The Morongo Basin is a place where artists come when they want the space to work in an inspiring landscape, and as incredible as our artists are not every great artist can be a great business person.
One local artist is hoping to change that. Matt Elson, the creator of Morongo Valley’s prominent, permanent art installation, called the Infinity Boxes at Roots and Stars Botanica, has organized a new group where artists can talk about marketing. Put together in association with Yucca Valley’s Hi-Desert Artists Gallery, Elson hopes that by sharing experience and insight, local artists can better market their own artwork.
Elson explains, “Artists always ask this question, how do I get my work out there in the world? And the series I’ve been working on for the last 13 years, the Infinity Boxes, I’ve now done 207 shows. I’ve had them in front of over 7 million people worldwide. They’re in six countries with installations. So, you know, I’m getting some traction. However, my marketing’s pretty horrible. just have a website and I do shows and the more I do shows, the more people see them and it’s been a virtuous cycle. So, you know, I wanna help people get their work out in the world.
“I wanna learn more. So it’s really a dialogue. It’s opening a dialogue to the community to let’s see what everybody’s tried and let’s see what’s working and take the temperature because we’re constantly, as artists, we’re constantly bombarded by everybody with their clipboard, you know, and their new internet thing saying, I’m gonna make you a bazillion dollars.
“We’ve got the art tours coming up in October. So my goal is to help the community raise the tide for all of us so that it’s a really good art tours this year not that they’ve been bad, just, you know, wanna make it the best one yet and help people help themselves and help the community.”
I asked Elson how people can get involved in the workshop.
“We’re doing them every, the first Monday of each month from six to 8 p.m. at the High Desert Artists on Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley. It’s open, it’s free.
“Just come and with an open mind and your spirit of giving, like what have you tried? And it’s okay to fail. We all fail. That’s a constant. We fail until we succeed, right? So if things have worked, please share them. If things have failed, please share them because we’re all learning from each other.”
Join Matt Elson at the art marketing get-togethers today at 6:00 p.m., and on the second Monday of every month at Hi Desert Artists, located at 55635 Twentynine Palms Highway in Yucca Valley.
