ANNIE JONES AT TWO RIVERS GALLERY ARTBIZ ARTISTIC LICENSE? HUH?

DO ARTISTS REALLY NEED LICENSES?

Annie Jones has deep roots in Leavenworth (born and graduated) and often returns to visit family and friends there from her home in Belfair, Washington. She’s also an active member of Wenatchee’s Two Rivers Art Gallery, where her latest exhibit of pastels will be featured throughout the month of August.

A constant learner but not a devotee of one medium, since her first art class at age 20 Annie has worked alternately in oils, acrylics, charcoal and watercolor. But two decades ago, after Annie took one short class in pastels, she was hooked.

“I found immediate gratification. It is really easy when you’re just starting out to feel encouraged by the results,” she said. “And pastels are so forgiving.” Though they became her favorite, they still share her big home studio with oil painting supplies.

Annie is an art instructor and a member of both the Pastel Society of America and Plein Air Washington. In May she was a featured artist at Collective Visions Gallery in Bremerton, exhibiting oil paintings of unique doors and windows from her European travels.

See the work of Annie Jones at her reception at First Fridays Arts Walk, from 5 to 8 p.m., Aug. 4, at Two Rivers Art Gallery, 102 North Columbia Avenue in Wenatchee. You can meet the artist while enjoying local wines and music by guitarist Mike Bills.

By Jamie Howell

QUESTION: I’m a passionate artist, in love with the creative process and just trying to make some positive contribution to the world around me. Surely, I don’t need a license to do that. Or do I?

Oh, my starry-eyed creatives, you are free and clear to strum your guitars, dip your brushes, mold your clay, push your pixels or polish your stanzas without any government interference right up until the moment you think, “Hey, maybe I could make some moolah doing this.”

The second that thought enters your mind, the government’s ears officially perk up. The Feds will generally leave you alone. They’ll get their cut when you file your income taxes in April (or October, if you’re like me and just can’t pass up a good extension).

The State of Washington, on the other hand, wants all your info in the giant database the second you go retail. No matter how much (or little) you make, if you sell a piece of art in Washington State, you’re supposed to collect sales tax on it and hand it over. To do that, you need a business license.

But let’s say you don’t do retail. You’re a musician without any merch, a street-corner tap dancer with a fedora out for tips or a party mime carting around a large invisible box. (Did I just give you a new career idea?) You can stay under the radar for a little while, but as soon as your art-making activities generate more than $12,000 in a single year, you’ve got to go legal.

So, either keep it down to $11,999.99 this year, or go get that business license.

QUESTION: Ugh, okay, how do I get a license?

The fun starts online at dor.wa.gov

The very first option on the drop-down menu is, “Open a Business.” Clear enough.

Click that. Next you’ll find the “Business Licensing Wizard” which would be way more fun if it were a real wizard but, sadly, is just a collection of hyperlinks running you through a series of questions.

You have now entered the rabbit hole. Keep filling in the blanks, wading through the acronym soup, paying fees and reminding yourself that it’s all going into state coffers, so at least your money won’t be funding international cluster-bomb giveaways. It’ll cost you $50 to file this application.

Then there are the city endorsements to consider. They’re different everywhere you go. Chelan wants fifty more bucks, while Wenatchee thinks it’s a $75 value. Proudest of all is Leavenworth at 115 bones, while Waterville is a screaming deal at $5.

At the end of all this, you’ll be issued your very own nine-digit UBI number (Unified Business Identifier), which means you are an official business owner and can look forward to a mailbox stuffed with form letters from all the other state agencies that now want in on your info. Condolences!

On the bright side, an underused benefit of your new UBI number is that it allows you to make sales tax-free purchases of materials, supplies, etc. - anything that goes into making an artwork you plan to sell later. It also gets you in the door with wholesalers who sell for less but who can’t sell to the general public.

I know you’d rather be making art, but the few hours you spend reading through the web pages, setting up your usernames and passwords, filling out the online forms and sending off your hard-earned dough might one day be the difference between you making art and you making prison art. Now, back to making stuff.

Got questions about the nuts and bolts of being an artist in business? Submit them to arts@ncwarts.org and we’ll try to bring you some answers in upcoming issues.