Turn your creativity into opportunity.
Turn your creativity into opportunity. Join Steuben Arts Scene for a full day of practical insight and inspiration featuring Eric Rhoads, national art business expert and publisher of PleinAir magazine as our keynote speaker in the morning as well as a host of other industry experts in a variety of sessions. Learn how to market your art online, connect with galleries, handle tax and legal essentials, and build a sustainable career.
Saturday, January 17, 2026
8:30 am to 4:30 pm
T. Furth Center for the Performing Arts
Trine University - Angola, Indiana
Thanks to our sponsors:
Turn your artistic passion into a sustainable business at The Business of Art, a full-day workshop designed to equip artists with the tools, insights, and confidence to grow their creative careers.
What to Expect
Spend the day learning from nationally recognized artists, gallery directors, business professionals, and creative entrepreneurs. Each session is tailored to help you navigate the real-world challenges of being a working artist — from selling your art and building your brand to understanding contracts, taxes, and legal basics.
Highlights include:
Keynote Address: Eric Rhoads — CEO, artist, and publisher of PleinAir and Fine Art Connoisseur magazines. Learn his proven strategies to grow your art career and boost sales.
Using the Internet to Grow Your Art Business — Digital tools, online sales, and creative marketing.
Gallery Roundtable — What gallery directors look for, how to approach them, and what to expect in a partnership.
Legal & Tax Essentials for Artists — Understand the financial side of your practice with insights from Lynn Wernet, CPA.
Artists Roundtable: Building a Career — Hear the journeys of celebrated artists C.W. Mundy and Fred Doloresco, moderated by Douglas Runyan.
Read more about each session and meet the presenters below!
Who Should Attend
This workshop is perfect for emerging and established artists, art educators, and creatives ready to treat their art as a business. Whether you want to sell more artwork, gain gallery representation, or simply make sense of the business side of art, this event is for you.
Registration
Price: $150.00
Discount: $100.00 until 12/15/2025
(Trine Students attend free)
Includes a continental breakfast and lunch
Space is limited — reserve your seat today and invest in your art career!
Morning Session
8:15 to 8:45 am - Light Continental Breakfast
8:45 am - Introduction & Welcome
Vicki Thompson, President: Steuben Arts Scene
9:00 am - Keynote Address
Eric Rhoads
Introduction - Lou Ann Homan
Eric Rhoads, a specialist in helping artists sell more artwork and build thriving careers, will share strategies to accelerate your artistic success. He'll reveal the top principles every artist should follow to achieve substantial growth in their career and sales. Short question and answer session following the presentation!
Eric Rhoads is a CEO, Artist, Publisher, Radio Broadcaster and a career entrepreneur with 40 years experience in radio; launching companies and building businesses; publishing and the art industry. He is chairman of the board of Streamline Publishing, Inc., a company he founded in 1986 that publishes Fine Art Connoisseur and PleinAir magazines and other digital and print art publications and hosts the wildly popular annual Plein Air Convention & Expo and Figurative Art Convention & Expo and other virtual live art events.
10:00 to 10:15 am - Break
10:45 to 11:15 am - Using The Internet To Grow Your Art Business
Erin Patton McFarren
Erin Patton McFarren earned a BA in Visual Arts Education & Fine Arts, Sculpture, University of Saint Francis, IN and a MLS in Media Studies and Arts Reference, Indiana University, IN. Erin has very successfully turned her love of art into a successful business. Erin successfully utilizes the internet to sell her artworks. Erin also takes private and commercial commissions and will share her experiences with that channel. Among her many successes she has authored publications, produced podcasts, and is the featured artist for Red Dot Culture and Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago. She is willing to share how she has been able to make an impact through her art business.
11:15 am to 12:15 pm - What A Gallery Wants To See From You
Justin Johnson
Justin Johnson, BA (Fine/Commercial Art) and MA (Studio Art - Drawing) Gallery Directory - University of St. Francis, Fort Wayne. Justin presents how to approach a gallery for representation, what should be in an artist’s portfolio, and what to expect from a gallery - contracts, featured exhibitions, commissions and fees, expense sharing, advertising, etc. Justin Johnson has been the gallery director for the University of St. Francis since 2002, teaches in the School of Fine Arts and exhibits his own work with major exhibitions at Huntington University, Wabash College, Defiance College, Adrian College, Grace College, Goshen College, Manchester University, and University of Saint Francis and commercial galleries.
12:15 to 1:30 pm - Lunch (box lunch provided)
Afternoon Session
1:30 to 2:00 pm - Artificial Intelligence In Art
Caleb Weintraub
Caleb Weintraub has an M.F.A. from University of Pennsylvania, B.F.A., Boston University and currently serves as the Area Head, Painting; Associate Professor, Painting Indiana University, Bloomington, Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design. Professor Weintraub has written on the impact Artificial Intelligence has on Art. He will share his thoughts and observations on the positive and negative of AI in the art world and what could be used to the advantage of an artist. You won’t want to miss this presentation of this very important topic!
2:00 to 3:00 pm - Roundtable Discussion: Simple Tax and Legal Considerations For The Artist
Gerald Askew, PE and Lynn Wernet, CPA
Moderated by Douglas Runyan, Artist and retired attorney
Gerald Askew earned his J.D. from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2012 while still working full time. After becoming a licensed Patent Attorney, he provided comprehensive IP guidance including trademark licensing, portfolio management, and IP-related agreements. In 2017, Gerald founded Askew Intellectual Property, LLC, combining years of hands-on engineering experience with legal insight to help clients secure patents, trademarks, and strategic IP protection. His practice focuses on the mechanical arts, though he serves a broad range of industries - always with the goal of protecting innovation and empowering progress. Mr. Askew will present considerations of copyrights and considerations when presenting and selling artworks.
Lynn Wernet is retired after four decades as a CPA and CFP. Lynn resides in Steuben County and continues to provide tax preparation services for a limited number for clients. She has a long-time interest in nonprofit organizations and gives freely of her time and skill to better her community, including serving on the Board of Directors of the Steuben County Community Foundation. Lynn will share considerations artists should be aware of when starting a commercial art business.
3:00 to 3:15 pm - Break
3:15 to 4:30 pm - Artists Roundtable: Building A Career
C.W. Mundy and Fred Doloresco
Moderated by Douglas Runyan, Artist and retired attorney
C.W. Mundy and Fred Doloresco are at the top of the art world in Indiana and have each developed a national reputation for their skills as painters. They arrived at their success, though, through very different paths - C.W. as a full-time artist with a college degree in art and Fred as a medical doctor (cardiology) and part-time painter who attained his skill through extensive self-learning, collecting art, and taking many workshops with top artists. Their stories will both entertain and enlighten.