Philippa Stevenson: Think locally, market globally

Artists have always made us look at the world differently, but now the internet is doing the same for a growing number of them.

Waikato sculptor Roger Thomas finds it "weird" to be successfully marketing globally from his home west of Ngaruawahia.

"Here we are in a little valley in the middle of nowhere communicating with Los Angeles, California, and it's so easy to do," said the artist.

"You create what you want, take a picture of it, and send it on email as an attachment. It's quicker than working in your own hometown. You just whack it on the computer. You don't even have to drive into town."

Thomas has sold his chainsaw-crafted ponga carvings overseas by making contacts the traditional way - for instance through the Ellerslie Flower Show. But it was an order over the internet that had him filling a 6m container destined for Ireland.

An inquiry via the internet has given his business a "whole new swerve", with Thomas reaping the royalties from his original artwork turned into resin replicas.

A California company has the replicas made in China and sells them in the United States. Thomas expects delivery of some of the resin works in the next week, which he will distribute here.

Thomas is no computer whiz. A one-man Christchurch-based website designer set up his site and continues to update it.

Coming to grips with computers can be one of the biggest hurdles for wannabe internet marketing artists, but as the word gets around about the opportunities from this window to the world, an increasing number of painters, potters and sculptors are tackling their technophobia.

Of 19 artists in the latest Hamilton art trail brochure, six have internet sites. So does the 17-member Artnexus Waikato artists' co-operative.

Five years ago, Singapore-born co-op member and painter Nancy Caiger set up a "little internet site so my family could see my work. It grew like topsy".

Learning how to run a website as she went, she offered web space to a group of artist friends and became the webmaster for the next four years.

The group's main methods of getting before the public used to be small exhibitions and the walls of retail galleries or cafes. It was hard to break out of a tight geographical area.

"Going to galleries in Auckland is difficult," Caiger said.

"It's a chicken-and-egg situation. A lot of galleries expect you to be established before they will exhibit you but they won't give us a start."

The big world on the end of the computer almost guarantees exposure.

"It's an ongoing catalogue of our work. When travelling, you can refer to our website instead of having to take a portfolio with you, and it's an entrée with galleries. We would have had to do more knocking on doors without it. It's a short cut, a fast track into the gallery scene."

Thanks to its website, Artnexus works have sold throughout New Zealand and made "a steady trickle" of sales overseas. Caiger has had shows in Japan and Portugal from internet inquiries and sold works in Paris and Boston as a result of the international network of artists that links through the website.

The challenge, Caiger says, is to stand out among a plethora of art websites. Updating content with new works is important to keep the attention of search engines and returning browsers. Keeping the site fresh has been easier since enabling each of the group to input their own art.

Going solo was time-consuming, said painter Collette Fergus, but with half her work now sold through her internet site, it has its rewards. She had no computer experience before entering cyberspace with the help of a company offering "websites for idiots".

"The upside is a 24/7 gallery, and I don't have to spend time sitting there waiting for customers ... I can get on with my art."

The downside can be artworks not shown to the best advantage, people afraid of buying over the net and the occasional crank email.

Caiger has found no serious pitfalls to internet marketing. Rip-offs can as readily occur from an original work as from a digital image.

Having an internet shop window gives power to artists, she says. "Galleries are dictated to by their clientele, and they become the arbiters of taste to some extent. Because you are on the web you get to be the arbiter. You get the control back."

For Fergus there is no turning back. "If you're not on it, you're not in the game."