Join us for insights by professional artists on succeeding with art entrepreneurship in a competitive market! Learn about social media marketing, challenges faced by beginner startups, international sales, e-commerce, print, and original sales, and networking secrets. Bring your questions for a Q&A session at the end of the presentations. This is an event you won't want to miss! 

Meet the panelists:

Alexandra Schmeling- Issues for Beginner Entrepreneurs, Starting an Art Business, and Overcoming Business Implications: Alexandra Schmeling is a watercolor artist based in Arlington, VA. She studied art at Yale where she concentrated on photography. During graduate school, she taught herself watercolor painting and it is now her favorite medium. She specializes in pet portraits and landscapes based on her travels, especially in France. She began her art business in October of 2020 and hopes to one day make it her full-time job! 

Lesa Sears- Fine Arts E-Commerce Development and Sales Marketing: I have recently ignited my passion for art. At the beginning of the school year 2020 I wanted to get back into the workforce because my youngest child would be going to school full time. I am a mother of 5 kids. I got my resume ready then Covid hit and all the kids came back home. I decided to pick up my paintbrushes and reignited my love for creating art. I grew up in Oregon and have traveled all over the United States with my husband in the Army. We have settled in Fairbanks Alaska. I love the community here and was very surprised about how much they love and support the arts. I love painting landscapes in Acrylics. Textured painting is so much fun. Creating an art piece that brings back memories for people to enjoy is amazing. I love when a person tells me “my art reminds them of the time they…”. To see my art hang in someone's home or office is truly an honor. I have recently learned how to create a website, sell my art on social media, and create YouTube and TikTok videos. I am currently taking classes to become a Therapeutic Art Life Coach and am currently teaching art classes. I want to be an example to others especially older women—those who find themselves at crossroads. The empty-nesters. Those who feel they are too old to start living their dreams. It’s never too late to follow your passions. I will tell you what I tell my kids, “ If you don’t try you will never succeed!”

Please follow me @LesaSearsFineArt

Sussane Tabet- International Collectors, Sales Networking, and Fine Art eCommerce: My name is Susanne Tabet and I am a German contemporary abstract painter who lives and works in Falls Church, Virginia. Self-taught, I began painting in my early twenties when a visit to the Tate Modern in London introduced me to the works of Amedeo Modigliani and ignited a desire to replicate his distinct abstract female portraits. The outcome of this spontaneous art experiment completely turned me around and ignited a passion for art and creativity that has stayed with me ever since. I painted whenever my day job allowed it, continuously developing and evolving my technical skills and distilling my personal style. I decided to become a full-time artist in 2020 and my focus today remains on the female form and on abstract portraits. I work intuitively but in every painting, my objective is to express and evoke emotions through strong color combinations and bold, energetic brushstrokes. My portraits exude strength and vulnerability and are a reflection of the complexity, beauty, and power of feminine energy.