One of the things we pride ourselves on here at Artfinder is how international our team is. As a native of Toronto, I have been desperate to get an Artfinder Meetup together in my home city since I moved to London for this job a year ago.
Since moving, I learned that I’ve been an art-finder (excuse the pun) my entire life! In fact, it is this quest for art that has enabled me to better artists’ experiences on Artfinder. It was therefore exciting to discover that there are currently 40 Artfinder artists living in and around the creative city that I call my home and it was great to meet some of them in person.
It is this that makes Artfinder so much more than the day-to-day operations; it is about understanding how to sell original art, what techniques do and don’t work, then sharing this knowledge with our artists. Why? Because the act of selling art online is a very different animal to selling art by the traditional gallery model. And that's what makes Artfinder different.
Michael Warren, Alfred Ng, Julia Hacker and Gwen Duda, with fellow artist Vladimir Kabelik behind the camera.">
Here’s what I learned from the Meetup that sets Artfinder apart:
1. Community matters
Receiving feedback from other artists and participating in events and conversations outside of Artfinder are so important. No artist is an island; they collaborate, explore and experiment together. Our artist Forum allows artists to ask questions in a positive space and engage with the things that really matter to them!
2. We are all entrepreneurs
In the Artfinder Support team, we often find ourselves saying that artists are our business partners in every transaction, and so we all work together to give art buyers the best possible experience. It therefore seems obvious that...
3. We can’t do this alone
Artfinder is collaborative. We cannot succeed without feedback from our artists, and our artists should stand to benefit from the advice that we provide.
4. Every listing is what you make it
Because every listing is a sales opportunity. This, too, is a collaborative endeavour - artists should understand that stories sell, and we at Artfinder can help them do that!
5. It’s all about going global
There is nothing more rewarding than facilitating sales that connect an artist in one part of the world with a customer from other! This is where traditional galleries let artists down - empowering artists to sell internationally is an imperative!
So here’s to more Meetups! It’s so important that these face-to-face conversations continue to happen so that we can change the world of art together! Thank you to everyone in Toronto who participated at the Meetup, and to all of you artists who make my job so rewarding.
Header image: 'Celebration of Spring' by Alfred Ng
