The Frame Maker signed on as Event Sponsor to this year’s 25th annual ArtWalk in Little Italy for a variety of reasons, but one of the most important was to find a way to give back some business wisdom & insight to emerging members of the San Diego art community.

All six of the artists working at The Frame Maker right now agree that practical business & marketing skills are nowhere to be found in the curriculum of any art school program, so very few people enter the professional art world with a clue as to how it works, what to expect, and most importantly, what tools & strategies emerging artists have available to make the kind of career they (and their audience) want to see happen. (Five of the six artists went to an art school or through an art program.)

Under the guidance of programming director John Hiemstra, The Frame Maker is now pleased to host San Diego Artist Services, an access point for professional visual artists to the best and most complete range of San Diego’s professional art services.

Five San Diego small businesses working together now provide a prepared, informed, and expert service network for professional artists. With an emphasis on consistent, timeless presentation and marketing strategies based on high production values and modern technologies, San Diego Artist Services covers all the bases:

• Artist branding, identity, and niche market identification
• Consistent graphic identity
• Online portfolios and marketing strategies
• Digital imaging for archive and print reproduction
• Advanced modern printing technologies for fine art, print collateral
• Full range of custom framing, mounting and presentation options
• Professional shipping, crating, delivery and installation of all kinds of artwork
• Trade show/ art fair presentation, booth design, graphics, strategies

We’ll be putting up posts specific to all of the contributors over the next few weeks, but the first full fruition of the project will be on full display this coming weekend in San Diego’s Little Italy for ArtWalk. Come down and see two shows suggesting the potential of the collaborative effort, one a show of experimental digital printing by The Frame Maker artists, the second our new “Business of Art” scholarship program in collaboration with John and ArtWalk director Sandi Cottrell.

The Frame Maker booth will be fun, too, so come visit us this Saturday and Sunday at Fir and India in Little Italy across from the fountain at Piazza Basilone.