A Day in the Life of an Artwork Archive Artist

Wendy Franklin is a full-time fiber and mixed media artist. She is a passionate and enthusiastic user and advocate of Artwork Archive due partially to the fact that it helps her immensely in managing her art business and partially because she no longer feels the need to cry and kick the printer when doing labels.

A Day in the Life of an Artwork Archive Artist

Thursday morning—9:45 am

I’m already 45 minutes past my goal "leave time" which I consider not too shabby since I have a reputation with friends and family to never really leave on time. Today’s destination is the stunning downtown River North Chicago Gallery District. I love Chicago—there’s something about the city and the shopping that makes my heart sing.

I’m cruising up the interstate at a relatively safe 74 mph with seven of my artworks in the back of my SUV. Five of them are not fully dry, but I’ve got three hours of driving ahead of me and hope remains that they will magically dry. I have an Artwork Archive Inventory sheet safely tucked away listing all pieces dry or otherwise.

I’m going on roughly 3 hours and 20 minutes of sleep and one cup of coffee. I know this because I did the dreadful backward math calculation starting when I could have scored 4 hours of sleep if only I hadn’t stayed awake with anxiety wondering what I might be forgetting. My phone is chirping incessantly and I really need to pull the car over and check it like a responsible arts professional.

I locate a convenient rest area and pull into the slanted parking space. I check my emails and, as is typical for me when I dare to walk away from my real laptop for a day, I have a sudden designer crisis on my hands. I love working with designers, they take on nearly all the client dynamics and turn it into a sale. It’s a lovely thing, indeed.

But, the downside of designers is that they usually need it NOW in a shouty RIGHT NOW kinda way—not a calm and casual “when you get a chance” kinda way.

Enter onto the scene, Artwork Archive.

Artwork Archive is my saving grace in situations like this.

Picture me stepping in a phone booth and putting on a cape (something artsy and slimming with just a teensy bit of bling) to rescue my beloved art world.

I’m being asked by the designer about available inventory within a certain size range. She needs two pieces that would be a good fit for a boardroom. I am creating and moving inventory constantly and, honestly, I don’t even know whether I have something that would work for her or not. I have eight galleries who represent me and things can get hectic in the constant shuffle.

I log in to my Artwork Archive account and do a quick filter for my Studio location.

Up pops all my available artworks and I see that I have a few options that might work well. Hooray! A sigh of relief washes over me.

A view of Wendy Franklin's Artwork Archive account filtering for artworks available in her studio location.

I head directly to the Reports feature in Artwork Archive and select Portfolio Pages—I adore Portfolio Pages!

Gone are the days of me trying to download images and format information into some relevant and pleasing way. There is no more struggling with design programs or getting everything to align in Word. All I need to do now is simply click the desired boxes and I have everything I need in perfect format. It is a truly beautiful thing!

Once I choose the available pieces I hit "Generate Portfolio Pages" and I wait a few seconds for the pages to load. Then all I have to do is copy the URL or share directly from Artwork Archive. I go back to my emails and dash off a quick and encouraging note to the designer (You're the best! Please use MY art!) with the URL link, hoping fervently that I land this project.

An example of a Portfolio Page for artist Wendy Franklin.

Just like that, I’m back on the road with the radio blaring. The ETA on my GPS shows that I donated approximately seven minutes to get things done, but considering the amount of funding this potential project could reap, it’s well worth the time.