Aiming for the red dot

Northern Print is all about printmaking. We have a studio and gallery dedicated to making and promoting contemporary prints. A move to new premises in Ouseburn Valley, Newcastle’s thriving cultural quarter, provided a secure lease, disabled access, a separate education studio and a proper gallery. However, it meant the loss of a revenue grant from North Tyneside Council and the need to generate more earned income. Selling prints from the gallery was seen as a key part of this, and a challenge we relished, as it allowed the organisation to become less grant-dependent.

The studio is used by professional and non-professional artists. The gallery is a small but beautiful space which shows changing exhibitions of contemporary prints. One challenge for Northern Print is that people are confused about what printmaking is. I am often surprised by people who look with interest at all the works, read the information available and still ask if we have any ‘originals’. All our prints are original: and we do not deal in reproductions. One of our most recent exhibitions, ‘Unique and Original’, was designed to build an audience and market which are more knowledgeable about printmaking. It showed limited edition prints alongside unique works by the same artist. We interpret the works through written introductions, books, catalogues and by inviting guest speakers to previews to provide a context for the work.

The best way to provide an insight into printmaking is to show people what’s involved through demonstrations and classes. We do this through open studio events, most recently The Late Shows, which happen across NewcastleGateshead and aim to get people to ‘do something different’ with their Saturday nights. We had over 600 people through the doors, with many queuing to have a go at printing and making badges for themselves. Within the gallery, we have unframed prints in browsers which are arranged in order of price, thus increasing the stock prints on view. We also have display cases for printed items such as ceramics, table linen and jewellery. These usually sell at around the £50 mark, which seems to be the amount that many people are looking to spend on a present, and falls within the impulse-buy price range.

Being a new venue, we have had to build an audience and develop relationships with buying clients. We have offered the gallery free to certain groups to host their own events and this has brought new people here who may not have otherwise come. We know that the corporate market is a fruitful one, with prints working especially well in a range of settings from board rooms to hotels. To develop this market, we invited a number of businesses to offer a purchase prize. Eight businesses offered prizes with nine artists securing sales and extra publicity for everyone involved. We are also part of the Own Art scheme, which offers interest free loans for buying original art. This often tips the balance from ‘thinking about it’ to an actual sale.

The change from being an art organisation that was primarily a studio to one that now includes a gallery with a need to make sales is a huge cultural shift for the whole team, and learning to make opportunities for sales takes time, hard work and creative thinking. It’s also rewarding, especially when you see how pleased a customer is with their new purchase and the kick an artist gets out of coming into the gallery and seeing a red dot on their work.