Making the Most of Exhibiting in Events Like the Incognito Art Show
The Sydney-based Incognito Art Show is now Australia’s largest annual art show. It is open to any artists intersted in taking part.
It is an event where artists anonymously donate postcard-sized artworks to be sold to the public at an affordable fixed price with proceeds being donated to Studio A, a North Sydney arts company providing professional development for artists with intellectual disabilities. As well as The Art Factory, facilitated by Riverina Community College in Wagga Wagga, is a vital “supported studio” empowering artists with learning disabilities.
The Twist of the Incognito Art Show
The twist is that the identity of the artist behind each artwork remains hidden until after the purchase is made.
This concept adds an element of mystery and excitement to the event, as buyers have the opportunity to discover hidden gems from both emerging and established artists without being influenced by the artist’s reputation.
The Aims of the Incognito Art Show
The Incognito Art Show aims to support artists, raise funds for charitable causes, and make art accessible to a wider audience.
It provides a platform for artists to showcase their work, grow their artist profile, gain exposure, and connect with potential buyers and collectors.
A New Buyer’s Gateway
Importantly, it is a gateway for those who have not previously bought original art work to become art buyers, opening up an entirely new and supportive customer base for artists from across the country.
Additionally, the event fosters community engagement by bringing together art enthusiasts, collectors, and supporters of the arts in a unique, joyful and interactive setting.
The Incognito Art Show Brings Innovation
Overall, the Incognito Art Show offers a fun and innovative way to appreciate and purchase art while supporting Australian artists and charitable initiatives in the Sydney area.
While artists are not paid a commission from the sale of their work, nor do they pay to enter the exhibition.
The funds raised from the sale of the works go to covering the costs of the exhibition and, importantly, to enabling art related charities.
Participating in the Incognito Art Show does, however, give artists the opportunity to promote their work to a wider audience, not just in person in Sydney, but very importantly, online in the digital world via blogs, Facebook and Instagram.
Meet Our Members
Meet the Renowned Nature Inspired Textile Artist Rita Summers
Meet the inspiring textile artist Rita Summers of Gone Rustic who has a love for eco dying, slow stitching, nature journaling and creating in her artist profile story with Art Trails Tasmania.
Meet Jane Seychell: Capturing the Realism of a Moment in Time
Meet Jane Seychell, a Tasmanian artist blending realism and nature with colour pencil in her Artist Profile story with Art Trails Tasmania
How To Be Part of the Incognito Art Show and Significantly Enhance Your Artist Profile
Participating in the Incognito Art Show in Sydney can be a significant opportunity for Australian artists to enhance their profiles. Here are five ways they can make the most of it:
1. Exposure and Networking with the Incognito Art Show
Utilise the platform provided by the Incognito Art Show to network with fellow artists, art enthusiasts, collectors, and potential buyers, whether online or in person if you can get up to Sydney for the exhibition itself.
Make sure you engage in conversations, exchange contacts, and build relationships within the art community, in person or digitally. Online, this can be done via Facebook and Instagram comments, likes and shares.
Networking can lead to collaborations, future exhibition opportunities, and word-of-mouth promotion. Plus buyers like to feel a connection with the artist and to feel like they are being part of a supportive arts community. This is also the very premise of digital platforms such as Patreon.
2. Showcase Diverse Artworks
Display a diverse range of artworks that showcase your artistic versatility and creativity with your entries in the Incognito Art Show.
This allows you to appeal to a broader audience and demonstrate their skills across different styles, mediums, and themes.
Artistic Variety
Variety in artwork can attract varied interests and increase the likelihood of making sales.
It is also an enjoyable way to test out the new creative ideas and mediums that you are exploring.
3. Be Part of the Art Show in Person
As with any exhibition that you are part of, if you can get to the opening or during the show itself, it is worth the effort, both in terms of making the in person connections, but also for sharing on your blog and social media platforms.
While a trip to the mainland can be expensive with transport, accommodation etc etc, if you tie it in with three or four other rewarding activities it can be well worth the costs.
