NEW YORK, NY.- The SURTEX and the National Stationary Show just wrapped up a successful pair of May 2015 shows at the Javits Center in New York City. SURTEX is devoted to selling and licensing original art and design for all types of products. The NSS is a comprehensive marketplace for greeting cards, stationery, crafting products, and more. These two shows serve as examples of two great events where artists can turn design and expressed ideas into extended reach, financial reward, and greater community.

Many people think of art as limited to a painting on the wall or a piece of sculpture perched on its base. But art fuels commercial marketplaces. Artists need to think beyond the canvas to access opportunities. Technology is greatly advancing the power, reach, and options of the individual artist. The notion of the “starving artist” as the World’s long suffering but under appreciated value creator need not be so. Rewarding opportunities emerge for artists through partnerships, technology, crowdfunding, community building, and friendly self-promotion. Conferences and trade shows can serve as key parts in the process of creating such opportunities for artists.

What were inspiring to see at NSS and SURTEX were artist created businesses growing in size, scope, and quality that started as art projects in basements and at kitchen tables. These art-based businesses are now reaching global audiences and providing the artist founders with platforms to continue creating and showing their art. Dozens of artists who were at these shows are doing the creative work that they feel destined to do. Several of these artists stood out for the quality of their craft and as examples of what can be done:

Molly Rosner of American Dream House at SURTEX
Sitting at her SURTEX booth, Molly Rosner beamed as she told her story of launching her art brand as part of her student show at Boston University in 2013. Since then, Molly has been building her brand as she created work used by Nickelodeon, Trader Joe’s, the American Music Awards, and more. Molly’s style is hand painted Pop Art with cheerful colors. Looking on at Molly’s first SURTEX booth is Nancy Rosner, Molly’s mother, who is alternating in her role as salesperson, mover, caterer, and cheerleader. What stands out is that Molly’s paintings, photographs & sculptures are delightful and are available to a wider and wider audience because of her newly found licensing partnerships. The art can be bought directly from Molly as the artist, and it is also available on a larger scale as elements integrated with licensees. This licensing lets Molly create more art, build a bigger audience, and dedicate herself to her passion.

James Quigley of Model Citizen Press at NSS
After being laid off from his graphic design job of 21 years, James Quigley hit the ground running to pursue his letterpress passion full time. James launched Model Citizen Press with his kitchen table as his business office and shared access to a printing press as his production facility. James uses both his own designs and collaborates with friends to share opportunity with them and to add other designs beyond his own style. Starting with direct to consumer sales, James earned accolades, collected loyal fans, added wholesale capacity to his business, and is now carried in select retailers around the U.S. The array of designs from Model Citizen Press stood out as inventive, sometimes quirky, and sometimes practical. James has built a business around his passion.

Kristi Caterson of LizaBelle Studio at SURTEX
It was the beautiful designs, vibrant colors, and friendly smile at booth 248 that made it a popular place to do business during the 2015 SURTEX show. While this year was Kristi’s first at SURTEX, she has a 20-year career of creating artwork, previously for others and now for her own design firm. Seeing Kristi developing the scale and reach of her audience by attending SURTEX clearly demonstrated the power of licensing to get art/design seen, share in the rewards, and contribute beyond one’s self. Hearing Kristi talk about the community of folks at the show (some of whom she has done business with before), it becomes clear that opportunity can travel through the grapevine to find the right artist, but the artist must be listening. Some of Kristi’s designs are now destined to go on textiles, rugs, wall coverings, apparel, stationary and more.

Brian Frankel is the author of this article. Brian is an artist, filmmaker, and business attorney based in Washington D.C. Brian volunteers as Executive Director of D.C. Media Makers, serves on the Board of Directors of Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, and is an avid fan of Florida Gator Football. www.brianfrankel.com @brianfilms

SURTEX 2015 went from May 17-19 and marked the 29th year for the show. SURTEX is devoted to selling and licensing original art and design for all types of products. SURTEX draws hundreds of designers from around the world to New York City, where the designers are given the opportunity to market their collections to manufacturers of products for home, stationery, giftware, toys, publishing, contract, and more. Exhibitors and attendees came from over 49 countries including United Kingdom, Japan, Mexico, Israel, Italy, France, Canada and Germany.

The 2015 National Stationery Show [“NSS”] ran from May 17-20 and marked its 69th year. The NSS is a comprehensive marketplace for greeting cards, stationery, crafting products, and more. Known for its depth and caliber of selection, the NSS serves as the launching pad for many emerging and trend setting businesses each year. The 2015 NSS drew about 10,000 diverse buyers from all 50 states and over 55 countries. They buyers represent retailers, importers, distributors, licensors, special-event planners, corporate marketers and more.