists Alliance here in Houston. This year the juror is quite impressive, Dr. Henry Cooper, PhD, Senior Curator and Head of Modern Art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. It is a huge honor to get into the show, and the thought that Dr. Cooper spent time looking at, and selecting, our work is honor enough.
Otherwise, we've both just been working hard to create new art pieces for the studio, and continuing to search for exhibition opportunities. Bogdan was accepted into the FAIN show in Guadalajara and we'll be flying to Mexico later this month.
We're also looking at doing some work on my parents' home to turn it into a proper art studio. We hope to use the space as a place for painting, sculpting, framing, stretching, storage, and a center for all the administrative business aspects of running a small art business. If all goes well, we may be able to give up one of the studio spaces we're renting in Houston, and make the house here in Huntsville the center of our operations. We'll keep you posted.
“Conversations for Freelance Creatives” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
So let's look back at the past year or two. People who started working from home pivoted, ordered things on their computers, home schooled their kids, created virtual work spaces, and actually saved a lot of money. Many of these people, since they were spending so much time at home, began projects around the house, beautified their homes, and sought out entertainment and enrichment online. Reports are that artists who already had the infrastructure and presence to sell online often did as well or better in their 2020 sales than before the pandemic began.
This was a wake-up call for us, since in our art business, we really hadn't built that online presence to the degree that we could benefit from this sudden shift. We had websites, and online stores, but virtually no content available, and nowhere near the reach we needed. We overhauled our websites and online shops. We started marketing like crazy, filling social media feeds with our faces and our artwork. We created new content online through YouTube vlogs, video and audio podcasts, and a weekly blog. We joined online groups of artists and art collectors, we participated, joined in, commented, and did some guest appearances. We did all that in the past year and a half, and have noticed that we are slowly building a base of followers and collectors.
For me the real struggle is not shoveling out the money to advertise, but rather knowing where to shovel. I think many of us conflate the terms marketing, sales, advertising and publicity. I think they could all arguably be part of marketing, but the other have very different strategies and outcomes. If we can agree to use marketing as the larger term, the umbrella under which the other terms shelter, then what do the other terms mean? I look at any marketing strategy as forward-looking. While marketing as a whole enhances the knowledge of and presentation of my art and my career as an artist, advertising becomes the precise steps that I take to present and sell my paintings, and enhance my visibility as an artist. So there may be any number of advertising campaigns employed to achieve one marketing goal. So then what is publicity? Well if advertising is forward-looking, then publicity is about right here, and right now. If advertising is about planning, then publicity is about responding. So let's just talk about advertising. I mean planned, calculated, and measurable ad campaigns. What does that look like for an artist?
__________________________
Season 1, Episode 20
__________________________
“Conversations for Freelance Creatives” is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. Bogdan is a videographer and fine art photographer who constantly seeks to stretch the boundaries of traditional photographic work, with the added flare of his artistic eye. Both artists’ work can be seen online, or at their studios at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, in Houston.
John Bishop: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Bogdan’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bogdanoninstagram/
John’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Tune in to hear the continued progress toward John's first solo art exhibition. The invitations are in, the catalogs are printed, and the artwork is framed. All that has to happen now, in the month preceding the show, is to find enough people to show up for the event, who will buy all of the paintings on opening night, and eat all the catering he's paid for. No pressure... I mean, what could go wrong?
_________
Episode 19
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
**I was finally able to finish all 20 of the paintings, and I’m busy now getting them varnished, wired, and framed. But now the event really gets cute. I’ve had a couple of engraved stamps made, one about 3 inches in diameter and the other only 1 inch around. I’m stamping the back of each painting with the red series logo, and will stamp the certificates of authenticity with a logo in sealing wax. Then I’ve had tiny lapel pins engraved with the logo so that each collector can get a pin acknowledging them as collectors of the Panca Marga series.
