Experimenting with Pricing and How to Value Work
My aim is to bring transparency to how the pricing of objects works and what that price actually translates to for an artist. This is a first attempt at showing what a full-time studio practice costs in ceramics and translating that reality into a transparent pricing scheme.
One important note is there seems to be a cultural preconception that combines the personal and professional lives of artists. This means that business earnings and personal earnings, or business/personal expenses, are assumed to be combined into one pot. However, I would like to suggest that studio artists be considered owners of small businesses, running their own companies, entrepreneurs working to share their ideas with the world. This framing would support the understanding that artists have business expenses (studio rent, materials costs, equipment costs, maintenance, transportation, booth fees, etc...) and personal expenses that support the artist's life outside of work (think rent, food, health insurance, savings, 401k, perhaps a vacation).
The underlying assumption in this spreadsheet is that revenue is only generated through selling ceramic work. This revenue is required to support the business and pay its employees: pay the artist's salary (Note: any benefits (health insurance, 401k, etc...), taxes, etc... would have to be paid by the artist out of this dollar amount as opposed to provided by the employer). This spreadsheet is an attempt to showcase that separation and how the costs of running a business and an hourly wage translate to the price of objects as well as to an artist's annual salary.
I am not suggesting this framework is the only way to price objects, nor am I suggesting all artists sell one-hour cups for $189. However, I do find it helpful to organize thoughts in this way, creating a framework for conversations on how the price of art relates to the costs as opposed to starting from the perceived value of an object. Using these calculations, I aim to showcase the difficulties of making ends meet as a professional artist in ceramics.
You can access the spreadsheet through this link, Pricing Experiment, and I invite you to review and comment within the live document. Please share your feedback, insights, and recommendations to help me improve this model! There is also a form at the bottom of the page if you would prefer to share your suggestions with me directly. By making this live, I am giving you the opportunity to create a copy of the spreadsheet for your own use. Should you do so, I would appreciate it if you referenced me when sharing this work.
If you are interested in using this model but are unfamiliar with Google Sheets or Excel, please contact me, and we can set up a consultation.
My aim is to bring transparency to how the pricing of objects works and what that price actually translates to for an artist. This is a first attempt at showing what a full-time studio practice costs in ceramics and translating that reality into a transparent pricing scheme.
One important note is there seems to be a cultural preconception that combines the personal and professional lives of artists. This means that business earnings and personal earnings, or business/personal expenses, are assumed to be combined into one pot. However, I would like to suggest that studio artists be considered owners of small businesses, running their own companies, entrepreneurs working to share their ideas with the world. This framing would support the understanding that artists have business expenses (studio rent, materials costs, equipment costs, maintenance, transportation, booth fees, etc...) and personal expenses that support the artist's life outside of work (think rent, food, health insurance, savings, 401k, perhaps a vacation).
The underlying assumption in this spreadsheet is that revenue is only generated through selling ceramic work. This revenue is required to support the business and pay its employees: pay the artist's salary (Note: any benefits (health insurance, 401k, etc...), taxes, etc... would have to be paid by the artist out of this dollar amount as opposed to provided by the employer). This spreadsheet is an attempt to showcase that separation and how the costs of running a business and an hourly wage translate to the price of objects as well as to an artist's annual salary.
I am not suggesting this framework is the only way to price objects, nor am I suggesting all artists sell one-hour cups for $189. However, I do find it helpful to organize thoughts in this way, creating a framework for conversations on how the price of art relates to the costs as opposed to starting from the perceived value of an object. Using these calculations, I aim to showcase the difficulties of making ends meet as a professional artist in ceramics.
You can access the spreadsheet through this link, Pricing Experiment, and I invite you to review and comment within the live document. Please share your feedback, insights, and recommendations to help me improve this model! There is also a form at the bottom of the page if you would prefer to share your suggestions with me directly. By making this live, I am giving you the opportunity to create a copy of the spreadsheet for your own use. Should you do so, I would appreciate it if you referenced me when sharing this work.
If you are interested in using this model but are unfamiliar with Google Sheets or Excel, please contact me, and we can set up a consultation.