By Douglas Mesney
For The Beachcomber
The buzz now is all about the recovery.
Folks wonder if it’s for real, and everyone is looking for clues. Pundits and pollsters point to the stock market as a leading indicator of the country’s fiscal health.
They should use Vashon Island’s Art Studio Tour instead, because art is the true measure of our worth as people, as a community and as a nation.
Art lights our lives, and when it is absent, we call those times dark ages.
Great art is born of hard times and now is no exception. When money runs short, only the best survives.
You couldn’t help but notice that at the recent Vashon Allied Arts auction. Incredible works came under the hammer for a steal. Many artists attending didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Some said, “never again.”
But never say “never.”
Now the art studio tour bids for attention, and my money is on the side of the optimists who predict 2009 will be a banner year.
This is not based on insider information, just common sense and a bit of déjà vu. Those who’ve lived through earlier recessions can remember how it felt when the “green shoots” appeared.
Optimism is something that artists are good at. They have to be because the very term “art business” is an oxymoron. Compliments often count as much as cash. Yet the world is full of art, so there’s a clue. Faith is its own reward.
My optimism comes from our giclée customers at Vashon Island Imaging who are Island artists and craftsmen. Our slogan is, “if you don’t look good, we don’t look good.” However, these days it could equally well be, “if you’re not selling, neither are we.” But business is good. My customers are confident, a confidence I share, because art is grassroots, and there are green shoots.
People are starting to buy stuff again because they heard the buzz and believe it. Art buyers and collectors hear the buzz, too, and they know that prices will never be this low again for a good long time.
Buyers will be looking for bargains, and the sales-savvy artist will be ready. That’s my strategy, anyway. Irresistibly low prices. Get ’em while they last.
But the art studio tour isn’t just about cash and carry in the art department. The tour also offers insight through customer contact.
Art is about face-to-face, not Facebook. While marketers use focus groups to find out what people think and zero in on what sells, the art tour is like a focus group on steroids. Artists get quality face time with customers to learn what they like, and customers love schmoozing with artists. This kind of symbiosis creates the synergism that leads to sales. The better that artists are known, the better their chances for selling.
That’s why our welcome mat is out at the Vashon Island Art Studio Tour. We’re looking forward to greeting visitors with more hospitality and better offerings than ever before. Our theme song? You guessed it: “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful.”
— Douglas Mesney is the owner of Vashon Island Imaging.