As we’ve been discussing for weeks now, we know that as creative entrepreneurs, we have to wear all sorts of hats, and become competent in all sorts of fields in order to run successful art businesses. We’ve also spoken about how all of the planning, marketing, publicity and sales will have to be done by me, because there’s no way I can afford to outsource all of those tasks. But the part that will make or break the evening is the quality of the experience… and that falls to me to organize as well.**
I believe with all my heart that people come to art venues as much for the experience of shopping for art as they do to actually acquire art. I’m referring to the true collectors, who likely go to a variety of art events around town, and have particular artists they follow, even if from a distance, to see what work they’re producing. These folks expect more than just an open door and a smile when they enter. They’re looking to see the art, chat with the artist, hear the stories of the pieces they like, and only then, iff all the stars align, they’ll make a decision to purchase something they love. If I develop a relationship with them, they may continue to buy my art over many years to come.
__________________________________________________________________
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Let me attempt to tell you about my solo exhibition, as it stands so far.
I’m calling the exhibition Panca Marga, which is a Buddhist concept that recognizes that when one reaches the level of Bodhisattva, like a Buddhist saint, instead of being the end of a journey, attaining that level of perfection is rather a new beginning. I’ll be creating 20 paintings, every 5 years, for the next 20 years. That’s 100 paintings, between the ages of 60 and 80. The hope is to create a very collectable series that tracks my professional career as an artist.
I’ll be promoting the event in local calendars, through general postcard invitations, through personalized invitations to collectors and gallery owners, and the creation of a printed catalog of the exhibition. Video content promoting the show ahead of time, as well as one as documenting a historical record of the event will also be created. I’ll also be promoting the hell out of the exhibition on social media, trying to create a bit of a buzz.
I want to make sure that anything that goes out to the public with respect to my exhibition is branded. To that end, I’ve developed a certain graphic design “look”, created a logo for the show, and will use that “look” on everything I do. That means the invitations, the certificates of authenticity, the stamps on the paintings, the brochure and press releases, and even the cocktail napkins will scream that this is my show.
The reception itself will be from 6-8pm on July 9th, 2021. I’m expecting between 50 and 100 people, but with Covid still lingering out there, I’m not sure how many will venture out. To that end, I will also have a virtual experience available as well. The hope is that those who won’t come out in person can stop by online, as well as those who are abroad. We worked overseas for many years, and a lot of my friends live elsewhere. I truly believe that people come to exhibitions for an art experience, as much or more than to buy art. My job is to create an experience of my collection, both in person and virtually. There will be good food, music, a speech, video content, printed materials, and an easy way to purchase what people want to take home. I’m also considering a sneak-peak event for VIPs, and Gallery Owners. My only concern there is that I really can’t afford to cater two events, and if my VIPs come on a different night, they won’t return for the main event. I’ll have to decide this quickly, but I may just schedule individual viewings with VIPs, and have some champagne and nibbles ready in the studio. What do you guys think?
I want to make sure I can imagine in detail the process a buyer will go through when purchasing my art. Firstly they’ll have been invited, and welcomed to the reception. There will be scheduled events during the reception to hold their attention. They’ll start off at the table for refreshments, then I’ll give a little welcome speech, then there will be a video explaining the series, then some live music? I want to fill the time in such a way so that just about the time they think they should be leaving, something else makes them want to stay. If they’re online, there will be similar activities for those folks as well… minus the drinks. When someone falls in love with a painting, they will be able to immediately swipe their card, or pay online, and get a red dot on the piece. After the show, I’ll make arrangements to deliver the paintings to each of them, with the added offer to hang the piece in their home. Not only does that create another opportunity for me to visit with them after the sale, but hopefully to build a relationship with them. These are the folks who will be most likely to buy again in 5 years.
Graphic Design is a lot more than just pretty pictures, it’s a communication tool between us and our customers. First impressions matter, and quality, consistent design can not only make you look more professional, it can also make you look more credible to a prospective buyer. The stronger your design, the more people trust you. We’ve all experienced clicking on a website, and thinking to ourselves that this company looks truly amateurish, or even creepy. Artistic companies are no different.
It’s funny, because you’d think as creatives we’d be great at presenting ourselves graphically… but that doesn’t appear to be the case. That’s where the true creative and professional skill of the graphic designer becomes so important. You might consider hiring your design needs out to a professional, after all, you wouldn’t hire an amateur painter to do a mural on your wall. The issue isn’t one of a lack of respect for the designer, but rather the economics involved. Sure it would be better to hire all these services out, but if we don’t have the funds to do that, we simply must learn to do things on our own, until we CAN afford to hire the best.
