Selling art-What are the most important things to know

This mother-daughter art duo share their nearly 60 years of combined experience selling art at vintage markets and out of their art barn in rural Iowa.

Where are you located?

Lofty Lou is a mother-daughter team based out of rural Humboldt County, Iowa. Momma Lisa lives on the home farm where she is a FarmHer, a Grammy, and a happy Art Girl, creating in her barn studio. 

Daughter Sarah Lou lives and works on the east coast in Tewksbury, MA, a suburb of Boston. Sarah is a Mental Health Clinician and an Art Therapist at the Merimac Center, an intensive residential treatment program for young people ages 13-18.

What does your family look like? Humans and not. 

Momma Lisa is married to her farmer Kevin. She is a mom to three adult children, loves their spouses, and has four perfect grands! We are “dog people”, but our shed is currently home to three spoiled farm cats. 

Sarah is newly married to her Boston love, Joey, and is Dog Mom to the most perfect Beagle ever, Lincoln.

Iowa State Cyclones or Iowa Hawkeyes? 

Lisa and Sarah are both Iowa State alumni! Go Cyclones!

How has your business evolved over time?

In 1984, Lisa established Custom Calligraphy, which evolved into Lofty Designs after her barn studio was built. Sarah started her business, Love, Lou Lou in 2004 as a 9-year-old 4-Her. After years of selling side by side at shows under two business names, mom and daughter merged their businesses into Lofty Lou. Now they bring a boutique-like assortment of creative makes to every show they attend.

What made you decide to start this business? 

Lisa has always been an art girl, graduating with an art degree and a business minor. She was able to be a stay at home mom and a partner in the farming operation, so she chose very early on to attempt to supplement the family income by creating and selling at weekend shows and markets.

Sarah grew up in this creative atmosphere and is an incredibly talented fine artist and graphic designer, in addition to her “real job.” Art is a fun outlet for Sarah and seemed to be a great way for a young girl to earn money, too. She was able to finance a large portion of her advanced education through this “hobby!”

Why has this been a good fit for you?

As mentioned earlier, being a small business owner allowed Lisa to be at home with her kids and to help on the farm as needed. The flexibility of being self-employed is not to be taken for granted.

Sarah has been able to design artwork from any location and mail it to Iowa for the Lofty Lou shows. She has also done a large amount of graphic design work and some window mural painting while living in Tewksbury. It just works to be a creative spirit across the miles. 

If you could choose one treat what would it be?

Lisa loves freshly baked Monster Cookies! Sarah’s favorite treat is a warm donut.

What have been some struggles with starting this business?

Lisa started being a maker-on-the-show-circuit in the mid ‘80s. Technology has evolved so much over the years. Ordering has gone from phone calls and fax orders to internet orders and deliveries in very short order. The struggle is always choosing a market or a show that has the best traffic. If people aren’t at a market, you can’t sell your work! I know that there is only a certain percentage of people who will be drawn to our work, and then another smaller percentage who will be moved to purchase some of it. For this percentage to work in our favor, we need to have a LOT of people pass by our booth on any given market day. 

What has been the most rewarding part of your business?

The stories are the best! Lisa and Sarah aim to create relationships and listen when we work with customers. It is rewarding to hear why a piece attracts a customer and then to listen as they share who will receive it or why they chose it. The market setting gives us a chance to have conversations and smile and laugh with our customers.

Beach or mountain? Why?

Lisa is an outdoors girl. The beach is nice. The forests are great. The mountains are amazing. I’ll take them all, preferably with my camper in tow.

Sarah chooses the beach, hands down! Easy answer for this dolphin lover!

How do you do what you do with your business? How does it work? 

As an active part of the farming operation, a Grammy and a daughter, Lisa finds herself scrambling for creative time in the Art Barn. The younger Lisa worked late into the night creating for shows. The graying Lisa doesn’t find this works anymore! Part of her mantra now is, “If it’s not FUN, I’m not doing it!” so Lisa tries to get to her studio as many days a week as she can and it’s a bonus if she is able to spend hours on end creating there!

Sarah is working a tough full time job now as a mental health clinician. Her days and nights don’t allow as much creative time as she would like. This will change someday….

What hasn’t worked?

Many of our shows are vintage markets and we sell outdoors. Some of our art is affected by wet weather so we’ve had to begin individually packaging  cards in cello bags or else we risk replacing all of the envelopes. (guess what happens to the envelope gummy when it gets damp????) Experience is the best teacher!

What else are you doing that is awesome? 

For the past three years, Sarah has been the sole graphic designer for the annual report book for a charter school in Boston. She does this HUGE project on the side, while doing her full time mental health clinician work. She also has done some big painted window murals in the Jamaican Plains area of Boston.

What have you learned now that you didn’t know before?

Sarah: There’s no such thing as a perfect show or a perfect piece of art.

Lisa: After 40 years of selling at markets and shows, I have discovered that artisans and makers are some of the hardest working people you will ever meet. It is HARD WORK to create products and then pack them up, set up at a show, sell all day, and then pack up again for the drive home. Some artisans do this almost every weekend of the  year. That is a big and HARD job.

Favorite thing to do in your free time? 

Lisa loves to relax in her backyard around the firepit, go thrift shopping, or make art!

Sarah’s favorite free time fun is to take a drive to Target.

What piece of advice would you give to yourself when you started this business?

Make sure to keep the fun in the business. Early on, Sarah and Lisa had a policy to never count the cash box until after things were packed up and they were home. This kept the artist duo positive and in the moment. If you weren’t fretting about the profits, you had the mental capacity to create relationships with other vendors and you could be your best self for all of your customers. It’s not fun to pack up from a rainy show already knowing your sales weren’t great! 

Sarah says, “Just start! Things take time, so start early!”

What is the next thing you are wanting to pursue? 

Lisa wants to do more mixed media art! She has a screen printing machine she wants to try out “one of these days.” And she has a LOT of fabric stockpiled to sew into fun creations, both wearable and functional.

Sarah wants to paint a mural. 

Favorite thing to make for dinner? 

Lisa loves to bake, but a favorite meal would include pork, of course! When we serve a pork meal, it’s all about the sides!!! I like to serve pork with some Calico Beans, sourdough bread, and fresh chocolate chip cookies!

Sarah’s favorite thing to make for dinner is something she’s never made before that actually turns out great.

How do we find out more about you? Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Etsy. Give me all of the ways to see your business/products!  

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/loftylouart

Instagram: loftylou_art

Website: www.loftylou.com

If you want to find out more about my other entrepreneur friends that we have interviewed on the Iowa Family Gardening Homestead please visit them HERE!