Starving Artist No More: How One Artist is Using E-commerce to Turn Her Passion into Profits

Artists often have difficulty striking a balance between their creative pursuits and their financial needs. The challenge of finding a career as an artist often leads many to turn their creative passions into hobbies or side jobs while working full-time in another field to pay the bills. Not so for Renee Coates. A Hawaiian native and accomplished artist, Coates, who recently relocated to the Washington, DC area, has found a unique way to turn her paintings and collages into profits using e-commerce. Her website 52pieces.com and its sister site, 52prints.com, has allowed her to sell her artwork to an international audience and successfully turn her craft into a career.

As a child growing up in Hana, Maui, Renee found inspiration all around her. A look at many of her paintings will transport you to the colorful island home of her childhood. "I've been drawing ever since I could hold a crayon," says Coates of her artistic development. As she entered adolescence Renee began to explore other mediums for her work including paint and collages. With the unwavering support of her parents, Renee was able to expand her skills at various art academies and summer programs across the country. Her parents even sent her to study plein air painting in France for a summer while she was still high school.

In addition to their support of her creative growth, Coates says her parents were also vital to the development of her entrepreneurial spirit. Her father, the owner of a kayaking business in Hawaii, turned his love of the ocean into a profitable living for their family. Not only did her parents encourage their children to "love what you do and do what you love", they were able to lead by example. As a middle school student in Maui, Renee got her first taste of business ownership by creating jewelry and selling her creations to local gift shops around the island. The experience served as an early induction into the many facets of running a business. Not only did she create the products herself but she was responsible for packaging and selling shop owners to carry her pieces.

Renee continued to pursue art passionately and as a high school senior, was awarded first place in the Sterling Scholar award for the visual arts, the state's highest honor for art students. The recognition of experienced artists and the local media gave Renee her first taste of life as an artist. For the first time her work was being acknowledged by people who had no personal investment in her success. While some teens may have rested on the accolades of these experts, Renee took the attention as further motivation to refine her skills and pursue a career in art. She graduated and made the big move from her small island home to the hustle and bustle of New York City to pursue a degree at Fashion Institute of Technology.

In spite of her early success as an entrepreneur, Renee went to the Fashion Institute of Technology with plans to "play it safe" and pursue a degree in textile/surface design. "I was afraid of becoming the starving artist and venturing into something unstable," says Coates of her early plans at college. But her desire to do something creative on her own terms was not so easily dismissed. While still in college, Renee began creating gift cards, calendars, and other stationary items with her images to sell back home. Gift shops and hotels in the islands began to carry her items and before she knew it some of her artwork was selling at the Hana Coast Gallery in Maui.

As graduation approached Renee realized it was time to make a choice- a safe job in a textile studio or pursue her dreams of painting every day. She opted to step out on faith in her talents and pursue her passion back home in Hawaii. Confident that she could create a successful career in art, Renee began creating and selling her pieces. Soon there were galleries calling for more of her work and private commissions were being requested. The artist had found success following her dreams. Yet by mid-2008, Renee was distracted, jumping from piece to piece and increasingly frustrated by her inability to reach a wider audience. As the economy continued to turn for the worse she found more and more people financially unable to purchase original artwork. "I realized a large percentage of my friends and family [members] don't own one of my originals. I had commanded a price most artists only dream of, yet had catered to the few who could afford me."

In search of a new way to share her work and a more disciplined routine, Renee, with the help of her longtime boyfriend, developed the concept for 52pieces. "I loved the idea of 'self-publishing' and not needing to rely on a web designer to share my latest work with viewers," said Coates of her new venture. While she knew some artists who were creating a new painting daily and auctioning them online, she opted for a more realistic goal of one per week, thus the name 52pieces. This new endeavor created a new structure forcing her to become more disciplined in her work, a necessary but challenging task for artists and entrepreneurs alike. In addition to creating a new structure for her artistic process, 52pieces (and later 52prints) allowed Renee to reach a wider, more diverse audience.

With 52pieces, Renee was able to create accessible art and establish a sustainable business model for herself. Creating a new 6" x 6" canvas each week, she began auctioning them online with a starting price of $200. Soon she was expanding by offering 100 limited edition prints of each week's original piece on 52prints.com. Using an incremental pricing structure she created an incentive for art lovers to be the first to purchase each week's creation. Coming in both matted and un-matted prints in addition to the original canvas, art lovers of all economic circumstances can own a Renee Coates limited edition print or original.

Along with financial accessibility, the interactive nature of the internet has allowed Renee to offer a different kind of access. Now both artist and audience can share their thoughts with each other with an open communication that is uncommon for most established artists. While it is wonderful to hear from those who enjoy her art, Renee has also opened herself to critique from people whom she would have never heard from before. Initially the exposure was difficult for her. "I felt self conscious, like I was publishing my diary online! But I realized that authenticity is so important," said Renee about learning to share not only her art but her thoughts and feelings about her work online. Fortunately for Renee she has had significant positive feedback from individuals as well as bloggers and reporters. She has also developed a positive perspective on audience feedback, both good and bad. "My boyfriend Andy said something once that made a lot of sense to me.... if you can move someone enough to feel an emotion about something you've created, it doesn't matter if it's a good or bad reaction. Just the fact you've moved them to feel something is powerful and meaningful."

Although the development and implementation of this new business was not easily achieved, 52pieces is now a thriving business that allows the artist to control her own process and offer her work to millions of people worldwide. As 2010 approaches, Renee Coates is eager to continue what she started as 52pieces grows again to include a new branch called 52select, which will offer large canvases for those looking for larger pieces. So what's the secret to creating an effective business from your creative passion? According to Renee, "perseverance... too many people give up on a good idea just because it takes a lot of hard work."