So why is graphic design so important? Well it seems that 90 percent of what is transmitted in our brains is visual. That’s huge. And 3M did research that indicates that images are processed 60,000 times faster in our brains than text. Amazing. So your visual messaging is received and absorbed before customers even have a chance to read your witty ad copy. Then consider that over half of us, 65%, are visual learners anyway. Imagine just how powerful that is from a marketing standpoint. And if visual communication is important, imagine how much more powerful video becomes.
We need to brand everything we do. We need to have a uniform look and style that is reflected in everything from our website, to our business cards, social media accounts, newsletters, presentations, and videos. In fact, we should have a style guide, like the big companies and organizations do. We should know what colors, fonts, logo designs and styles to use. We should shy away from changing our branding very often. Consider how long CocaCola has had the same logo. That consistency of style and branding is perceived by people as professional, successful, and trustworthy.
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
We’ve discussed before that some people distinguish between advertising and publicity by saying that advertising you pay for, and publicity is free. While I’m not certain that’s always true, there does seem to me that advertising is looking inward, while publicity is looking out. I can plan and coordinate my advertising campaigns tightly, but it seems to me that publicity is just blind luck. You throw your marketing into the wind, and hope that something good comes of it. But that can’t be true, can it? The issue is that I view publicity as problematic because it relies on someone else to get my message across. That bugs me, but it’s probably a fault in the depth of my understanding of what publicity really is.
While there are a variety of forms of publicists, today we’re only looking to focus attention on those working with creative businesses, and that sort of publicity usually means tapping into print and broadcast as well as social media platforms. So we’re not talking about the publicist who is called in to handle a PR scandal, or to smooth things over when a hooker overdoses in your hotel room. That may well be part of a Hollywood or Washington publicist’s routine, but hopefully not something we will need at this stage of our creative careers. Come to think of it, probably not good at any stage of our careers. We’re talking about a deliberate, strategic, and purposeful media relations campaign that engages with journalists to draw attention to our marketing goals, to ourselves, and our creative businesses. So for our discussion, publicity means taking advantage of the press opportunities all around us.
So there you are. Add that to the many jobs you already are doing as a creative entrepreneur. You’re now a publicist too. So, what exactly does a publicist do? Anybody watch AbFab? Remember when Saffi asks her mother what she actually does for a living? Eddie replies indignantly: “PR! I PR things!” In case that didn’t help clarify the question, your role as publicist means that you will need to draw media attention to yourself, and to your business. Yes, I said it, to yourself as well. See the trick is that all of publicity is storytelling, and you will need to be able to tell your story in such a way to interest the audience that a reporter or influencer is trying to reach. That means developing a relationship with journalists, editors, and bloggers and offering them content that makes their job easier. You have to give them the story they need.
We have to wear so many hats when running a small business, it’s a little wonder we feel overwhelmed for a good portion of the time. One of the most important jobs we have to coordinate is that of office manager. Think about the places you’ve worked in the past. There is a whole separate job description, a full-time employee, who plays the role of office manager. Guess who it is in our art business… that’s right, it’s me.
I looked up a job description for an office manager, and laughed out loud when I realized just how much of the job I was already doing. How are we supposed to do all of this, as well as the marketing, planning, oh yes, and create the art? The only possible answer is to break things into smaller, more manageable bites. That way you can still prioritize the most important activities, while filling in some of the busy work as time permits.
Create your to-do lists each day. If there is so much on your list that it scares you, take a post it note and write down the top 5 things you absolutely must do today, and check the longer list when those 5 are completed. The stress and pressure of a huge list not only make you more likely to make mistakes, it can ruin your creativity and joy. Remember, you actually like your job. I think we’ve all seen that exercise where someone tries to put big rocks and pebbles into a jar. The point is that if you start with all of the pebbles, the large stones won’t fit. But if you place the large stones in the jar first, the small ones fill in around the gaps and everything fits nicely.
