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denisejhoward
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- #1
Over a few years, you’ve finished a few dozen artworks as you experimented with different media and different brands of pencils and papers. Sometimes you frame your work under museum glass, sometimes under plexiglass to save a little money, sometimes you just stack them in a drawer. Sometimes you work small, sometimes you work larger. Maybe you’ve started entering some exhibits to see what happens. Now you just learned there’s an exhibit coming up that you’d like to enter, and their requirements are that entries can be no more than three years old, must be framed but not under glass, and must be no larger than 12” x 12” inclusive of the frame. The submission deadline is tomorrow. Quick: which of your pieces could you enter? If you have to run around your house holding a tape measure to your artworks on the walls and pulling stacks of drawings out of drawers to answer, this article is for you.
In the beginning of your art-making years, you’re sure you’ll always remember what size your pieces are, what supplies and brands you used, etc., but trust me: you won’t! As the number of your artworks grows and grows, eventually you may even struggle to remember the titles you gave them. It’s crucial to maintain a list, or better yet a spreadsheet, of all the details of every finished artwork so they’re always available in moments.
My art details spreadsheet started out with just the basics: title, size, pencil brands, surface, and price. I inserted a horizontal separator for each year. In time, I added several fields to help me remember how they were framed, how much the framing cost, and if they’ve been sold, who bought them. As the list grew even longer, I added a tiny thumbnail image of each because they’re easier to scan through and recognize than the titles. I finally color-coded the rows of those that have been sold or are at the gallery that represents me, so I won’t accidentally submit to a show a piece I don’t have. (Another lesson I learned the hard way!)
Part of the satisfaction of completing a new drawing is adding its new line in my spreadsheet. With well over 200 pieces recorded in it so far, it’s become indispensable to me.
My spreadsheet especially came in handy earlier this year when an opportunity suddenly arose for me to have a solo show of 25-30 pieces if I could choose a theme, choose my pieces, and pull together all the information the gallery needed about them within a week. The curator was impressed that I was able to do it. I couldn’t have done it without my spreadsheet!
The columns in my artwork details spreadsheet are:
Artwork Title
Image (thumbnail)
Size
Medium (e.g., graphite or cp)
Brand (e.g., Prismacolor)
Surface (e.g., Stonehenge)
Framed Under (e.g., museum glass)
Frame Material (e.g., metal or wood)
Framed Size
Price
Framing Cost
Status (e.g., Sold)
Date Sold
Commission? (Y if done for a client)
Last Name
First Name
Email
PhoneAddress
City, State, Zip
Notes
Screenshot of a few lines of my details spreadsheet (click to enlarge)
While you’re at it, add a second tab to your spreadsheet for “Shows and Awards”, also ordered by year. This one will help you remember that you already exhibited that piece in a particular show so it’s not eligible to enter in that show again, or the show in which it won an award, or the publication it was in. The columns in mine are:
Artwork Title
Show
Venue (blank if show was online)
City (“online” if the show was online; “book” if published in a book)
Mo/Year
Award?
Notes (e.g., juror name or magazine issue)
Screenshot of a few lines of my shows and awards spreadsheet (click to enlarge)
Recently, a fellow artist told me she uses an online tool to do all this. When I looked into it, it turned out to be the inventory system for the back end of her website, for which she pays a subscription fee. And it didn’t provide for tracking such things as framing info, owner info, and exhibits. So it serves a different purpose, and I still think a simple spreadsheet is the way to go.
You might think of additional info to track about your artworks. Go for it! There’s no such thing as too much information about them. If you already forgot some information, that’s okay—fill in what you do remember, and start now with the artworks you still have in your possession. You probably have more artworks than you think! As they say about investing, the best time to start was yesterday; the second best time is now.
In the beginning of your art-making years, you’re sure you’ll always remember what size your pieces are, what supplies and brands you used, etc., but trust me: you won’t! As the number of your artworks grows and grows, eventually you may even struggle to remember the titles you gave them. It’s crucial to maintain a list, or better yet a spreadsheet, of all the details of every finished artwork so they’re always available in moments.
My art details spreadsheet started out with just the basics: title, size, pencil brands, surface, and price. I inserted a horizontal separator for each year. In time, I added several fields to help me remember how they were framed, how much the framing cost, and if they’ve been sold, who bought them. As the list grew even longer, I added a tiny thumbnail image of each because they’re easier to scan through and recognize than the titles. I finally color-coded the rows of those that have been sold or are at the gallery that represents me, so I won’t accidentally submit to a show a piece I don’t have. (Another lesson I learned the hard way!)
Part of the satisfaction of completing a new drawing is adding its new line in my spreadsheet. With well over 200 pieces recorded in it so far, it’s become indispensable to me.
My spreadsheet especially came in handy earlier this year when an opportunity suddenly arose for me to have a solo show of 25-30 pieces if I could choose a theme, choose my pieces, and pull together all the information the gallery needed about them within a week. The curator was impressed that I was able to do it. I couldn’t have done it without my spreadsheet!
The columns in my artwork details spreadsheet are:
Artwork Title
Image (thumbnail)
Size
Medium (e.g., graphite or cp)
Brand (e.g., Prismacolor)
Surface (e.g., Stonehenge)
Framed Under (e.g., museum glass)
Frame Material (e.g., metal or wood)
Framed Size
Price
Framing Cost
Status (e.g., Sold)
Date Sold
Commission? (Y if done for a client)
Last Name
First Name
PhoneAddress
City, State, Zip
Notes
Screenshot of a few lines of my details spreadsheet (click to enlarge)
While you’re at it, add a second tab to your spreadsheet for “Shows and Awards”, also ordered by year. This one will help you remember that you already exhibited that piece in a particular show so it’s not eligible to enter in that show again, or the show in which it won an award, or the publication it was in. The columns in mine are:
Artwork Title
Show
Venue (blank if show was online)
City (“online” if the show was online; “book” if published in a book)
Mo/Year
Award?
Notes (e.g., juror name or magazine issue)
Screenshot of a few lines of my shows and awards spreadsheet (click to enlarge)
Recently, a fellow artist told me she uses an online tool to do all this. When I looked into it, it turned out to be the inventory system for the back end of her website, for which she pays a subscription fee. And it didn’t provide for tracking such things as framing info, owner info, and exhibits. So it serves a different purpose, and I still think a simple spreadsheet is the way to go.
You might think of additional info to track about your artworks. Go for it! There’s no such thing as too much information about them. If you already forgot some information, that’s okay—fill in what you do remember, and start now with the artworks you still have in your possession. You probably have more artworks than you think! As they say about investing, the best time to start was yesterday; the second best time is now.