A Guide to Pricing Your Artwork
Since the 1950s, the Santa Cruz Art League has hosted our Annual High School Exhibition, giving young artists the opportunity to display their artwork in a professional gallery setting.
Part of displaying one’s artwork professionally is learning how to set a price. This is a task even the most experienced artists can find difficult, and for those new to gallery showing it can feel like a huge obstacle. As our staff took inventory and laid out artworks for the High School Show in 2023, we noticed a discrepancy in prices between schools. Some were so low we felt they undervalued the effort and skill that was clearly on display. There wasn’t much that could be done in the moment, so we took a mental note and moved on.
The following year, as we began to prepare for the upcoming show, our staff asked teachers how they discussed pricing artworks with their students. Some teachers did talk about it, but many didn’t. There was the largest discrepancy in discussing pricing between schools that generally lacked resources and those who didn’t. What we found was this: Because the High School Exhibit is not part of a set curriculum, the teachers spend a lot of their personal time and resources helping students prepare. This included gathering artworks and information, advising on which pieces the students should submit, matting, framing, and delivering the artworks to the Santa Cruz Art League. In an environment where teachers are going above and beyond just to provide the bare minimum for many students, it wasn’t feasible to give an entire lesson to the relatively small number of students who were participating on our show. We needed to find another way to get this information to the students without over burdening their teachers.
Of the teachers that did discuss pricing with their students was Veronique Marks, who taught at Aptos High School. She dedicated a whole class to pricing artwork going over multiple methods including physical and digital mediums. Thanks to program funding from the California Arts Council, we were able to pay Veronique for compiling a comprehensive handout that we could give to all students moving forward!
Starting this year, we’ve been able to include the pricing guide handout in all of our resources for the High School Show.
We think it’s worth publishing it here for any artist to make use of! Regardless of age and experience, it may be useful to you or your artist friends. Feel free to take a look through the link below!
The pricing guide is and will be free to anyone who needs it! But if you’d like to support SCAL as we provide opportunities and resources for local artists, we’d encourage you to become a member and/or donate!