Artists incorporate a variety of techniques to promote their work to the public.

L’Oreal Willams, a freshman business administration major, discussed how social media has helped her promote her photography business, “L’Oreal Productions.”

“I use a lot of social media to do promoting,” stated Williams. “I promote on Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and in addition, I also work events around campus, and that’s how people find out I am a photographer. You never know who’s seeing your work.”

Dr. Marc Settembrino, assistant professor of sociology, explained what led him to begin painting and sharing his work with other people.

“A few years ago, I started painting just as a part of my human expression,” said Settembrino. “At first, it was experimental. Over time, I started sharing what I was doing with my friends on Facebook. One of the cool things about being on Instagram as well, is it exposes your art to people who may not know you or may not know you’re an artist.”

For Casey Saba, a 2006 alumnus and musician, in-person promotion can be an effective tool as well.

“In my personal opinion, nothing beats old-fashioned shaking hands and kissing babies,” shared Saba. “Digital promotion is fine, but the problem you run into is that everybody’s digitally promoting themselves. Word of mouth is powerful, so if you meet somebody and make them smile, they’re way more likely to come to the show than just seeing some random post.”

In addition, Settembrino advertises his paintings to the community with the support of the Hammond Art Guild.

“I joined the Hammond Art Guild and started entering my work in different exhibitions the art guild was doing,” explained Settembrino. “The Hammond Art Guild is a community group of artists who help to promote each other’s work.”

The Hammond Art Guild provides various opportunities for artists to reach out to the public.

“The Hammond Art Guild will do different events throughout the year such as ‘Starry November Night’ and ‘Hot August Night’ where I can show my work,” said Settembrino. “People are out and about, and you get to interact with people that you normally would never interact with.”

According to Settembrino, some artists face difficulties when finding venues to promote their art.

“In a place like Hammond, it gets difficult for them because there aren’t many galleries available,” stated Settembrino. “We have the regional arts center and the contemporary gallery on campus, but those are not really accessible to the individual artists.”

Settembrino believes artists benefit from showing support to one another.

Settembrino expressed, “The easiest routes to promoting my work has been through the Hammond Art Guild and through social media, but perhaps sometimes, I wish there was more of a community of artists that were fostering collaboration and working together.”

Showcasing artwork to the public may require artists to stand out and make connections.

“Artists who are really trying to get their work out there in a small town setting means they have to be a lot more creative whether it’s social media or events,” shared Settembrino. “If you are an artist, and you are looking to promote your work, the best thing you can is find a community that’s going to help you do that.”