Which brings me back to knowing and being honest with yourself. Are you able to recognize when you are getting overwhelmed? This needn’t be restricted to office work, it could expand to your creative work as well. We all tend to retreat to certain patterns and activities that comfort us when we are stressed. Do you know what those signals are in your own life? Figure them out. I know that when I’m feeling overwhelmed, I spend a lot of time drawing pictures. Of course, as an artist, that’s generally not a problem, but it can be when I have a deadline looming near. Be kind to yourself, and learn to recognize when your body and mind are screaming at you to relax a bit. Remember that there was no training program when we took on this office manager role. We are not supposed to know everything, and we all have to learn the job as we are doing it.
But most importantly, don’t ever lose the joy of it all. Yes there’s a lot of work, yes it’s probably you who will have to do it all. But never forget that you’re following your bliss here, and if you’re like me, you’ll walk through fire to keep your creative business thriving… and just so you know, you’re not in this alone. There are loads of us out there who are willing and delighted to help.
Season 1: Episode 14
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.
How many times have you been told that the secret to success in business is marketing? If you’re like me, I was sold on the need for marketing early in my business career, and have made it core to the growth of my art business. So why then is my business growing so slowly? Does it just mean that I suck at marketing after all? What if I were to suggest to you that marketing is not “the” secret, and that you’re doing everything right? Don’t believe me, stick around and let me explain.
Every business guru seems to support the notion that marketing is “the key” to unlocking business success. But scratch the surface, and you’ll find that most articles and videos out there seem to conflate several concepts under the title of marketing. It’s hard then for me to distinguish between sales, advertising, publicity, and marketing. Part of me really, really wants to lump all of these concepts together in my head, and a quick survey of the literature would confirm that others do as well. Perhaps that’s because we need to be able to do all of these things at the same time. No pressure there. Is it any wonder that many artists don’t want to think of themselves as marketers. We’ve talked before about the need to be self-reflective, and to be honest about ourselves. So let’s admit that there is more going on here. From classical times, the arts were considered to be above commercial concerns. Blame the ancient Greeks, the academics, or the aristocratic classes, but much of that snobbery still exists today. It amazes me though, as Michelangelo and Leonardo daVinci both were paid for their work. And we can see that many of the great masters ran studios that functioned like art factories. But the notion lingers.
Unfortunately, we are all part of that same cultural environment, and so are our customers. I know many artists who won’t refer to their clients as customers, or to their art as a product. While that may be part of their marketing strategy, it may also be a stereotype that’s getting in their way. Take a quick self-check about your own presumptions and attitudes, and feather them into your overall marketing plan.
________________________
Episode 13
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
As small businessmen and women, whether we like it or not, we have to be incredibly organized to do our jobs. As creatives, that may or may not be our biggest strength, but we have to find strategies to be as professionally organized as we possibly can in our entrepreneurial careers.
We wear so many hats as small creative business owners that it can sometimes feel completely overwhelming, exhausting, and even demoralizing. There’s just so much to do, and so little of those duties actually involve the creation of art, or the furthering of my craft. And I mentioned this before, I’m not doing this alone, I have a spouse in the business with me. How much harder it must be for those of you who are doing all of this alone?
Whether you address your business needs with paid online subscriptions, hired consultants, or do it all by hand in a ledger book, realize that you do need to be hyper organized in running your creative entrepreneurial business. Remember that it’s the creative part of your business that is your passion, not the record keeping. Find effective strategies that can remove some of the barriers to doing that work you love, and get back to making beautiful things, because that’s what will sustain you after all.
In our quest to branch out seriously into social media marketing, Bogdan and I are starting something new. I already do a weekly blog (as you may have guessed), but I also do a weekly vlog, and a video podcast. We’ve now started a weekly live show called Art Chat with John & Bogdan. It’s 30 minutes every Thursday morning at 11:00 central time on Zoom. Stop by and visit sometime, we’d love to meet you in person. If you can’t make it at 11am, don’t worry, we record the sessions and post them on my YouTube channel. I’ll put the link below.
https://youtu.be/fCAcksQff3I
________________________________________
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
Honesty… that may be the most difficult bit of running a creative business. Consider for a moment that you’ve done all the things we’ve talked about. You’ve set up your art business seriously, you’ve created strong goals and objectives, you’ve committed to your vision and mission, you’ve faced the fear of failure, and live and breathe your small business every day. You have faced your secret fears, anxieties, and you can see yourself and your business as clearly as possible. What happens if you don’t like what you see?
