The artist breakfast was the usual chaos and bedlam and we all love it. Everyone shouts at each other up and down the table, and no one hears a thing. It is like Mad Magazine for middle aged artists. It's fabulous!!
I had a very interesting discussion after breakfast with two of the artists about their local artist coop. It seems that the same problems occur in those type of art groups everywhere. There is always an old guard who has done the same old tired things for years and other people who want to freshen things up and come up with new ideas. My suggestion to them was that they could have a couple of nicely themed invitational shows, inviting bigger named artists in for a special exhibit, getting a sponsor to cover the cost of advertising and to align themselves with an appropriate charity for the theme of the show. This would bring much needed publicity and prestige to their group and probably boost sales if the advertising was done effectively.
One of the common problems for these kinds of galleries is that when people have to "pay to play", it is hard to attract brand name artists and to keep the quality high enough to merit attention.
I have always thought the best way to handle a coop gallery is to have two tiers. One tier for those who will pay to play and babysit the gallery as a member, and then a second tier of artists who consign only, for a higher commission fee, a standard gallery procedure if you will. This way you are bringing up the quality to a higher level but still serving those who just want to rent wall space.
The alternative to this system is the Invitational aspect, where higher end artists are invited to do a single exhibition to raise the interest level of patrons who would not normally shop in a coop.
I also suggested to them that they set term limits for their board of directors to force out board members who stay too long at the fair. I'm of the belief that no one is indispensable and all of us should do our terms in various ways and then move on, giving way to fresh ideas and approaches.
I remember when my daughter was in high school band a few years ago. There were people running the band boosters who had not had children in the band in 5 to 10 years. What on earth were they doing there? They had no business railroading the program for new parents. It was ridiculous!! Every new idea was shot down and they were like Mafia Dons!!
Not one of us needs to be running an organization for more than 3 or 4 years. It is so very easy to get on a power trip, bossing everyone around because that is the way you have always done it. Get over yourself and move on!! New ideas and new blood are good. You just might learn something from the new kid on the block.
The other aspect of a coop is the marketing. All too often there is none. Not even a person in charge of PR. That should be at least 5%-20% of your operating budget every single month.
Rules must be followed for any success at all. Many time the rules are set for some people but not for everyone. This dooms the group to failure, because people resent favoritism.
I really think the best coop situation would be limited in some way so that a theme makes it unique, like a jewelers guild, a potters guild, a landscape painters guild and so forth. Specializing in a genre or product might be better than having the usual array of tons of junky stuff next to high quality work. These coops don't seem to be juried very effectively. There is always a large range of quality. I believe this is why the coop galleries suffer from a lack of prestige. Many people think of them as craft shops or gift shops rather than real galleries.
I have no doubt that there are very high end coops and very successful ones. A lot depends on the community of location. There is a little coop gallery in this county in a tiny town which gets huge support for the town.It is a unique situation. They are also smart enough to have invitational exhibits and themed shows which pull in bigger named guest artists. They also do a very good job of marketing their shows, often having an opening and then a closing reception for shows by well known artists. I have done a few invitational shows with them and have even sold a few small paintings at their shows. I think they are one of the best ones I have seen. They allow the towns people to feel a sense of ownership in the gallery, partnering up with various town improvement projects in order to generate interest and sell work. Of course, some of the work shown is not top notch, but some is, so there is a variety of prices and quality.
I think really successful coops are well thought out and planned carefully for some time before they are opened. Even when old, they keep fresh faces on the board of directors and try new ways to generate interest, sponsoring music, book reading,gardening experts, poetry reading, meet the artist and demos,interesting classes and other ways to draw in people to the gallery.
Today's Recipe:
My sandwich spread
1/2 C mayo
1 T honey
1 tsp mustard
1 T salted butter
Blend until smooth, Great on sandwiches!!
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