Bowen Island ranks fifth among small rural Canadian municipalities when it comes to the number of residents who derive an income from the arts. But how much money do artists make? And how do they go about marketing? On February 4, Bowen's visual artists will have a chance to learn about selling their art from best-selling author Chris Tyrell. Tyrell will hold a workshop from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Rob Wall Gallery at Artisan Square.
The event is sponsored by the Bowen Island Arts Council and organized by Marc Baur. "It's going to be a one-day marketing intensive for visual artists," Baur said. "It consists of fourseparateworkshops, given one after the other."
Baur is new to Bowen; he is also new to the field of visual arts. "My wife and I moved to Bowen Island last September," Baur said. "We learned that Bowen has a great need for volunteers and if you're not careful, you find yourself on a number of boards and committees." The couple got involved with the Arts Council and Baur has been active on the organization's board.
"I have organized workshops and events for over 25 years," Baur said. "I taught and produced over 150 workshops across Canada, most of them relating to the performing arts." In the past, Baur has worked as an actor and acting coach. He said, "I heard Bowen Island was a great place to reinvent yourself so I made the change to the visual arts." Baur has been working as a visual artist for over a year. He said, "I discovered that when I work in oil or acrylics, my paintings turn out to be too realistic. I was looking for a medium where I can't do that."
Baur was drawn to the art of chigiri-e that uses an ancient Japanese technique to create images from hand-made paper.
"Being an actor meant that I was in the second lowest income bracket. And with becoming a visual artist, I actually dropped even lower," Baur said. "If I'm a visual artist, I want to make a living. I decided that I needed to know how to market my art." Baur picked up Tyrell's book Artist Survival Skills and had the idea to invite the author. "I thought this man lives in Vancouver, why not invite him to come and speak," Baur said.
The workshop costs $149 and covers pricing of artwork, time management, direct sales, communication strategies and effective sales methodologies. It should find resonance on Bowen Island. Jacqueline Massey, executive director of the Bowen Island Arts Council, said, "We have statistics that show that many islanders consider themselves artists and derive an income from the arts." Massey referred to a Hill Strategies polling that identified Bowen Island as having the fifth highest number of artists in small rural Canadian municipalities. In 2004, another study was done in preparation of the cultural master plan. It found that 12 per cent of islanders receive over 50 per cent of their total income from the arts. Massey said, "The source could be filmmaking, music, visual arts, literary arts and so on." And 44 per cent of respondents stated that they consider themselves to be artists; 27 per cent of the adult population stated that they receive some income from the arts.
