If you are like me, there are files of my artwork in multiple places in my computer. Anytime I send work for a new show, I have to search, find, copy, paste and save in order to get a list of works ready to email to a gallery.  Sometimes, I forget where works have been in the past or when a show might start or end. Altogether, it adds up to hundreds of hours each year just managing my art production.

At least that was the case until I heard about Artwork Archive. An online based art inventory system made for artists and collectors. So here is my review.

How it works

Artwork Archive is an online art inventory management tool that helps artists organize, track and manage their art production. It starts with uploading your images, assigning data such as title, medium, size, year, genre, notes, price, etc. Once your work is in the system, you can keep track of it.  Following are some of the many functions of the software which I find to be extremely helpful for any artist.

Artwork Management

Let’s say you will have an exhibition and need to send 6 works to a gallery. All you need to do in Artwork Archive is create a new “Location” and assign the works that will go to that gallery. Once you have the location created, Artwork Archive can generate a PDF document with all the information about each work. You can also make a consignment sheet, invoice and even print out labels of each work to be sent.  It is really simple and it does not require any additional work.  Something that used to take an hour of work, now, can be done in 15 minutes or less.

Sales

Let’s say you just sold a work of art. Congratulations! You can login to Artwork Archive and mark it as “Sold”.  You can then record Sales Price and Artist Net for your own reference. Overtime, the software allows you to see an overview of your pricing history.  This is very valuable information!!  Also, If someone requests info about a particular work, you can just click a button to generate a PDF file that you can email to the gallery or prospect buyer. The PDF file will insert the image in the center of the sheet and the information you choose at the bottom. It is that simple.

Competitions/Juried Shows

How about if you enter an art competition?  No problem. The software can also keep track of the submission deadline, Notification dates and Exhibition dates. The best thing of it all is that any show or competition your work is at gets recorded in the history of your work.

Contacts

Another great feature of Artwork Archive is that you can create contacts and assign them to Locations or Sales.  Let’s say that a collector buys your work. You can add his contact information and assign his contact to any work sold. That way you can keep track who has your work and make informed decisions about who you need to market next.

Reports

You can click in the “Insights” button and get full visual reports of such as:

• Visualize the inventory values for sales, locations, and personal inventory.
• View your inventory count at each location.
• See the full location and competition history.
• Graph your production and sales values over time.
• Follow your pieces across the country.

Mobility

Another great advantage of having all this information in the cloud (online) is that you can access it from anywhere with your cell phone, iPad or any other mobile device.  The website is fully compatible with mobile devices and that is a plus if you are on the go and need to access your inventory.

Backups

Are you freaky about having all your data online and not on your computer? Rest assured.  With the click of a button, you can download your entire data (except for pictures) into a CSV file that you can open in Excell and save in your local computer.

Public Page

Not only you have privacy of the information you upload to Artwork Archive but you can also create a Public Page that you can use to promote your available work if you sign up to to the Master subscription.  Here is mine as a sample: http://www.artworkarchive.com/artwork/sergio-gomez

Pricing

For all you get, the folks at Artwork Archive have made pricing very accessible. You can try 10 artworks FREE. Apprentice gives you 100 artworks for $9/month. My recommended option that gives you unlimited number of artwork and the Public Page is the Master for only $19/month.  The good news is that as a reader of my blog, you can get 20% discount for life by signing up using the following link: https://www.artworkarchive.com/from/sergio-gomez

The Bottom Line

Track your artwork, galleries, sales, competitions, exhibitions, contacts, limited edition runs and more with the best art management application available to artists in the market. Today, being a successful artist is much more than doing great work in the studio. It requires a level of business and technical knowledge like never before. To be able to stay organized beyond the studio and have continuous access to your information is an important asset for the professionally minded artist. Artwork Archive provides artists at all levels of their careers with the tools they need to manage their art production and be successful in their business practice.  The Bottom Line is: Invest your money on tools that increase your efficiency outside the studio so that you can increase your productivity inside the studio.

~THE END~