Sculptor Bob Emser switched his college major from business to art 35 years ago but never left commerce behind. If you’re an artist, you are in business, Emser says, and your success is likely to depend as much on your management and marketing skills as your talent.
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Emser says he entered a lot of competitions and participated in a lot of outdoor art fairs. He also had a couple of major part-time gigs: he cofounded the Contemporary Art Center of Peoria and headed it for five years, then got himself a studio in Chicago and spent 18 months running the Pier Walk sculpture show, back when it was the biggest outdoor exhibit of its kind in the world. But it’s easier to land commissions when that’s your single focus, he says. These days most of his assignments are coming from colleges and museums, which have an appetite for his big, streamlined abstractions and “don’t tell you what to do.”
A consummate networker, Emser says he tells aspiring artists, “If there’s someone you want to meet, call them. Ask for their advice.” With people who can be helpful, he says, “I count the touches”—the number of interactions. “It’s like a courtship.” But the real secret of his success may be the series of life coaches he’s hired, starting with the one who prompted his move to Chicago by telling him to “find your purpose and live up to your values.” Since then Emser’s had a coach who specializes in artists, another who’s a marketing maven, and, most recently, a “visibility coach.”
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