How to make art pay: initiative helps local artists find success

Money in artists' pockets is good, building sustainable skills to keep the money rolling in is great. There aren't magic recipes to make art pay the rent, but Yellowwoods Art's programmes tick many of the right boxes.

Yellowwoods creates a bridge between companies and emerging artists in a win-win situation. Companies bring the financial muscle, with the pay-off of investing in growing their own collections. Emerging artists get a market to sell to, professional curatorial feedback and increased exposure.

Yellowwoods's jumping-off point is the Creative Block. Artists in the programme are given six 18x18cm square blocks, which they return after a month with completed artworks in whatever theme and medium they choose.

A professional curator meets artists and critiques their work. Works that make the grade are bought on the spot. They're resold to Yellowwoods Art's network of corporate collectors.

"Buying an artist's work on the spot means they actually have the money to make more art," says Yellowwoods curator Tamlin Blake.

She says established artists continue to produce for the project because getting professional feedback is as important as selling works.

Artists also progress through other programmes. From Creative Block they may advance to the Nando's-sponsored Artist Society or the Nando's Chicken Run, both administered by Yellowwoods Art. These programmes sponsor larger or site-specific works. Nando's also offers up its headquarters, Central Kitchen in Lorentzville, for the monthly artist check-in.

On a monthly meet-up Blake is in conversation with an artist who's turned in works using stencilling and drawing. She suggests tweaks to his technique and encourages him to use his painting skills more.

Blake says: "His painting is good; it makes his work stand out because stencilling has becoming a little overdone."

Blake understands such market whims and the business side of art that often eludes artists. She does buy two of the three artworks the artist has brought in that day. These may become part of a Nando's display in one of its 1,100 outlets around the world.

Kirsty Niehaus of Nando's Art Initiative says displaying South African art puts a home-grown stamp on their outlets around the world. Most rewarding though, she says, is seeing how artists have been able to ditch the "starving artist" narrative and start building their careers.

Artist Asanda Kupa signed up with Yellowwoods in 2013. He says: "The project allows me to be at financial ease. It pushes me to produce my best, most honest work."

Kupa arrived in Joburg from the Eastern Cape in 2012. He says it was tough breaking into the market, but monthly professional feedback from Yellowwoods helped.

For Audrey Anderson, the initiative allowed her to become a full-time artist.

"I was submitting blocks and getting feedback for over a year before the curators asked to see my other works. I didn't have many works at the time, but because they knew how I worked they chose to invest in my process as an artist, not the finished product. I love that," she says.

• This article was originally published in The Times