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10/02/14

30: James Goldcrown – The Art of Selling Your Art

“I never wanted to start out with small magazines. I wanted to start out loud.”

It was his dream job, but something else was calling him…

In this interview we delve into the life of James Goldcrown. His astonishing career, starting as a young dark room assistant in South London and evolving to the top of the fashion industry in New York City. The industry began to weigh on him and his burn out led him to Africa where he created a life altering documentary. Something had to change…

He started selling paintings from the back of a truck he built and styled. In this interview you can hear for yourself the passion he has for the art of selling art. Now he does that… but that isn’t it.

He started The Shed Project on Mott Street. It is a collaborative gallery/workshop where people can come to create and to sell. It’s the physical representation of the intersection of community, creativity and commerce.

Thank you so much for downloading the 30th episode of NIONradio.

“New York is like a girlfriend.”

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/james-goldcrown” title=”James Goldcrown – The Art of Selling Your Art” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/30_JamesGoldcrown_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • The story behind James Goldcrown from London to NYC
  • What it takes to be a great fashion photographer
  • The importance of aggressively going after your desires
  • On the soul of the fashion industry
  • On leaving the fashion industry to make a documentary in Africa
  • How James started selling art from the truck
  • Key lessons regarding the art of selling your art
  • How to price art effectively… on the street and in the gallery
  • Managing the balance of personal work and paid work
  • Navigating the ebbs and flows of creative productive potential
  • The vision for The Shed Project and where the inspiration comes from

 

Top 3 Tips for Selling Art in the Street:

  1. Know the Customer – “Don’t waste your energy on someone who’s going to waste your time.”
  2. Accommodate that Person – “Make them feel like they are a part of the process.”
  3. Know your Expenses and How to Bring the Customer in – “When you make a piece, be aware of what you spent on the piece. Be willing to come down accordingly. Always make that buyer feel like they’ve got what they wanted.”

 

Links mentioned:

  • Learn a little more about Amber Rae, the girl who introduced Nick and James
  • Check out James Goldcrown’s documentary on AID work in Africa, To Die No More: Part I | Part II | Part III
  • Learn more about The Shed Project and come visit: 179 Mott Street between Kenmare and Broome
  • Music Credit: Colorful by The Madison

Connect with James Instagram | Facebook | Website

LET'S CONSPIRE & CREATE

CULTIVATING YOUR VISUAL UNIQUENESS AND STREAMLINING YOUR BRAND'S EVOLUTION

“I never wanted to start out with small magazines. I wanted to start out loud.”

It was his dream job, but something else was calling him…

In this interview we delve into the life of James Goldcrown. His astonishing career, starting as a young dark room assistant in South London and evolving to the top of the fashion industry in New York City. The industry began to weigh on him and his burn out led him to Africa where he created a life altering documentary. Something had to change…

He started selling paintings from the back of a truck he built and styled. In this interview you can hear for yourself the passion he has for the art of selling art. Now he does that… but that isn’t it.

He started The Shed Project on Mott Street. It is a collaborative gallery/workshop where people can come to create and to sell. It’s the physical representation of the intersection of community, creativity and commerce.

Thank you so much for downloading the 30th episode of NIONradio.

“New York is like a girlfriend.”

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/james-goldcrown” title=”James Goldcrown – The Art of Selling Your Art” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/30_JamesGoldcrown_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • The story behind James Goldcrown from London to NYC
  • What it takes to be a great fashion photographer
  • The importance of aggressively going after your desires
  • On the soul of the fashion industry
  • On leaving the fashion industry to make a documentary in Africa
  • How James started selling art from the truck
  • Key lessons regarding the art of selling your art
  • How to price art effectively… on the street and in the gallery
  • Managing the balance of personal work and paid work
  • Navigating the ebbs and flows of creative productive potential
  • The vision for The Shed Project and where the inspiration comes from

 

Top 3 Tips for Selling Art in the Street:

  1. Know the Customer – “Don’t waste your energy on someone who’s going to waste your time.”
  2. Accommodate that Person – “Make them feel like they are a part of the process.”
  3. Know your Expenses and How to Bring the Customer in – “When you make a piece, be aware of what you spent on the piece. Be willing to come down accordingly. Always make that buyer feel like they’ve got what they wanted.”

 

Links mentioned:

  • Learn a little more about Amber Rae, the girl who introduced Nick and James
  • Check out James Goldcrown’s documentary on AID work in Africa, To Die No More: Part I | Part II | Part III
  • Learn more about The Shed Project and come visit: 179 Mott Street between Kenmare and Broome
  • Music Credit: Colorful by The Madison

Connect with James Instagram | Facebook | Website

10/02/14

30: James Goldcrown – The Art of Selling Your Art

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“I never wanted to start out with small magazines. I wanted to start out loud.”

It was his dream job, but something else was calling him…

In this interview we delve into the life of James Goldcrown. His astonishing career, starting as a young dark room assistant in South London and evolving to the top of the fashion industry in New York City. The industry began to weigh on him and his burn out led him to Africa where he created a life altering documentary. Something had to change…

He started selling paintings from the back of a truck he built and styled. In this interview you can hear for yourself the passion he has for the art of selling art. Now he does that… but that isn’t it.

