On Community, Breaking New Ground and Wisdom

What non-traditional meth­ods do you use to mar­ket and sell your art? For exam­ple, plac­ing it on mugs, bags, etc.

I love to cre­ate art glass jew­elry with my pho­tographs. I have two lev­els to fit every bud­get. The first are art glass pen­dants and rings that are priced at $15 and make per­fect lit­tle gifts:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mkcphotography?section_id=6215479
The sec­ond is a line of truly stun­ning wear­able art pen­dants, fea­tur­ing the same art glass tiles, but this time framed in hand­made ster­ling sil­ver set­tings:
http://www.artfire.com/users/mkcphotography
My dear friend and jew­elry designer Layne Freed­line (www.laynedesigns.com)  makes the set­tings for me. They are an invest­ment at $75 each, but they really are a beau­ti­ful piece of wear­able art.

I also have a line of eco-friedly, Fair Trade tote bags called “The Book Bag” which fea­tures the still life “My Favorite Things.”
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21046522
I hand-transfer each pho­to­graph using a spe­cial medium — they are def­i­nitely a labor of love!

What do you do dif­fer­ently to get your work out to those who want it

I think the most unique thing is my blog — story telling really con­nects peo­ple with the images. It goes from being some­thing pretty, to some­thing they really con­nect with and want to have. Many artists have a blog, but I have read­ers world­wide who share my blog with their friends, post it on their web­sites, and really engage with me. I’m not sell­ing any­thing on my blog — I’m sim­ply shar­ing sto­ries, and I think peo­ple really appre­ci­ate that.

Do you have a com­mu­nity of followers/buyers?

I have dear friends (and cus­tomers that have become friends) who are just unbe­liev­ably sup­port­ive of me and my work. They often pro­vide me with inspi­ra­tion and ideas (one great idea was the “Alpha­bet Soup!” book — sev­eral  cus­tomers saw the fine art prints and sug­gested I cre­ate a book out of the series). I love hav­ing a Face­book page where I can really com­mu­ni­cate with and dis­cuss my work with friends and fans.

What meth­ods do you use to build your community?

I try to do sev­eral art shows a year (prefer­able indoor, because I always bring the rain when they are out­side!), I’m cur­rently in two gal­leries in Philadel­phia and hope to expand even more in 2010, and I’m very devoted to work­ing with sev­eral char­i­ties for whim I reg­u­larly donate work (Avon Breast Can­cer Cru­sade, Phi­l­abun­dance, and Philly Aids Thrift). I think it’s incred­i­bly impor­tant to choose a few char­i­ties close to your heart and give of your time and tal­ent — noth­ing feels bet­ter than rais­ing money for a truly good cause.

Wis­dom and Sharing

What are the most impor­tant lessons you have learned about being an artist and sell­ing your work?

You don’t always have to say “yes.” Peo­ple often ask if I do wed­dings, por­traits, etc. and I’ve learned to com­fort­ably say “no.” I don’t have the time or desire to become involved in that area of pho­tog­ra­phy, and I’ve learned that being a strictly fine art pho­tog­ra­pher is incred­i­bly ful­fill­ing for me.

Are you help­ing other artists, espe­cially emerg­ing artists, develop their voice?

I always try to give advice (only if it’s solicited!) to oth­ers who are in the same posi­tion. I have a won­der­ful net­work of pho­tog­ra­pher friends and I’m always happy to share expe­ri­ences, advice, and thoughts with them. My father-in-law, George Krie­man, is an incred­i­bly tal­ented painter and has just decided to foray into the world of mar­ket­ing — I just cre­ated a Face­book busi­ness page for him and taught him how to upload his images. He refuses to even con­sider Twit­ter, but I told him i’d be happy to help him if he changes his mind!
Too many peo­ple see the busi­ness of art as a com­pet­i­tive endeavor, and I think they are miss­ing out on the true cin­ergy of what an artist com­mu­nity can be.

If you could pass on one gem of wis­dom to other artists, what would it be?

Find what makes your work truly unique, and then find a way to tell oth­ers about it in less than 30 sec­onds. Don’t be afraid to talk about your work if some­one asks!