JOB STORM CLOUDS HAVE SILVER LINING

Victoria Kloch and Studio Hound Lucy Bean

JOB STORM CLOUDS HAVE SILVER LINING _ press release

Many Reach for New Dreams in Small Business

NEVADA CITY, CALIFORNIA — As new job creation slows and unemployment remains stalled at high rates, many are finding a silver lining to these dark clouds by creating their own enterprises and giving newfound time to their personal interests.

Challenger, Gray & Christmas’ job market index revealed that 8.7 percent of job seekers gained employment by starting their own businesses in second quarter 2009—compared to just 2.7 percent during the last quarter of 2008.

Victoria Kloch was nudged by the economic downturn and calling on her passion for fine art acrylics, created Painter’s Showcase, a new online e-commerce website and gallery experience for artists and art lovers.

“I have always been drawn to art and had painting as part of my life. My own painting does something for me that nothing else does—this is a big light bulb for me, which reaffirms my life.” States Kloch.

A Bay Area native, Ms. Kloch moved to the foothills when very young, building a home off the grid and raising two daughters. “My art took a back burner while I was raising my family, but was always simmering somewhere in my life.” Around 2001, Kloch found herself working in an online business venture for someone else, and the opportunities of combining this with art began to percolate. Dabbling with a variety of available services for fine artists, she quickly saw how fine art fell to the wayside on an internet highway crowded with crafts, functional art, and beauty products. “I just knew there had to be a better way. Fine artists need to be seen away from a jumbled online marketplace, they need a longer time span for their art to be viewed and most of all they need a way to be featured prominently on a homepage.” states Kloch.

As a painter listed on Etsy, she was fortunate enough to be featured and saw how this brought important recognition to her and her art. Kloch describes it this way, “There was so much traffic. I was finally being seen. While I was delighted, I couldn’t help but notice how rare it was for fine art to be featured. I wanted to make it possible for any artist to choose to be showcased on a website landing page—not only for them to be able to choose this, but to do so at an affordable rate.” Painter’s Showcase offers a Premium Showcase that does just that, bringing new art to the top level of the website. This also makes looking for art more interesting because a visitor can always ‘meet’ new art and artists.

EBSQ Self-Representing Artist Forum recognized Victoria’s painting ‘Abadejo’ with a Members Choice Award in 2009. Kloch says, “This was one more important step for me in seeing how exposure changed everything for me and my art. Painter’s Showcase will make its homepage available to artists and attract art buyers with an aggressive marketing plan and by delivering on its promises. Our success will be the shared success with our artists.”

Kloch will be engaged in painting and providing a community for artists—a very good thing as the economy struggles to its feet. A grandmother of 4, she is also excited to be sharing business opportunities with her daughters, Dawn and Tara. “My daughters’ special business skills will be greatly appreciated as we grow this business from the easel onward. I like to think of it as moving one brush stroke at a time, and like a painting, it is coming together in a wondrous way. This is a great time to act on small business development, people are ready for new ideas and technology tools are more affordable than ever.”

About Painter’s Showcase

Painter’s Showcase is focused only on fine art and does not charge sales commissions or require lengthy service contracts. Designed and conceived by artist and e-commerce entrepreneur Victoria Kloch, www.PaintersShowcase.com fills a special niche in the expanding online art community.

With a minimum fuss at set-up, no long-term contracts, and a mere $15 per month, plus 30 days to try the service free of charge, artists can now easily create galleries online. Buyer-seller relationships are direct and transparent. Learn more, sign-up for Beta testing or newsletters by visiting www.PaintersShowcase.com .

About Victoria Kloch

Painter Victoria Kloch lives in the foothills of Northern California, where she has painted for many years.

Victoria is a gallery represented artist and has gained notoriety with awards for her work. She has spent the last decade managing a variety of online enterprises, including an e-Bay market.

“I started offering my paintings through various e-commerce websites and noticed that fine art was being crowded by crafts and other collectables. My vision of a community for painters, illustrators and sculptors is realized with www.PaintersShowcase.com. Painter’s Showcase is a place to buy and sell fine art, where artists can learn and support one another while furthering individual creative expression and profitability. For buyers, our search capability helps right-match the art you seek, by location, price, color and medium. Buying directly from artists, without any commission or transaction fees is best for artists and collectors.” states founding artist, Victoria Kloch of Painter’s Showcase.

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