Sunday 19th October 2014
This was a great (and my first) opportunity to display my books at a local book fair. It was great to see what other artists created and talk to them about their work.
It also raised questions about pricing book art work, which we all agreed, was very difficult. Typically, a buyer would be prepared to pay a couple of hundred pounds for an small original watercolour painting, but not for an original, one-off hand made book. Both artists would have spent hours working in their art, not forgetting the time spent training, qualifying and reading about art. Is the problem the book concept - once read, it's finished with?
It is frustrating and I came to the conclusion that I would still make the larger, more complex one-off books, but also focus on making multiples of smaller, inexpensive books that people are prepared to buy. By doing this, hopefully more books will sell and more people will get to know my work. I guess it's about getting the balance right!
This was a great (and my first) opportunity to display my books at a local book fair. It was great to see what other artists created and talk to them about their work.
It also raised questions about pricing book art work, which we all agreed, was very difficult. Typically, a buyer would be prepared to pay a couple of hundred pounds for an small original watercolour painting, but not for an original, one-off hand made book. Both artists would have spent hours working in their art, not forgetting the time spent training, qualifying and reading about art. Is the problem the book concept - once read, it's finished with?
It is frustrating and I came to the conclusion that I would still make the larger, more complex one-off books, but also focus on making multiples of smaller, inexpensive books that people are prepared to buy. By doing this, hopefully more books will sell and more people will get to know my work. I guess it's about getting the balance right!
A selection of my hand made books.
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