Navigating Art Markets

Dear Best Friends,

I have a love/hate relationship with art markets - as in, I LOVE going to them, but I HATE the idea of selling things there. But they seem like a potentially important part of getting your name out and making sales if you’re trying to make it in the art world, so I wanted to learn more about the experience from a vendor perspective.

I immediately thought of my good friend, Kathayoon Khalil. She regularly participates in art markets, and I’ve always chalked up her enthusiasm to her extroversion (I’m your classic ambivert but definitely swing introvert in unfamiliar situations). But I wanted to see if she could convince me that they’re worth trying someday, because I see a lot of potential upsides to them.

About Kathayoon

She’s a conservation professional who works in leadership roles in zoos and aquariums (currently at the Columbus Zoo), but more importantly (to me), she’s a life-long artist/crafter. In college she made a jewelry brand (LoveKat Accessories), and in 2018 established Otter and Ink Designs. I love Otter and Ink because it’s like Kathayoon personified - bold and bright and sophisticated at the same time. And while it was born out of a search for exactly that type of jewelry - where she came up empty, she turned it into a business because, as she puts it, “there's only so much you can hold onto in your house before you have to start selling it so that you can make space for new products.”

You can check out her work on her website or her instagram, and check out the full interview to hear our entire conversation about turning your creative energy into something public-facing and (hopefully) profitable. And now, the main event:

Selling at Art Markets: A Beginner’s Guide (According to Kathayoon)

Why Markets?

Obviously if art markets sound that terrible, you could just avoid them - but meeting customers face-to-face can make a big difference in growing your business. It provides exposure, builds community, and is just more satisfying. You get instant feedback and emotional connections that can be highly motivating. In comparison to selling online, it’s way easier to sell one-off pieces, since those can be painful to list individually (for a full rant on why Etsy can be terrible, scroll down).

Getting Started

• First, find some markets. Start small and look for local, low-cost markets - Portland’s Welcome Market, for example. Fees to participate can be expensive, so you don’t want to lose money on entry fees before you know what you’re doing (Kathayoon impressively has never lost money on a market!).

• Apply to the markets. This usually requires:

  • Photos of your inventory

  • A website - and not just Etsy (sometimes, markets won’t take you seriously if Etsy is all you share with them)

  • Social handles (your social presence can be a deciding factor in acceptance)

Preparing for the Market

• Plan your inventory. And don’t worry about not bringing enough; running out of supply is… not usually a problem.

• Build a display that reflects your aesthetic and attracts walk-ups (this is one part that seems so hard and annoying to me and Kathayoon more or less confirmed that it is, but I think she enjoys it more than I would).

• Practice your set up at home.

• Consider bringing art to work on while you’re there. If you have downtime between customers, you can get things done, but it can also be a great conversation starter with customers and give them a look into your process.

• Pack smart. Wagons, tablecloths (turns out naked tables look… naked), and especially good signage.

Game Day Strategy

• Greet customers consistently. Kathayoon is very good at this, I’ve visited her at a number of markets and she’s always actively engaged with people and basically acts like she’s working in a retail store. Nobody is walking around sad and neglected.

• Ask questions. What colors do they like, what occasions are they shopping for, what do their recipients like, etc.

• Brace yourself for an emotional rollercoaster. Sales often start low and it’s very normal to have anxiety about it.

• Vendor-only shopping hours are often part of a deal, but you can always offer to trade your stuff with other vendors and that’s a nice perk and also a fun way to connect with your fellow sellers.

Post-Market Follow-Up

• Engage on social. Tag people, repost their photos, offer follow-up sales, etc.

• Build relationships. Some customers might follow up days later wanting items they passed on, or just want to stay connected and aware of your future work. Don’t lose momentum with these connections!

Other Lessons to Keep In Mind

• Markets aren’t for everyone. They can be exhausting, and no matter what type of person you are, you’ll be tired at the end. They’re a good way to sell, but not the only way.

• Social media is a necessary evil. Kathayoon doesn’t love it, but she’s learning to use it strategically and make it work.

• Packaging dilemmas. If you’re like, Kathayoon, me, and most people I know, wasteful packaging is somewhere between not-ideal to a non-starter. In her case, she’s decided not to offer things like prints (that usually require plastic sleeves) at all - and just sells her originals when it comes to drawings/paintings. For others, they do it, but feel sad about it. If anyone has a great solution to packaging, let us know! This isn’t specific to art markets, and is a consideration for selling art in general.

Why Etsy Can Suck It

^Not a quote from Kathayoon, but I’m kind of tired and that’s what I came up with.

I’ve heard a lot of bad things about Etsy lately, so I asked Kathayoon to dive in to why we hate it now. The answer is that we don’t necessarily hate it, but for a lot of sellers, it doesn’t make sense and can be a pain in the butt. Here’s why:

• One-off product nightmare. Kathayoon’s pieces are almost all one-of-a-kind, which means every listing has to be created from scratch. Etsy does allow you to duplicate listings, but the process is still a tedious (and unnecessary when you're not selling multiples). If you’re selling one identical product in like ten colors, it makes a lot more sense.

• SEO burnout. To be found on Etsy, sellers have to rely heavily on SEO-style tagging. That means cramming every listing with generic phrases like "clay jewelry," "gifts for her," and "boho earrings", which doesn’t really reflect her brand/audience.

• Getting lost in the crowd. Etsy has ballooned into a hyper-competitive platform where it’s hard to stand out unless you’re either:

  • Selling replicable products (e.g., prints in multiple sizes or designs),

  • Or running high-volume operations with manufactured elements.

  And that’s not what Otter and Ink is about.

So Kathayoon is shifting to Shopify - a work in progress when we talked, but now fully up and running! This provides much better control over branding, presentation, and how she communicates with customers. Obviously there’s trade offs - “it’s maddening,” in her words, but the long term outcome will be worth it in contrast to what she had to deal with on Etsy.

Thank you Kathayoon, for walking us through the art market process! One day I’ll have something to sell and actually consider participating - and I’m much more motivated to do so now.

Where to Find Otter & Ink

• Website: otterandinkdesigns.com

• Instagram: @otterandink

• Etsy (being sunset but it still exists): Otter and Ink on Etsy

• Next Market: July, Beaverton, at the Legendary Makers Market by the Asian Night Market.

I have a few more interviews to share very soon, I promise not as long as it took me to get this one out to you. If you know of anyone else who would love to share expertise or stories about their experience as artists, you know where to find me.

Until next time,

Colleen