POLL: How much do you spend on your art habit annually?

This month the Making A Mark Poll is asking you to 'fess up!!!

How much do you spend on art materials, art equipment and technology to support your art habit in a year?

I'm going to do two polls - one in US dollars and one in £sterling - see right hand column.  This time I'm going to keep the sums quoted broadly equivalent ;)

I realise there are many readers of this blog around the world who don't use either of these currencies but if you wouldn't mind translating it into one or the other and then answering the relevant poll that would be great.  Here's a link to an excellent currency translator. 

I'm also going to ask you whether you offset your expenditure against tax.

I do appreciate this is hugely simplistic.  If anybody is interested in a more detailed survey please leave a comment and I'll take soundings from you as to what you'd like to see.

You can find the polls in the right hand column - just above the grid of faces of people who follows this blog

NAMTA Survey- Artists and Art Materials 2009

Here's what The International Art Materials Trade Association (NAMTA) and American Artist magazine had to say about the art materials business in 2009.  You can download the Executive Summary here. 

In terms of expenditure:

• active artists spent more than $4 BILLION in 2008
• 59% of this is on art supplies (paints, drawing materials, tools, supports, equipment, framing, magazines etc)
• 9% is spent on non-traditional supplies (fiber, art fabric, beads, wire, ceramics, art glass etc)
• 25% is spent on classes and workshops and 7% is spent on other (supplies, studio, travel etc)

This expands significantly on the highlights below.

• Interest is growing in non-traditional art materials
• the distinction between professionals, students and recretaional artists is fading
• computers are now a recognise art tool
• artists still depend on magazines and books
• elementary art school programs build the future - in terms of involvement with making art

In terms of artwork produced - the majority of artwork was not paintings or drawings:

• 17% were paintings produced using watercolour, oil, aryclic etc
• 25% were drawings using pencils, pen and ink, pastel etc
• 30% were handmade books and cards, art sing gound objects, scultpure, fabric, meixed media and collafe
• 10% were murals, functional art, communication art (Graphic art???)
• 18% was digital art

The people spending all this money and producing all this art are the estimated 4.4 million artists of whom:

• 3.2 million are recreational artists (73%) - of whom 
• 1.8 million are recreational artists who take classes classes
• 1.9 million are recreational artists who sold their artwork
• 600,000 (14%) are professional artists
• 600,000 (14%) are college students taking art classes - of whom 122,000 (3%) are art-degree seeking college student

Art Supplies - Resources for Artists

You can find my resource sites relating to Art Supplies, Art Equipment and my favourite Art Shops below:

Art Equipment - Resources for Artists

This site is for visual artists. It provides links to: - items of art equipment and tools - recommended ways of putting together toolkits and - recommendations for equipment for working in the studio or plein air

Art Supplies in the UK - Resources for Artists

This site provides details about where to find fine art materials and art supplies in and around the UK.  It shares details of online suppliers and the locations of retail shops and stores that you can visit as a retail or trade customer.

Art Supplies in the USA - Resources for Artists

This site provides details about where to find fine art materials supplies in and around the USA.  It shares details of online suppliers and the locations of retail stores that you can visit as a retail or trade customer.

My Favourite Art Shops - Resources for Artists

 

As more and more sales move online, it's crucial that all artists continue to patronise and support our favourite 'bricks and mortar' art shops in our towns and cities.