Great Social Media Content to Build Your Artist Profile
Social media posts showing the artist in front of their work at an exhibition always make great content as followers engage strongly with likes, comments and shares. And that is exactly what you want to achieve to grow your digital artist profile. It gives you credibility, demonstrates authenticity and builds connections.
It is always easier to get to the exhibitions being held within Tasmania, especially if you and a a couple of your art group friends are entering a group exhibition, then you can travel together and make it a valuable social and creative trip, especially if you add some sketching time!
A Gallery Rich City
But a trip up to Sydney can include visits to a plethora of galleries, art supply shops, world class sketching locations (what other city can complete with Sydney Harbour?), musicals as well as shows at the likes of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, The Sydney Opera House, NAIDOC Week celebration events, stunning National Parks and much more.
4. Create Engaging Digital Display of Your Work
Invest time and effort into creating an attractive and engaging digital display for the artworks that you’re sending up to Sydney.
Seven Plus Themed Posts
This can be done over a series of seven or more themed posts, featuring your journey from registering for the Incognito Art Show, receiving your package, drafting your ideas for the entries, the different stages of working up your entries, the finished results and the show itself.
These can be timed to coincide with the exhibition and the media attention around this popular event. And be sure to keep within the rules of the art show.
Popular Behind the Scenes Story Posts
Behind the scenes story posts like this are always interesting for your followers and make idea blog and social media posts.
Link to Your Email Newsletter
Be sure to provide links to your email newsletter signup page in your blog and social media posts so potential buyers can keep learning about your work, exhibitions, workshops and progress.
This is a very powerful way to build lasting connections that can result in new opportunities as well as sales of your work.
Remember, you own and control your email newsletter subscriber list where as Meta owns and controls your Facebook and Instagram followers and page, and they have been known to blow away pages.
Sell More Art
7 Ways to Use Exhibitions to Grow Your Artist Profile
Entering art and craft exhibition can be a very effective way to grow your artist profile. Here are 7 tips on how to do this easily by Art Trails Tasmania
How to Use Facebook to Grow Your Artist Profile
Use these Facebook tips to tweak your Artist Profile page to grow your following and connect with your audience by Art Trails Tasmania and flourish
8 Money Tips for Artists
Here are 8 money tips for artists to create financial security and freedom, plus a useful PDF tool and do more things that give you joy by Art Trails Tasmania
Grow Creatively
7 Ways How to Thrive with a Creative Mindfulness and Wellbeing Practice
Exploring creative mindfulness practices in 7 ways for mental health, how to embrace it and 7 fun daily mindful rituals so you can thrive artistically.
Unveiling the Canvas: A Guide for Artists to Discover Their Unique Creative Voice
Embark on the journey to find your creative voice with tips on self-discovery, techniques to explore and practical insights with Art Trails Tasmania.
5. Use Relevant Hashtags in Your Social Media Stories So You Are Seen
Hashtags are the perfect way to categorise your posts, get in front of your ideal supporters and be seen.
12 Hashtags To Promote Your Involvement in the Incognito Art Show
Here are the top 12 hashtags that you can use in your Facebook and Instagram posts related to the Incognito Art Show:
1. #IncognitoArtShow
2. #SydneyArtScene
3. #ArtForACause
4. #SupportLocalArtists
5. #HiddenArtGems
6. #ArtCollectors
7. #AnonymousArt
8. #ArtCommunity
9. #ArtExhibition
10. #ArtistsOfInstagram
11. #AustralianArtist
12. #AustralianArt
Reach a Broader Audience with Hashtags
These hashtags can help you reach a broader audience interested in art events, support local artists, and engage with the Incognito Art Show community on Facebook and Instagram.
Include Location Specific Hashtags
The location of the event will also have 2-3 relevant hashtags that should be used, such as #PopUpArt.
A Tasmanian example would be for exhibitions held at Salamanca, #SalamancaArtCentre #SalmancaGallery could be two space specific hashtags to include in your posts for Hobart events held there.