**One of the problems about having a business that is so completely tied to our own lives as creatives is that, at the end of the day, this is still a business. There are rules and regulations that must be followed, and you must generate a profit to stay afloat. It is truly important for you to be self reflective, and be your best cheerleader, but it is also inevitable that running any business is going to have drawbacks, setbacks. We have to be able to look at ourselves and our businesses honestly, and be realistic about what we see.
_______________________________
As part of our own plan to get out into the online world with our art, we’ve started a weekly live Zoom meeting where Bogdan and I present and discuss some of our art. It’s a half-hour show, every Thursday morning at 11am Central Time. We’d love to have you join us, though we’ll record the sessions if you can’t make it at that time. Send me your email address, and we’ll include you on the invitation list. Or you can always go to my website and sign up for my newsletter. I’ll add you to both lists if you do.
_______________________________
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.**
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
We’ve been talking a lot about the skills and traits we all need to run a creative business. We’ve talked about planning, setting goals, and courting our ideal collectors. We’ve talked about the entrepreneurial spirit, what it takes to be a freelancer, and how to keep ourselves motivated and productive while often working alone. But what we haven’t addressed, is the elephant in the room. At the base of many of our artistic careers is a whole lot of fear, and self-doubt. And often, we don’t even know why….
Today I’d like to talk a bit about self knowledge. I’m not talking about some sort of spiritual quest, though you’re certainly free to take it there if you like. For millennia, religious traditions have used meditation and prayer to look inward, so we know that works well. But what I’m proposing today is that we find some strategies to self-reflect on our businesses, and on ourselves as business owners.
Following our conversations about all the hats we must wear as small creative business men and women is the necessity for each of us to be a self starter. We’ve talked about planning your business, setting goals and seeing your business strategically. We’ve even talked about how to stay motivated. But how can we, who often are working alone, self motivate and create productive work ethics that put all of that planning into action?
At its core, any conversation about self starting is really about organizational skills and time management. These are the same lessons we got in college, and any number of self-help programs we’ve subscribed to. So let’s take those strategies, that advice, and apply it to a small entrepreneurial creative business.
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com
There are three elements to risk management: risk perception, risk assessment, and risk management. As small business owners, how can we identify the risks we face, and find practical ways of diminishing the risks to our creative businesses? In the search for those answers, we cannot forget that no all risks are bad. Risks can also be opportunities, and we as artists must determine how much risk we can tolerate so that we can be cautious of danger, yet still be able to embrace innovation, opportunities and trends. Risk taking does not imply irresponsibility, but to never take risks is not the answer. The trick is to have strategies in place to ameliorate the effects of negative risks, and plans to seize opportunities as they occur. Because there is no way to predict which risks will present themselves, or the positive or negative impact, the best approach is to plan as best we can, respond as quickly as we are able, and to not let fear govern our progress.
Risk taking is a part of our everyday lives. We take risks when we climb the stairs, or drive a car. We take risks when we buy online, or invest in the stock market. As small business owners, we take even more risks to our finances, our livelihood and our work/life balance. The trick is not to avoid risks but to identify them, and manage their impact. Not all risks are bad, many are actually opportunities. That signals that one of the greatest risk to your creative business may be to take no risks at all. This episode discusses how to identify risks, how to manage our perceptions around those risks, and how to either soften their negative effects, or to take advantage of their benefits to our entrepreneurial businesses.
____________________________
Giveaway: This month we’re giving away a free copy of the budget spreadsheet template I use in my business to track sales, expenses, budgets and projects. I hope it will be of use. I have come to depend on it daily. Just click on the link, leave me your email address, and I’ll send you a copy right away. https://www.johnbishopfineart.com/giveaway
In order to be successful as a freelance creative entrepreneur, we must be able to think like a boss, not like an employee. We must drag ourselves out of the operational management of our businesses, if only for a while each day. We must find some time to think strategically about our business' vision, long term goals, and how to steer the business to reach those goals. We have to be able to see the big picture, and not just dwell in the day-to-day operations of our art business.
As small business owners, we’ve taken the time to plan our strategic overarching Vision statements, build good solid goals, objectives and activities to make it all happen. We should be really proud of ourselves. Pat yourself on the back for that.
