I subscribe to the ‘Own Art’ newsletter - a scheme which finances the purchase of art/craft in instalments via galleries. The latest newsletter had this report about the reality of trying to earn a living from working in that sector and I thought it might be of interest to those who sell high value creations. It underlines just how tough it is.
Through an analysis of responses from 271 UK-based visual artists, researchers found:
More than half of respondents earned less than £5,000 from selling their art in 2024
Even when additional artistic income is taken into account (such as teaching or facilitation), median annual income was still only £12,500, well below the UK living wage (£24,000).
Lower earning brackets are dominated by women and non-binary artists, confirming long-standing pay gaps across the visual arts
How Own Art Drives Income
Against this backdrop of low earnings, the report identifies Own Art as ‘an important mechanism for supporting artists’ livelihoods by facilitating incremental sales that might not otherwise occur’. It calls for continued backing for schemes like Own Art that ‘provide vital pathways between artists and the ability to grow art and craft markets’.
- Report author Prof David Jarvis of Coventry University
I quickly came to understand that however much i sell and however much i charge for it, the only way to make a living is to have workshops, sell your patterns for extortionate prices, make pay to view utube tutorials etc…
Not going there. Will continue to add to the family budget by paying for holidays
I agree Joy. Art workshops have been paying my wages as I’ve been employed by a community organisation to run them. However, I ‘m due to get made redundant. Carrying on running workshops as a freelancer is an option, but I don’t want to do it on the scale required to make a living from it. Instead, I have enough in pension pots to give me a reasonable income that I can top up with art sales. It’s probably my best chance to give my business the time it needs, but I can only afford to do that because I have a pension that can pay the bills. I’m hoping like yourself that art can pay for nicer things along the way. Making a full time income from it though? Highly unlikely I would say.
Quite agree with you Joy. As long as my customers are happy, material costs paid for at the point of order and a little profit i am happy and I enjoy what I do. I am sure you are the same. How is hubby getting on! I have been in the wars again. Thank goodness we have the NHS when it’s a life or death emergency! I love your bluebell light catchers. Are they a new design Joy?
I only made an a real income years ago when I had my own shop selling direct to the general public. Well before the world of complex mobile phones, instant access to the world wide Web and influencencers! How the selling world has changed! Now I just joke along with a small income with thankfully a small NHS pension and state pension. I think it would be highly unlikely a true hand crafted business would make a reasonable salary in todays world.
Thank you. That is my 32th bluebell so no not a new design just gets hidden as i have such a lot as i would get bored if i didnt have lots of variety to make
Hope you are recovering from your wars
My Bob is now fine. His Retinoschisis is now repaired and he is just about to put off the cataract op they have booked for him as it is 10 days before we do a driving holiday via France to Northern Spain in June. Would not be time to get a new prescription for his glasses !
It’s me struggling at the moment. Had xrays on left knee (needs replacement but putting it off as already had my right done and don’t relish the pain of the op so had steroid instead which has done ‘not a lot’ !, Left hip (already replaced and xray says fine but it takes me 5 minutes after sitting to ’ put my leg on’ as I say and then there’s my right foot. Well that is a right can of worms. Arthritis all over it PLUS the Dupruytrens Disease in my hands is now also Ledderhose in my right foot and I think also my left Have an appointment with an oncologist in a couple of weeks to get Radiotherapy on my left (dominant) hand and probably both feet. Had my right hand done 10 years ago and it was Magic !
So that’s me. Not officially disabled but I’m pretty sure if i fill in the form for a blue badge they wil send me three :).
Still none of this stops me glassing and as long as we can holiday (frequently) we are fine I call it do it while you can
Good on you, girl, go for it and enjoy every holiday whilst you can. On the 20th January I very nearly died, so I have a new perspective on life. Try and live it to the full whilst you are able. I have a long way to go to hopefully recover. I had a chest infection that turned to sepsis in both lungs. As my body was struggling with it all, i had a major heart attack as well. Thankfully, with my theatre nursing background i knew i was in trouble which saved my own life. I managed to blurt out to my husband too dial 999. Apparently, if I had left calling for help another hour later it would have been too late. Sepsis is evil on the body as it attacks it extremely quickly.
