Art Representative, Margaret Danielak, is the owner of Danielak Art which, as it's name suggests, does not have a retail location. Daughter of a painter, and former production coordinator, Margaret sees possibilities where others see nothing.
DanielakArt currently represents an eclectic selection of artworks created by California based contemporary artists and Margaret's father, the late illustrator and landscape painter, Robert G. Stevens (1926 - 2004).
Margaret is also the author of the acclaimed handbook "A Gallery Without Walls, Selling Art in Alternative Venues."
Margaret is active in the Pasadena community, having served on the Junior League of Pasadena's Art Smart Committee (in association with The Armory Center for the Arts) on art projects for disadvantaged youth. She is a member of The Community Women of San Gabriel Valley, the Pasadena Arts Council and the Southern California Women's Caucus for Art.
A.C.T.: What prompted you to start your professional artist representative career?
I am the daughter of artists and grew up in the art business. My father, the illustrator and landscape painter Robert G. Stevens (1926 - 2004) had been in galleries in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where my parents lived, but he lost his favorite gallery when the owner died. It was 1999, and his sales, as well as the sales of his artist friends had fallen way off. One day my mother, who had been assisting him in marketing his work, sent me a portfolio. I showed it to several co-workers at the law firm where I was then working. I immediately sold, on the basis of a photo featuring one of his images, a painting to a woman who had never before purchased original art. I loved the experience of finding a happy home for his work, and that launched us working together and my role in being my father's art rep in California.
A.C.T.: What is your artistic theme? i.e. the signature of artists you represent?
My theme is also the title of my book: "A Gallery Without Walls." I sell my artists' work without a traditional gallery, and also think outside the box with respect to promoting their work. In addition, I sell work that is not the type that is well represented here in Pasadena. I have eclectic taste, and so I represent a variety of art. There is no conflict of interest style-wise with the artists - the audience/collector for one artist may not be the same for another artist I represent. In a word, my theme is variety.
A.C.T.: What makes an artist professional enough for you to represent them? What mistakes do they make?
Artists must have experience showing and selling work for at least five years before I will think about representing them. I have tried to launch unseasoned artists from scratch - people who do not yet have a collector base of support - and have not been successful.
I prefer to work with artists who create new work consistently. I don't care if they have a day job, but my artists need to create new work constantly.
I need quality inventory to sell, so my artists have to have lots of work available, otherwise I am wasting my time and theirs. In addition, I want to see their voice reaching out to me with their work. It needs to grab me. I need to want to buy it myself because if it doesn't grab me enough to make me want to buy it, then I will not be able to sell it to someone else.
The biggest mistake artists make is when they go around their gallery or rep to make the sale directly to a client. Unless you are planning to give your rep a cut of the sale, don't do it. The art world is a small one and your gallery or rep will find out eventually.
In addition, when you part ways with your gallery or rep, make it pleasant and smooth. You never know when you may work with that person again or what they might say to others in the art world about your professionalism or lack thereof.
The other biggest mistake that artists make is to "come on to" a gallery owner/rep at a reception. That is rude to the artist whose work is on display, and it is horrifying for the gallery owner who has only 2 hours during the reception to sell the work on display to collectors. Just introduce yourself, get the director's or gallery owner's card and then call or email them and make an appointment. I value recommendations by artists, dealers or gallery owners I know who refer artists to me. It's a great way to be introduced.
A.C.T.: Please describe a typical day, and a typical month so readers can understand how you manage your time, money and energy.
My schedule varies day to day, but here are some of my key daily activities:
~ If I am not involved in promoting a specific art show then I spend one to two hours on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Email. I do this very early in the morning. I like to know "the rumble in the jungle." By 7:00 a.m. in Pasadena it is 10:00 in New York and someone other than me has sold a painting.
~ I spend about ½ hour on the phone with potential venues, and with my artists and other artists that interest me.
~ I spend an hour following up with clients or potential clients...checking in with them. One way I sell art is to email images with personalized notes to specific clients with images that I think will interest them. That includes a twice monthly newsletter that I send out with new images, and announcements of one kind and another.
~ I spend one hour doing research: reading art magazines, looking at art on the Internet, going to galleries and museums, etc.
~ I also spend about an hour writing - press releases, workshop outlines, proposals and personalized recommendations for my artist consulting clients.
Leading up to a show, which I have had on average four to six times a year (in past years as many as 16 shows in one year) my schedule becomes unraveled. My husband takes over cooking since I tend to put my anxiety into the food, with poor culinary results. I do whatever needs to be done to promote the show. I write press releases, gather the electronic images that I need to represent the show, and contact the media to get coverage for it. (Getting covered by the press is free...) I send out physical and electronic invitations and follow them up with phone calls and notes to clients to encourage them to come. I do everything to promote the show but run naked down the main street with a sign that says "come to the show...and buy art from me!" Once the show is over, I call people again to follow up, and email them, because to me it ain't over until it's over (when the piece sells.)
 If I could clone myself, it would be to do follow-up. Every day and every week, I do follow up activities. For example, I wrote handwritten notes to each of my consulting clients this year before Christmas to thank them for their business. I called my colleagues to wish them a happy holiday. I send out cards and call art clients to wish them a happy new year and chat up my artists including Toni Scott who has a one-woman exhibition on display at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles (CAAM).
A.C.T.: What peak moments have you had as an artist representative?
One special moment was when I sold a large acrylic of my father's to local well-known art collectors. They took down their beloved Millard Sheets painting, which had been installed in a prominent place in their home - above their fireplace - and installed my father's painting there in its place. When I told my father that the clients had replaced a Millard Sheets (the dean of California scene painting and one of my father's heroes) with one of his, he was absolutely thrilled. This was a high point for both of us.