Additionally, you may consider using location-specific hashtags such as #SydneyArt or #SydneyEvents or #DiscoverSydney to target audiences in the Sydney area.
Include Your Specific Hashtags
As always, be sure to include your own specific hashtags with each of your posts.
For example, all Art Trails Tasmania Facebook and Instagram posts have #arttrailstasmania, just as our Art profile stories have #ArtistProfile.
6. Capture Feedback and Follow Up
If you are up in Sydney for the exhibition, take advantage of the opportunity to gather feedback from attendees and potential buyers.
Actively engage with visitors, solicit their opinions, and listen to their insights about the artworks.
Constructive feedback can provide valuable insights for artistic growth and future exhibitions.
Additionally, follow up with interested individuals post-event to nurture relationships and explore potential sales or collaborations.
This follow up process applies for both the real world connections made in Sydney as well as the digital world connections made on the socials.
Art Books to Inspire & Inform
Fuel Your Creativity with 7 Inspiring Book Reviews for Artists
Discover 7 delightful books, celebrating an artist’s life, avian artistry, colour exploration, textile makes, sketchbook adventures, creativity and painting light in this inspiring book review.
7. Promote the Incognito Art Show
Make sure that you tag the @IncognitoArtShow in your blog and social media posts as every link works in multiple ways to benefit you and the organisers.
Tagging the exhibition organiser makes your post visible in their notifications, giving them the opportunity to engage with your post (which is exactly what you hope for). And remember to work within the guidelines of the show.
Meta Rewards You
Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, rewards the Pages, eg. your artist page, for linking, tagging to another relevant page.
In turn, both YOU and the tagged page are given Brownie Points by Meta with the reward that they and they show both of the pages to MORE followers, which is always the goal for the effort you put into posting.
For example, when you publish a post about your involvement in the exhibition on Facebook and Instagram, be sure to tag @IncognitoArtShow, Meta will see that your artist profile page is linking directly to another artist page. This tells Meta that your audiences are shared and they reward you with showing your art relevant post to more art interested followers: to more of the Incognito Art Show followers – exactly what you want.
This delightfully simple strategy works for all the art exhibitions, workshops, galleries, groups etc that you tag, including Art Trails Tasmania.
Will the Incognito Art Show Tag Artists?
The Incognito Art Show social media team will tag exhibiting artists after the opening. So the best way to make it easy for this very busy team is to clearly write your Facebook and Instagram page name, for example, ours would be https://facebook.com/arttrailstasmania (this is a vanity username url, click here to set this up and find out how to use Facebook to grow your Artist Profile) and https://instagram.com/arttrailstasmania.
If you don’t write it clearly and easily for the person doing all the work with temperamental Meta/Instagram/Facebook posting then you may easily miss out on this vaulable promotion by them.
And remeber, this is also for your buyer, so if you want the buyer to follow you, make sure your handwriting is clear and easy to read.
The Incognito Art Show does attract some very big names in the art world, eg. Julia Gutman and Reg Mombassa, and in 2024 had over 5,000 artists enter over 7,000 art works.
Share Your Own Joy, Create Your Own Success
The best approach is to also share your joy of being part of the Incognito Art Show and share stories about your participation via your blog and posts on Facebook and Instagram. Be sure to tag the @IncognitoArtShow and make good use of the hashtags. And work with the requirements of the art show.
Maximising Your Participation in the Incognito Art Show
By leveraging these strategies, you can maximise your participation in the Incognito Art Show to elevate your artist profile, expand your networks, and create opportunities for further success in the art world.
These strategies can be adapted for any art exhibition, show, trail, project, workshop series that you are part of, so you can flourish.
Plus, the sale of your work contributes to the game changing charities Studio A and We Are Studios, similar to our own Hobart Artosaurus community art spaces.
Read What Our Members Say About Belonging
Join the growing, supportive artists community today and have your Artist story told here.
Want your Artist Profile story told and shared by us? Join as an Artist Profile member.
Want your Profile story AND Events News promoted by us? Join as an Artists Ensemble member.