Well, that is my health news. Joy, do apply for a blue badge. You will get it and it will help you if needed. You can also use it abroad, so i am told.
I think it very much depends on your craft. Stained glass? Nope.
There’s a seller on Etsy who makes over 100K a year selling resin blocks with funeral or wedding flowers embedded in it. When you link an emotion to a product you generally have better sales.
Hi Gail, so sorry to hear you have been so poorly, it must have been awful and very frightening for you. I’m pleased to hear you are on the recovery, take it easy and enjoy what you do, it certainly does make you reevaluate everything. Xx
I think to really make a reasonable living out of this, you need to be exceptional but more importantly, exceptionally lucky and also be well connected! I know I work more hours at this than I ever did in “regular” work where I had a degree in it. That wasn’t that well paid but this is way less. However, I quit all of that when I realised I could take one of my pensions so at 56 I gave it all up before it was too late to feel like launching into the self-employed world completely, just to give it a go - could I do it? Then at 60, I could access a frozen pension and then at 66, I got the state pension. I’m so glad I paid these pensions along the way because it enabled me to cdo something I really wanted to do and I’m still doing it. Without the pensions, this would never have worked but I am so much happier doing what I do than continuing in a job that I was no longer interested in doing. I doubt I’ll ever “retire” now - unless my eyesight gives in, I love doing what I do - that’s so important.
My situation was different in that I had no choice and was forced to give up employment after my first spine operation went wrong. 12 years on and I also work longer hours than ever before, most days until midnight and although I often wish it hadn’t taken over my life it’s the only way I can make it worthwhile. Everything I make is time consuming so even if I sold every single piece I still couldn’t make a wage, it’s only possible to do if items are quick to make with a decent price tag and of course lots of customers with full purses. Fortunately I do OK with selling and have some wonderful customers who continue to come back and so my profit is used as a top up for luxuries that we otherwise might not be able to afford, mainly concerts/nights away and Whitby Goth. I really hope I will retire at some point as there’s so many things I would like to do and don’t have the time but I keep telling myself I will hang up my bear making tools when I reach 1000 bears (currently I am just over 720), I think it will be a hard decision when the time comes though as it’s very addictive, the bears really do rule my life .
I have been thinking of you. One of my new year resolutions was to build my own website and I know it was yours as well! Due to ill health yet again, this time a little more serious i have had to file that for the time being. How are you gettingon with it? I have had my warning sign according to many doctors during my 10 day stay in hospital. I must take things more easy and not worry so much if I don’t make as many sales and not work the long hoursI was working! Like you, due to a painful spinal condition sleep is not always easy, so i worked into the early hours of the morning. I am currently working on 100% pure marino wool booties and baby hat sets. Since seeing the price of pure marino wool booties and hats (which are selling) on the dark side for a considerable amount of money has spurred me on a little.
Hi Gail @DemelzaDesigns It sometimes takes a life changing event to put everything into perspective doesn’t it Gail. I’m still working into the early hours, in fact later than ever, I need to bring bedtime forward an hour or two. I’m just pleased you are OK and able to still create. My website…hubs got me a lovely new laptop for Christmas, I opened it for half an hour and havn’t had time since, the idea was it would be better for my business and to create my website, like yourself the start to the year didn’t go as planned. I found mould on my Goth gowns which lead to checking every item of clothing, decluttering my wardrobes, 25 pairs of boots to Red cross and 12 bin liners of clothes, many new but I lost some beautiful expensive Goth gowns and boots. The time I had taken off to create the website ended up sorting my stash of clothes, hubs redecorated and turned the bedroom around. Semi fitted wardrobes dismantled and moved onto an inside wall, huge job but the room looks lovely and twice the size now. Then I went into overdrive playing catch up with making bears and the website is still waiting. I have some orders to do then I might set my laptop up and get started on it. I was so determined to do it as well. Hopefully we will both get it built before too long. Take care and I’m pleased you are back to doing what you enjoy but you must take is slower now x
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. I’ve signed up for the newsletter - thanks for the tip x