A.C.T.: How do you define success and how do you celebrate it?
Making sales - large or small - makes me feel successful. Connecting with new artist clients and new collectors and finding a happy home for the art makes me feel happy. I celebrate each one with a glass of champagne.
A.C.T.: What challenges have you encountered in your business and how have you handled them?
The biggest obstacle I face is identifying new clients. I have handled this by reaching out via new technologies, namely Facebook and LinkedIn.
In addition, Julie Snyder, one of my represented artists, is completely fluent in creating content via the internet and helped me load my 30 minute TV interview onto my website. I simply let people know about the interview through LinkedIn groups. People went to my website, saw the interview and then contacted me. I received emails from artists and potential collectors in India, Thailand, Denmark, London and New York. Amazing!
A second major challenge has been to find appropriate venues for selling the work in person. The venues I used in the past are not available any more. I am actively seeking to work with new venue owners to exhibit and sell the work.
I believe in smaller more targeted events as well as open public ones. Years ago, I created the Art Tea networking events for women. I sold as much as $12,000 worth of art by pouring tea. Then with follow-up, there were further sales - as much as $20,000.
Another strategy is to create targeted fund raising events where people who attend are interested in acquiring art and have the money to buy it. I create events where they get to meet the artists and have a place to view the work in a more intimate space than a gallery.
A.C.T.: What opportunities has a professional approach to your career brought you that you might otherwise not have had?
Early on I started documenting what I do by writing articles about what I was doing.
I would not have had my book "A Gallery without Walls" selected for publication by a well known publisher in the field of art marketing, namely Constance Smith, Editor and Publisher of ArtNetwork Press, if I had not gotten to know her.
In addition, I would not have been invited to work with you conducting Teleclasses or offering workshops without building relationships.
A.C.T.: Who are your role models and mentors? What was the best advice they gave you?
My mentors include my mother, Wilkie, who was instrumental in getting my father's artwork into galleries, Constance Smith who published my book and also wrote the bible of art marketing, namely "Art Marketing 101", Art Consultant Patrick Ela who encouraged me when I was first starting out, marketing genius Murray Raphel and of course, you Aletta!
Best advice they gave me: "Never give up. Never surrender!" (Which is actually a line from the film Galaxy Quest, but this sums it up!)
A.C.T.: What is your art marketing strategy? What promotional materials and actions do you use most often?
I am a true believer in following up on everything. I keep track of who is interested in what and I am consistently following up with clients and potential clients. I love elephants...because they never forget and neither do I.
The action I use most often is email as a form of communication, including the newsletter that I send out to my mailing list regularly. I used to call people on the phone, and send out postcards but with newer technologies, and people becoming shy about giving out their phone number and address I am using email to stay in touch. This is an advantage if you have fabulous visuals to include.
A.C.T.: What changes have you experienced in the art market and how have you navigated them? What lessons have you learned?
In the ten years that I have been selling art, I have seen massive changes in communication. When I first started selling art, the advice I heard from a well known art rep was that artists didn't need to have a website. This was in 1999. That changed overnight. The artists I have met who have been the most successful at selling their work have rolled with the changes in technology, gotten a digital camera, learned how to use it, gotten a great website up and running, and made use of all available resources to show and sell their artwork. They are not wasting time complaining about it - they are just doing it.
They are keeping up with the times, and I have learned that I need to do so as well. Remember the major lesson in that wonderful book you gave me, "The Art of Selling to the Affluent." Affluent people do research on the Internet. You therefore need to be visible there in order for them do research about you and your work. Being in galleries is great, but you also need a strong web presence otherwise you won't seem real.
A.C.T.: What last words of advice would you pass on to artists who want to be represented?
Stars stand out and if you are one of them, you and your work will get noticed, but you will need to show your work consistently, and work hard to promote it to get there. This is not a passive business. Contrary to popular belief, art does not "sell itself." You need to work your art.
~ Learn as much about the business of art as possible. ~ Build your inventory.~ Get great photographs, then put together a professional looking portfolio and start showing it to people and networking. ~ Do some research about which galleries and reps might be interested in your work to find out if there is a fit. Get recommendations about those people from other artists with whom they have worked so you don't waste your time or theirs. ________
If you want the benefit of more of Artist
Representative Margaret Danielak's wisdom and experience, check out these resources:
~ "A Gallery without Walls" guides artists to select and reserve the best space to exhibit and instructions on how to produce a low-cost art event. Margaret Danielak gives you easy-to-follow recommendations on how to evaluate your art, prepare your work for sale, and promote your events on a limited budget. Buy now ~ "Sell My Art! Finding & Keeping Effective Representation" Margaret will give you the straight story on the questions like: ▪ Where do you go to find an effective gallery or rep?
▪ What qualifications do you need before you approach an art rep?
▪ How do you approach a rep?
▪ How do you keep a rep?
~ As a member of the A.C.T. team*, Margaret is available to work with you individually on your art marketing. There is no minimum time requirement (beyond 1 hour) and a coaching program can be customized to you're your specific needs. Register here for hourly coaching. Margaret understands your concerns and will help you achieve your goals. Margaret will give you the knowledge and confidence to sell your artwork - with or without traditional gallery representation.
* FTC Disclosure: When we find art professionals like Margaret Danielak who have deep, proven experience in a topic that will help you make a better living making art, we put them front and center. When these fine folks offer services and products that are first class, sometimes we agree to help each other get the word out to you with an "affiliate" arrangement, which means that we will earn a small commission for referring you to their resources. Those are marked with an asterisk.
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Aletta de Wal