It’s one thing to make a name as an artist, it’s quite another to make a living as one. An artist himself, Rufus Rhea noticed that some conventional methods used by artists to sell their work simply aren’t very effective.
“Typically an artist might to go a restaurant and ask if they can hang their art there to sell on consignment,” Rhea explains. “Sometimes it moves, but more often it just hangs there.”
So Rhea started
Bossa Koba, a publishing label for artists to help make their creative careers more marketable. Instead of peddling original art piece by piece to individual buyers, Rhea produces prints to sell wholesale to commercial buyers.
“It builds awareness for the artists and it creates added value,” Rhea says.
Bossa Koba began in November of 2008, but just recently moved into a 1,500 square foot space on Michigan Avenue shared by a handful of other businesses knows the
Capital City Creative Productions.
The collection of associated businesses will celebrate the opening of their new space with an open house on May 12 and a kickball tournament to benefit the American Cancer Society in East Lansing’s Patriarche Park on May 14.
Before the doors officially opened, the new highly visible storefront has been a benefit to Bossa Koba.
“We’ve been getting a lot of business already,” says Rhea. “We’re still working on transitioning in to the space, and we expect as our businesses grow and change, the space will continue to transition as well.”
Source:Rufus Rhea, Bossa Koba
Writer: Natalie Burg, News Editor
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