Thursday, September 29, 2005
à The first major breakthrough in representing the work of the
Artist ß
Background on philosophical issues:
Background on philosophical issues:
This communication assesses the opportunities related to the development of an e-commerce system (Internet software and business to business relationships) to support our marketing of Taos artists to the world. Business and technical experiences help us understand how to make the transition to a fully operational e-commerce system.
There are many issues, not all that can be addressed by standard capital formation philosophy.
We are working with a non-standard economic philosophy. One could mention Native American teachings about balances between human individual and nature, human individual to human individual, and social system to nature balances. Mentioning this is not so easy because the standard economic philosophy is completely at odds with these teachings, as currently understood. For a nice introduction one might look at the works of Four Arrows at { web site }. One might say that non-standard economic philosophy is not relevant to the development of an e-commerce system, and in many cases this would resonate.
In the case of the VirtualTaos systems there is an attempt to overcome failures in the standard economic system. The virtualTaos system may come to provide specific global benefits to society by examining carefully an economic theory that addresses the balances that Four Arrows and others talk about.
"VirtualTaos" is registered as a Taos business with a business license. This registration captures the name. I did not get www.virtualtaos.com but the folks that have this URL name is Santa Fe Living (a well respected association of developers in Santa Fe). www.virtualtaos.net and www.virtualtaos.org are owned by myself, on behalf of the Foundation.
We have other "name and branding language (trademark)" work that should be done; but which does not come into play as yet. Some of this is related to the Foundation for Creative Extension and Acquisition (www.FoundationCEA.org) (this is owned by me, but not mapped anywhere as yet)
The Foundation has an ability to obtain a long-term lease at the Indian Hills Inn, where the owner has already given a lot of space to my father for a studio and for living space. These spaces are provided to Kelly in exchange for the draw that his art gives to the Inn. I discuss these spaces at:
http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/45.htm
and
http://www.bcngroup.org/beadgames/TaosDiscussion/46.htm
On the business opportunity:
In 46 I detail the new brochure, one having 30 images and presenting 30 small number editions of 20 each. With 2 artist proofs, this marketing brochure makes available 660 pieces.
The current production costs at the Barry Norris studio would run $25,000, if there was not a to be negotiated price break. The price break from picturesalon.com is 40%. I just talked with Tom and Barbara Prozier, who run picture salon out of their home.
There are some options at this point. First, the production of paper prints could be transferred to a new production facility. Nan Gelhard and I have discussed this for years. The cost goes from 25,000 to 14,000. Or the Foundation could acquire the equipment needed to produce the editions.
The later is what I am considering. I have the space to do this in Taos. Photographs copied below help communicate what is established.
After a rain, the front of virtualTaos
North side of the front room
South side of the front room
We have considered using the south side of the front room space to have a small kitchen, a bar/counter and bulk teas and herbs for sale. The idea here is to have a way to draw an elite community from around Taos into have discussions about virtualTaos goals and objectives.
The North side of the front room is simply a work area, designed to clean paints, stretch canvas giclee, or to package things. A private residence (without a kitchen) is through the red wood door. The private residence has a bathroom, a middle room and a bedroom, with fireplace. To make this resident really nice will require some remodeling – thus one part of the 5 year lease with 5 year renewal concept.
Sufficient resources to create the virtualTaos base system:
The Foundation has 63 original paintings and 35 giclees, as well as the set of 92 digital images in our archive. We also have the copyright to all Pruitt/ThunderBow original oils.
We have conceived of a process of acquiring original oil paintings, creating the scanned digital image (100 Megs – 250 Meg Tif files), and marketing the gilcee extensions on canvas or paper. This process is “owned” by the Foundation in the sense that only the Foundation can manage the complete process, due to the copyright ownership.
If the virtualTaos system can be established, then a great number of other processes can be created at little real cost (i.e. additional outside investment). The argument for why the virtualTaos system is a key to an entire new economic reality is based on beliefs and perceptions, not the kind of hard facts that the venture capital community so often requires. The key to this key is to establish the virtualTaos system using only the current resources that the artist, Pruitt/ThunderBow, has allowed the Foundation to acquire.