Can you share an example of a successful pivot from show circuit struggles?

One artist was doing the show circuit with various Midwest animal paintings. Sales were somehow okay but not great. After spending eight hours on her feet in a booth at live art shows, coming home dusted and exhausted, she was questioning what she was doing because it wasn’t working. She made a huge pivot and arrived at sports team art—specifically Kansas Jayhawks imagery. This one big pivot completely launched her career. Later, she did another micro-pivot doing news-jacking: when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, she created a timely portrait (even though she hadn’t been known for portraits). She instantaneously sold the original and a tremendous amount of prints. Both pivots transformed her struggling business.

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Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2021-01-15