He started The Shed Project on Mott Street. It is a collaborative gallery/workshop where people can come to create and to sell. It’s the physical representation of the intersection of community, creativity and commerce.

Thank you so much for downloading the 30th episode of NIONradio.

“New York is like a girlfriend.”

[smart_track_player url=”https://soundcloud.com/nickonken/james-goldcrown” title=”James Goldcrown – The Art of Selling Your Art” image=”https://nionlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/30_JamesGoldcrown_NIONradio_02.jpg” color=”de4b9b” ]

Some things we learn in this podcast:

  • The story behind James Goldcrown from London to NYC
  • What it takes to be a great fashion photographer
  • The importance of aggressively going after your desires
  • On the soul of the fashion industry
  • On leaving the fashion industry to make a documentary in Africa
  • How James started selling art from the truck
  • Key lessons regarding the art of selling your art
  • How to price art effectively… on the street and in the gallery
  • Managing the balance of personal work and paid work
  • Navigating the ebbs and flows of creative productive potential
  • The vision for The Shed Project and where the inspiration comes from

 

Top 3 Tips for Selling Art in the Street:

  1. Know the Customer – “Don’t waste your energy on someone who’s going to waste your time.”
  2. Accommodate that Person – “Make them feel like they are a part of the process.”
  3. Know your Expenses and How to Bring the Customer in – “When you make a piece, be aware of what you spent on the piece. Be willing to come down accordingly. Always make that buyer feel like they’ve got what they wanted.”

 

Links mentioned:

  • Learn a little more about Amber Rae, the girl who introduced Nick and James
  • Check out James Goldcrown’s documentary on AID work in Africa, To Die No More: Part I | Part II | Part III
  • Learn more about The Shed Project and come visit: 179 Mott Street between Kenmare and Broome
  • Music Credit: Colorful by The Madison

Connect with James Instagram | Facebook | Website

10/02/14

30: James Goldcrown – The Art of Selling Your Art

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It’s an ongoing creative partnership focused on bringing your personal brand identity to life.

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All shaped as a direct extension of who you are. The work also includes a bespoke process of identifying and aligning the right experts when needed, so nothing gets built out of sync with your core.

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A long view over changing terrain, the difference between a static rulebook and a living Brand Brain

Brand guidelines are static rules for the surface. A Brand Brain is a living codification of identity a team or an AI can generate from. The difference, defined.

Mountain terrain stretching in every direction, breadth before depth in choosing a practice

We trained six styles of kung fu in one month. Sampling that widely taught me how a creative actually finds the practice worth years: breadth first, the pull as data, then depth.

An unfamiliar landscape seen at full attention, travel waking up a creative eye

Travel makes you more creative because unfamiliar places wake up your perception. Why the effect works, and how to bring the sharpened eye home with you.

Elevated Realism portrait of Nick Cannon at ease in a light blue suit, brand photography that matches who the subject has become

Your brand photos lag behind you because you kept evolving and the images stayed frozen. Why the gap opens, how to spot it, and what closes it.

A mountain path with fixed edges, the chosen container that makes depth possible

The kung fu school had rules: locked-in weekdays, dawn starts, push-ups for lateness. A month inside taught me that constraints you choose are what make depth possible.

Out in the field making the day's work, a daily creative practice in motion

A daily creative practice is making one real thing every day, however small, to stay in a proactive state. A working definition, and how to build one that lasts.

A traveler standing clear of the crowd, one coherent identity the machines can read correctly

AI describes your brand by averaging your public record. How to codify one identity, repeat it everywhere, and get the machines to echo you back accurately.

A performer's world stripped to essentials, artistry carrying without production

I’ve photographed Justin Bieber several times and seen fame up close. His stripped-down Coachella set showed the thing I keep relearning about creative work: production amplifies, and only artistry carries.

Calm Jamaican coastline, a nervous system coming all the way down in creative burnout recovery

You recover from creative burnout by treating it as a nervous system state: build real down-cycles, read your own signals, and return to the work you love.

Mountain landscape in New Zealand, one clear thread running through a magnetic personal brand

A magnetic personal brand comes from coherence and one clear through-line. Here is how entrepreneurs build one, in order, and the trap that keeps most brands scattered.

Hiking a New Zealand mountain trail, learning at your own pace in midlife

I spent a month training kung fu in Wudang at 47, the oldest and slowest learner in the room. What being a beginner again in midlife taught me about pace, comparison, and starting anyway.

Photographer walking a snow-capped mountain ridge in New Zealand, the long practice of seeing that develops taste

You develop taste through thousands of reps of looking closely and deciding what works. A photographer’s honest answer on how taste gets built.

Silhouetted figure leaping from a sea cliff at sunset, committing to one coherent personal brand identity

You make a personal brand more coherent by naming the identity underneath it, distilling a one or two word through-line, and bringing the four layers into agreement. The full path, in order.

About the Blogger

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

I was born in a low middle class conservative religious family in the suburbs of Seattle. Art was and always has been my passion, and more than that a way of life. Starting as a graphic designer, I taught myself photography, built a commercial/editorial business shooting for the worlds biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Adidas and more. I've also had the opportunity to photograph the world's biggest celebrities like Justin Bieber, Usher, Jessica Alba and more. I've curated a lifestyle around creativity and have learned a lot along the way which I get to share here. 

NICK'S STORY