Live on Your Art: How To Market Your Art and Make a Living

"Making art is one thing; making a living at art is another," asserts visual artist and artist advisor Liron Sissman, the author of "Getting Your Art into Corporate Collections, Why it Pays, How to Do It, Who to Contact."

Sissman appears in Montclair to conduct an afternoon "Art Business and Marketing" workshop" on Sunday, October 24 from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Montclair Art Museum's Yard School of Art. Her program there earlier this year, in February, exceeded capacity. Yard School director Kate Hutson talked about the workshop: "Ms. Sissman is offering valuable knowledge to up-and-coming artists who are seeking to further their business," Hutson said. "The school is thrilled to be able to offer this service to its students."

"It's a popular workshop! It covers what every artist should know, yet isn't being taught," Sissman said. "It covers the whole spectrum: Thinking about one's art, market testing it, creating public awareness, selecting and effectively approaching galleries, and how to create multiple revenue streams off one's artworks."

Other topics will include copyright law for artists, taxes, and self-publishing. Artists are asked to bring their existing resumes, biographies, artist statement, and any other marketing materials they already have. A particular emphasis is placed on how to best present work on your own or through artist collective Web sites.

Sissman has led many similar workshops including ones at the Newark Museum and the Visual Arts Center in Summit as well as at the Katonah and Garrison Arts Centers in New York, and elsewhere in Connecticut.

Award-winning artist Sherry Mayo, who is also currently the Director, Center for the Digital Arts, Westchester Community College, offered an assessment: "Few artists are savvy about being an entrepreneur, fewer are generous enough to share trade secrets ... Sissman's workshop offered both," Mayo said.

Sissman knows firsthand how to succeed in business and in art; she has accomplished both. Sissman's first love was art. Born in the United States to Israeli parents, Sissman grew up in Israel and studied art there before moving to the New York City area. She later continued her art studies at the New York Academy of Art and elsewhere. 

The state of the U.S. economy pointed Sissman to earning a Bachelor of Science degree, cum laude, and, later, an MBA from New York University. While continuing to paint, Sissman entered the pharmaceutical industry, rising to chief financial officer of Taro Pharmaceuticals in Westchester County.

When still fairly young, Sissman was able to leave her day job to paint full time and to advise other artists.

"I want to share with other artists how to have their art seen properly and how to sell their art," Sissman said. "An artist has to articulate what their art is and create desire for their art in people's minds."

Her work has been exhibited at major hospitals, including Valley Hospital in Ridgewood, near her Bergen County home. She is represented by many galleries, has exhibited in New York City, as well as nationwide and worldwide, and is in more than 100 private collections in the United States and abroad. 

Sissman's painting, "Hudson River at Boscobel," will be seen by a nationwide audience when it shows in a 2011 major film, "Something Borrowed," starring Kate Hudson.

MAM is at 3 South Mountain Ave., Montclair. The workshop fee is $75 for museum members, $85 for non-members. The workshop will be held in the third floor library reading room. For more information, call 973-259-5139 or see Yard School of Art - Montclair Art Museum.