Artist & Mentor Ann Rea

Interview with Alex Blumberg, NPR producer of "This American Life" and "Planet Money"

What They Don't Teach In Art School & Can't Teach In Business School


Once upon a time, a prestigious* art school granted a hopeful 17 year old artist a scholarship.

What Ann Rea didn't know was that she would be learning how to make art but not how to make money.

Less than two years after graduating she had a dull corporate job. There was no time or energy left for making art.

Every day, Ann endured long commutes. She dreaded meetings with her "Team Leader" nicknamed "Snotty Scotty." As she drifted farther away from her art her self-confidence declined.

One day, she and her co-worker Angela sat complaining about their jobs again. But, Angela was fragile from dealing with Stage-4 cancer.

Because of that, Ann redirected the conversation by asking Angela...

"If you had a magic wand that could ensure your success, what would you do?"

Angela said, "I'd be an interior designer. I love design."

"What's stopping you?"

After a long pause, Angela said, "I'm too afraid."

"Are you more afraid of becoming an interior designer than you are of Stage 4 cancer?"

Because of that, Ann became less afraid of dying and more afraid of not living. She decided to turn her dream of being a successful artist into a plan.

Ann started working with art galleries. But they demanded exclusivity agreements even though they were:

  • not selling enough of her art
  • demanding 50% in sales commissions
  • discounting her art 10%
  • preventing her from contacting her collectors, an illegal but common practice

Until finally, Ann quit her job and moved to San Francisco to become a full-time artist. The first thing she did was fire her representatives.

Ann tried conventional sales and marketing but found it hard to relate to her art. Then she realized that she wasn't selling goods or services. Her "product" is emotion.

So Ann studied art history and luxury marketing. She discovered a pattern that shapes every successful artists' niche, The 4-Part Code.©

Ann wrote a plan to sell over $100,000 of her art during her first year as a full-time artist. She sold $103,246 of her art without:

  • representation
  • connections
  • family support
  • trust fund

For over 15 years, Ann has been helping 23 different types of fine artists from 22 countries and counting.

Ann Rea's art, and business savvy, have been featured on ABC, HGTV, Creative Live, The Good Life Project, in Career Renegade, and by the San Francisco Chronicle, The Wine Enthusiast, Art Business News, Fortune, and Inc. Magazines. Ann's mentor, Wayne Thiebaud, an art icon, praises her artistic talent.

Ann's vision is to help over 10,000 fine artists take their power back in less than ten years from the scarcity and permission-based art establishment.

*Prestige is a French word meaning deceit.

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Anya Warda 

Making Art Making Money Student

Before: "I only knew what the art establishment and the art school told me: art contests and galleries. That's all I knew. So I had no idea what else to do, and whatever I was doing, it wasn't working."

Now: "So I have sales every single month during the pandemic. I have never had that in my whole life. This is big for me every month, February, March, April, May already.

I sold! I made money."

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Artist Jina Kim

Making Art Making Money Student

Before: "Before I joined the program, my top two challenges were lack of confidence and not knowing what to do."

Now: "The biggest result of this program during COVID, during isolation right now, is to sell 11 paintings. What! I sold 11 paintings! I still cannot believe that it happened, and I have two more commissions coming. I feel like crying."

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Artist Leah Smithton

Making Art Making Money Student

Before: "There's things that I would not have been able to figure out by myself or it would have taken years."

Now: "I shared my mission and they basically commissioned me to do a mural for them."

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Artist Matt Harline

Making Art Making Money Student

Before: "Before I joined the Making Art Making Money program, I had a brain injury a few years ago. Focusing and thinking of the right words; I'm still having this problem."

Now: "So now it is mid-May, and I've gotten close to $2,000 so far this year. I mean, it's not a huge amount by any stretch of the imagination but it's double!"

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