Art Palaver is about helping artists sell art by offering resources to help you better market and promote yourself and your art.

As an artist you most likely struggle with the promotion and marketing aspect of the artist life. This is normal. Most artists are not naturals when it comes to marketing and sales. For some it simply seems wrong to spend time and energy into making money from their art.

I believe that the sale of art is part of the process of creating work. Having someone give you money for the creations that you’ve spend so much time on is a way to feed your creative energy. And it allows the process to continue because the revenue provides the resources needed to create more art.

No matter how you were trained as an artist, either in a school or self taught, it is a safe bet that the training did not include business and marketing skills. (Though I hear some creative career schools are starting to ad this.) And without that training and knowledge you bring your craft to the marketplace with little knowledge and understanding of how best to market and promote yourself and be a successful working artist.

Artists are doers, people who are not afraid to work, not afraid to try new things. And artists are accustomed to doing things themselves and not depending on others to do it for them. This “go it alone” attitude can hurt your art business because when it come to marketing you need direction, plans, goals, and sound knowledge.

When starting out money is of course an issue. The term “starving artist” is cliche because so often it is true. Most artists must market themselves with little or no money. And few people are in a position to pursue their art career full time. It is something that must be done while working a “day job” or raising a family, so time spent on marketing can not be wasted, it must be effective.

If any of this resonates with you then ArtPalaver.com is a valuable website to have bookmarked. Here you will not find hyped up claims or over the top sales pitches. This is a site that seeks to be a resource of information, techniques, and strategies that work to effectively help you sell your art no matter what medium you work in. Advice and actionable ideas that you can put to work right away to grow your art business.

Here are just some of the things you will find:

• Easy step by step instructions to building your artist fanbase without spending a lot of money.
• Free online webinars where you can ask and get answers to your marketing questions.
• Free articles that cover a range of topics in art marketing and business.
• Also available is one on one coaching for when you need someone to come alongside you and help guide your specific art marking journey.

Who can I help?

• Artists just out of art school or artists entering the marketplace for the first time who want to establish themselves as quickly as possible.
• Long time artists struggling with new technology and new media who want to reach an online audience.
• Painters, musicians, photographers, sculptors, jewelry makers, writers, and just about anyone who calls themselves an “artist.”
• Creatives feeling stuck and looking for new direction with their careers.

Why me? (I am glad you asked.)

• Like you I am an artist. (I work in photography and mixed media 3D pop art.)
• I spent many years as a manager of a unique business that featured a visual art gallery within a music venue. During my time there I worked with many artists struggling to get started with their career.
• I am 100% committed to helping you succeed as an artist. Art Palaver is a labor of love and everything on, in, or associated with this site is done by me and me alone because I am so passionate about the creative process.
• I work hard to be approachable and available, I value honesty, integrity, and professionalism. Most of all I want to earn your trust.
• I have been in business and marketing for over 20 years and I thrive on applying business sense to the artist’s life.

So who am I?

Hello! My name is Daryle Dickens, the creator and publisher of ArtPalaver.com and owner of Palaver Contemporary Communications. Born in Illinois I joined the Army right after high school, it is there I earned a Humanitarian Service Medal as well as a Presidential Unit Citation. I then attended Southern Illinois University and it was during my time there that I earned a Ducktorate in marketing from Disney University. Then I spent an adventurous summer living in Alaska while working in a salmon cannery. After that I returned home to Illinois to be the primary care giver of my father who was suffering from Alzheimer’s.  Eventually I moved to Colorado and it is where I met my wife and we’ve been married over 8 years now.

I tell you all this so that you can get to know me a bit as well as see I bring a diverse and varied background to the table. I crave change and new experience and the continued pursuit of learning new things. Through Art Palaver I am able to offer the fruits of an explorers life.

You can also connect with me on Twitter as well as LinkedIn. And Art Palaver has a page on Facebook as well.

A bit more about my art…

First I should tell you that I consider Art Palaver to be one of my major creative outlets. This site allows me to work in web design, photography, video production, audio production, and even a bit of graphic design. All of which really keeps me on my toes and keeps the creative juices fresh.

But I also enjoy working with wood and creating colorful unique 3 demensional pieces based on random artifacts from pop culture as well as my life long fascination with skulls. In fact my skull boxes are my best selling work. And through the pseudonym “EchoSeven” I also work in digital photography with a focus on portraiture.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out Art Palaver, I appreciate every reader I have. I desire to build a community around this site and to always be assessable to that community. If you have questions or comments don’t be afraid to send them my way. You can use the contact form here and I’ll do my best to get back to you in a timely manner.