Making a Living as an Artist

[Samantha]

Who has a sense of how many fine artists truly make a comfortable living from their work?  I can think of a handful, and that's about it.  Has anyone run across a study of the profession from an economic perspective?

[DanM]

While I don't think many artists make it big, so to speak, many manage to eke out a living from their passion.  I don't have any statistics to back any of this up.  The one artist who I can think of who made a fortune from her work while she was still alive was Georgia O'Keefe.  I believe she left her vast fortune to her gardener/lover.

[Firefly]

http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos092.htm

a report from the good old department of labor.

median salary of fine artist in 2004:  $38,060.  not great, not terrible.  you can live off of painting, but as others have pointed out, you won't get rich.... at least you probably won't.

[DR]

That's actually not nearly as miserable as one might expect.  $38,000 a year isn't terrible, after all.  Many teachers make far less.  To make a living via one's passion is doubtless a wonderful feeling.

[Samantha]

There's hope for me yet.     Bye, bye cubicle.

[Maximus]

The bottom line, in my opinion:   If you're single, you can do anything.  Once you have a family to worry about, life stops being all about you, and starts being all about your family.  For me, the only hope is retirement....  Perhaps I'll take up painting then.

[MotherEarth]

Oh, Maxi...being creative in the family gives so much...
I assume that "employed" artists have a mentor, name gallery or other professional
leg-ups.
If you must sell your works and want to make a name...the first step is painful,
exhibiting at festivals, and getting to know the collectors in the area.  Sales may
be minimum or not received well, depending.  Like all things, the price is important and
each event must be analzed.

[MotherEarth]

Rats!...meant to spell check and ended up posting 

[DanM]

It's been a while since I've been around.  World travels keeping me busy.

Since I lasted posted on this thread, I've been fortunate enough to meet several people who make a good living from the arts.  It's taken them years and years to get to the point of profitability, and had they put the hours into any other profession, they would be probably be much wealthier.  The point is, they love what they do.  How can you beat that?