Belinda is doing a great job creating a professional looking artist hub online. Check out the profile I posted recently to see how well she does them. To all my artist friends let’s help make this THE go to place to discover local artists.
You won’t regret joining Art Trails Tasmania . It’s a welcoming community for creatives at any career stage.Becoming an Art Trails Tasmania member wasn’t a hard decision for me to make as it’s such a wealth of knowledge and support.Being member provides a quality way to showcase your creative endeavours and it’s quickly growing in reach.
We operate a home based picture framing business and recently joined Art Trails Tasmania as a means to giving us exposure to the wider artist community. We have almost immediately seen increase in activity thru our online sites, which I am certain will lead to more opportunities to grow our business.
Be Part of Artist Led Events Across Tasmania
Come explore the fabulous events our members are hosting across this deeply inspiring state!
Tasters and Workshops at the Launceston Art Society
Explore New Mediums & Techniques with The Launceston Art Society The Launceston Art Society (LAS) is excited to have introduced a new series of Taster Workshops to their existing selection of full day options. These are great options for those who would like to...
Unveiling the Crafting Your Own Creative Tasmanian Holiday Guide
Discover the "Craft Your Own Creative Tasmanian Holiday Guide" The Craft Your Own Creative Tasmanian Holiday Guide invites art lovers to embark on a journey into the heart of creativity in Tasmania. By exploring local galleries, exhibitions, and artist-led workshops,...
Flourish Creatively at the North East Tasmania Art and Craft Festival
It's Time to Be Part of the NETAC Festival The North East Tasmania Art and Craft Festival Theme: "Something Old, Something New" 2024 is a special birthday for the NETAC Festival we have reached 50 years of running the event. So it’s celebrations all round. Our theme...
Discover our Artist members…
Come be inspired by the Artist Profile stories of our members; from galleries to art societies, artists to festivals and more!
Revealing the Coastal Town Pop Up Jane Seychell Gallery Safe Inside a Bank
Meet St Helens Gallery Owner Jane Seychell Meeting people who love art and appreciate all types of art is the best thing about having my gallery. I often chat to customers about starting their own art journey and the uncertainty of of what to do and where to start. I...
Being an Artist and Creating is at the Very Core of Annette Fuller
When Being an Artist Is Who You Are with Annette Fuller Being an artist and creating is who I am and is as necessary as breathing for my mind body and soul. Art gives me far more than just joy, if I am away too long from engaging in my art practice my fingers get...
Join the Launceston Art Society’s Journey Through Education, Workshops and Exhibition
Come Explore The Launceston Art Society The Launceston Art Society (LAS) began life as the Launceston Drawing Club over 133 years ago by a group of women who desired to devote time to the educational influences of the study of fine arts. LAS Workshops, Art Appreciate...
Nurture Your Creativity
Every month the lastest Creativity Calendar story is shared in the Community Newsletter, on Facebook and Instagram and it is all about living a more authentic life connected with your own creativity.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Grow Your Skills and Flourish
Dive into our constantly growing skills sharing stories so you can make more money from doing what you love.
7 Ways to Use Exhibitions to Grow Your Artist Profile
7 Ways for Using Exhibitions to Grow Your Artist Profile Entering your work in art and craft exhibitions can be a great way to grow your artist profile, and not just by having exhibition visitors see your work. You can easily increase the number of people who see your...
How to Use Facebook to Grow Your Artist Profile
Using Facebook to Grow Your Artist Profile I've had to figure out how to make friends with Facebook so I can use it to promote my initial art exhibitions during Covid. The lockdowns etc meant that I needed to learn how to get this project of mine up and going online...
8 Money Tips for Artists
My 8 Money Tips for Artists As a self funded artist making my living from what I make and sell for over 20 years I thought it could be useful for you if I shared some of my lessons learnt about money, so here are 8 money tips for artists. More specifically, what to do...
Go Deeper With Our Members Only Content
This growing collection of practical skills sharing stories are the next level and are just for our members. To access these game changing stories you need to login.
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
