Being Organised . Inventory System . part 2

A little more on starting or keeping a good inventory system.

Do :

- if you are just starting out with a system, do work backwards from your most recent work. It can seem overwhelming to inventory a career's worth of art. So start with the art that is freshest in your mind.

- do set yourself realistic goals for putting all your previous years work into the inventory system. Being totally honest 🙃 it's taken me quite a few years to put all my 14 years of making into the system (being in lockdown helped me to finish this task).

- do only use really good photos, this will be the first impression that people get of your work. If you only have a 'bad' pic of an old work that has already sold and is untraceable, still use it, but do not put that entry into the public system. If you have no pic of a work that is now untraceable, still put it into the system but again don't put it into the public system.

- do record as many details as you can for each piece, title, dimensions, inventory number, creation date, price, medium, subject matter and category. https://www.artworkarchive.com/artists has such a great easy to use system, that has all this (and more) available.

- do add a description into the pieces that are on your public page, this is the 'story' that helps people connect with a piece.

- do use the notes space, if you want to add any thoughts you had while creating the artwork, material notes, inspirations etc.

- do set yourself aside some time each month to update your system, add any extra work you have made, record any sales/donations/gifts and to allocate new works to the correct locations/galleries.

- do use the exhibitions/competition feature of the system. This gives you a great record of which ones accepted which artworks, which ones sold etc. This can give you more of an idea of which ones to work with in following years.

- do keep your location/gallery/venue info up to date. This will show you where each piece is and what pieces are selling.

This ArtBizTip is written in conjunction with Katie from @ArtworkArchive. https://www.artworkarchive.com/artists

Here is my Artwork Archive address .. https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/liz-mcauliffe/collections pop over and have a browse.

I use the Professional package at around $140 NZ per annum, for what I get (HEAPS) this is a cheap cost. Apprentice is around half that and is a great package to start on.

Artwork Archive also does a free 30 day trial !