We can get so involved, so busy doing the day-to-day activities, and putting out fires, that we can easily forget to see our Vision in the minutia of the moment. That’s one of the realities of running a small operation. It’s not like we have a team of experts helping us run things every day. It would be great to just sit in a corner office and think about big strategic visions, with trusted employees giving me great data and sound advice. It’s just the two of us in our business, and it may just be you in yours. The point is not to become perfect at all this, but rather to find ways to incorporate the strategic stuff, with the everyday grunt work we all have to do. We have to believe that they’re both important.
And seeing the big picture is vital to any business or organization. It’s probably core to any marriage as well. Every time you can pull your thinking or planning out of the weeds and to a higher level, you start to make better decisions that carry your mission much further.
I should also have some strategy for keeping our planning sessions strategic. One option would be to make a poster of our vision statement, and hang it on the wall where we see it every day. You could create a dream board that creates triggers to help you remember what is important, why you’re doing the work you do, or provides visual symbols of what success looks like. Perhaps it’s a quote that is meaningful, or a quarter jar that you drop a coin in every time you cross something off your strategic list. Maybe it’s an egg timer. Find something that works for you,
**When you are able to see the big picture, you pull yourself up from operational functions to strategic work, and the strategic work is what is truly transformational in any business or organization. Get the operational stuff done, but spend your best time at 30,000 feet. The view from there is phenomenal.
___________________________________________
Giveaway: This month we’re giving away a free copy of the budget spreadsheet template I use in my business to track sales, expenses, budgets and projects. I hope it will be of use. I have come to depend on it daily. Just click on the link, leave me your email address, and I’ll send you a copy right away. https://www.johnbishopfineart.com/giveaway ____________________________________________
John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations with Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels. We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.**
Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
The more I read about entrepreneurship, the more people seem to conflate it with small business in general. While it makes sense to me that many small businesses can be entrepreneurial, I don't think they all are. There seems to be something more specific, or maybe more uncertain, about what makes an entrepreneur tick.
The research seems to attempt to identify the characteristics of an entrepreneur, and those tend to center around a person's creativity, intuition, decision making abilities, and tolerance to risk. I guess what bugs me about most of these models, is that they're studying the Steve Jobs types, and not really the average Joe like me. The problem is that this type of research tends to center around the rarified personality, the stellar successful businessmen and women who become the stuff of legend.
Did you know for example that entrepreneurs earn an average of twice what an employee earns in a lifetime? We tend to consider the fears and limitations of our creative careers, but we're also sitting on a lot of potential here. Imagine the possibility of doubling your income, and actually doing what you love to do. Not that you're dying to to the marketing and record keeping, but to be able to take your ideas and desires in any direction you choose. To develop your skills and direct the trajectory of your business to follow your bliss. No one said it would be easy, but no one seems to say either that it could be wonderful, life-affirming, and fun.
Mistakes and failures are a part of the process, and are learning experiences. This may be a lot harder for creatives. We're certainly willing and able to take chances, explore new boundaries, and risk more than others, but we also seem to have egos made of glass. We tend to doubt ourselves, break under pressure, and crumble before criticism. So that's somewhere I need to grow. I need to be able to take risks confident that even failure teaches me something... possibly more than success does. I need to be open to, responsive to, but not destroyed by criticism. I need to be able to push past fear of rejection, ridicule and self-doubt. There's a lesson I need to learn. But at its core, entrepreneurship is a way of looking at life, and career. It's not a matter of luck, it's just work.
This week I’ve been thinking a lot about the New Year, resolutions, and how to position my creative business for results in 2021.
Every year, I create goals & objectives that I think are clear, achievable, measurable, and will help me stay focused month after month even when the initial new year high has worn off. But what I have learned as an artist is that my small business is unique, and that the typical measures and outcomes for a creative freelance entrepreneur simply don’t fit. My business does not fit the typical small business mold. We creatives are different, have different measures of success, and we need to approach planning and goal setting differently.
This week I’l be exploring how I set goals and objectives in my art business. Hopefully we can share some ideas, learn from each other, and plan for more success in 2021 than we’ve ever had before.