The art of buying art...

I am a gallerist...I own an art gallery, a bricks and mortar art gallery in Muskoka. I love what I do, I love my gallery and the artists I represent and my clients. Recently I have been a party to a couple of discussions surrounding original art from different perspectives, one from the perspective of the artist seeking representation and another from the perspective of the client. I want to address the client end of things here, but if you are an artist interested in learning how to best approach a gallery, feel free to email me, or comment below.

The client end of things was spurred by a post on the marion house book, where Emma was introducing her readers to Art Bomb an online daily art auction site, you can read her post here.  In her post Emma spoke with an artist who is selling his work through this site. Francisco Gomez had this to say "As an artist he realizes that buying art from a gallery setting can be an intimidating experience".  This single comment is the reason for this post.

Borrowed Book and One Orange by Laurie Wonfor Nolan

I am not an artist. I am a designer with what I like to think of as a good eye. My husband and I spend a lot of time and effort curating a solid cohesive collection of work that we know will appeal to our clientele and in so doing be saleable and benefit the artists we represent. Above and beyond that, our role is to facilitate the purchase of art. Sometimes that means discussing at length an artist his background or her inspiration for the work. Sometimes it means sitting back and letting the client come to terms with a piece, being available, but essentially leaving them alone. And then there are times that my role is to make the client feel comfortable in the gallery with the art, and how they feel about it. I am sure you have heard it many times before, but art is subjective. It has no boundaries but only those that are held in the eye of the beholder, be it the creator or the viewer. Art is meant to evoke a reaction, visceral sometimes, emotional at others. It can make one feel alive, frenetic, or calm and serene. What piece evokes these feelings in one may not in another. Some artists will say to me 'tell me what sells and I'll paint it', I repeatedly tell them it does not work that way. An original work of art needs to be a piece of the artists soul.


Red House Glimmer of Sun by Kate Grigg

There are many different kinds of art buyers. Some will walk into the gallery and react to a painting and buy it on the spot, others will react, but need to let it simmer. Often they will walk away and return several times before they decide to purchase. Some walk away and if they cannot stop thinking about a piece they will be back to purchase. Sometimes this can be within hours or days, other times it is months. Then there are people that buy art for it's value, as an investment, for them it is about the artist and the probability of their work rising in value. Yet there are others who are buying art to match a room, a particular colour scheme, shape, shape, size or style.


Endurance by Scott McKay of Strongarm Forge

There is no right or wrong way to view, to feel or to buy art. It is always my recommendation that one buy original art where their budget will allow, but not all budgets allow.

My point in all of this is to say that if a client feels intimidated by an art gallery they are not in the right gallery. The same is true for the artist, if you are being represented by a gallery that you feel is intimidating to the client, then you are not in the right place. 

Farmland I by Michael Scott

It is my hope that no one ever feels intimidated in my space, to me when you walk in my doors you are walking into my living room.

How and where do you buy art? Do you like the comfort of your home and buy online, or are you as affected by the texture and presence of a piece and prefer to see it in person before you buy?

In my household of late...

Good Day everyone in blogland...oh how I am missing you. I have tried to keep abreast of what is going on out there, comment when I can but time is tight these days as many of you well know, and some things just fall to the bottom of the imaginary list...not today!

I downloaded some pictures off my camera this morning and thought I would share all that has been happening in our household of late.

The tree is up and trimmed. This is my favorite thing to do getting ready for the season ahead. Nothing starts until the tree is up for me. My husband tries to hold me off as long as he can, but this year he did a wonderful thing and surprised me with a tree... Or he would have, had I not looked at the bank account and noticed a transaction that did not make sense. Still it was a nice surprise that I totally needed. More important...he knew I needed it. I could love him for that alone.

Last week I came home to find this wonderful craft that my daughter made at school, it is her handprint on a glass ball with the fingers made into little snowmen (I'm sure you've all seen versions of this on pinterest) but it was so nice to receive it along with it's little poem about how fast she will grow up...not gonna lie, I cried...yup it was a nice gift to receive and hang on our tree.

 My tree is steeped in tradition and memory. My family growing up was not big on following the same traditions each year, there was never a right way or a wrong way to do Christmas, but the one thing we always had were our ornaments. The same ones went up every year, I always had my favorites, and I still do today. the ornaments have been passed to me, and for that I am thankful. Each year I realise just how much these simple little things mean to me. I am not one to hold onto things for sentiment, so these things that I pack away every January and dig out every December bring me great joy.

Another thing I try to do each year is to build a Gingerbread house. One year I even made my own gingerbread...only one year because ugh that was a chore, and a frustration to beat all frustrations...so now as un inspired as it is, I buy a kit. The girls and I did this one day last week, it was fun, they enjoyed and I let them...meaning I did not take over too much, try too hard to control the outcome wanting perfection, these moments were perfection enough...

 

A self portrait by Isobel...I couldn't resist :o)

So this is what has been up in my neck of the woods in my moments at home with the girls...the rest of the time I have been in the gallery where I am happy to report that people are shopping local and buying handmade.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to each of you!

2 Days until my big girl comes home...

2 More Saturdays to shop...

10 Days until the big day...

YIPEE!

It's beginning to look alot like...

Happy Monday all! I hope you all had a great weekend and that this week starts out on the right foot...I love Mondays for that reason; you feel like it is a clean slate each week.

We had a busy weekend here with my eldest home for a few days and ending with a trip to Ikea...not bad at all.

I am feeling festive today. I love Christmas and it is that time of year isn't it. For me I have had Christmas on the brain since August, that is when I have to start getting my ducks in a row for the gallery. I have been doing a small facebook ad campaign for the last 5 weeks or so providing a gift idea a week for the 12 weeks leading up to the big day...some people are hating on me for that but what can I do? Did you know there are now only 6 Saturdays until Christmas? If you want to follow along, 'like' Silver Bridge Gallery on Facebook and if you see something that is of interest, let me know we can always ship.

So today is the day we start decorating the gallery...yay! I would love to do it earlier, but out of respect for our veterans we like to wait until after Remembrance Day. I am excited, but it is always a bit of pressure to fit in with all the great window displays on the street. Regardless, decorating for Christmas is fun and I am happy to start my week off in just this way.

To add to the Christmas spirit today, Chantelle at fat mum slim introduced me to the Gifted 2011 online magazine produced by Creature Comforts



via Creature Comforts

A great publication with some great ideas...check out last years while you are at it.  It is wonderful as well, with some great little DIY ideas. 

If you really want to get into the spirit, check out Jen at Rambling Renovators' blog today all about Christmas Street at the Bay. Enough to make you want to sing carols...

Happy Monday...ho ho ho :c)

Here I go again...

Warning...long post 1 picture...proceed at your discretion ;)

As defined by Merriam-Webster :

Definition of ARTIST

1 a obsolete : one skilled or versed in learned arts b archaic : physician c archaic : artisan 1

2 a : one who professes and practices an imaginative art b : a person skilled in one of the fine arts

3 : a skilled performer; especially : artiste

4 : one who is adept at something <con artist> <strikeout artist>

Definition of ARTISAN

1: a worker who practices a trade or handicraft : craftsperson

2: one that produces something (as cheese or wine) in limited quantities often using traditional methods

Okay now that the formal stuff is out of the way I'll explain...I just...and I mean just read Emma's post over at the marion house book. This post is part of her 52 objects series. In it she refers to an article she read in the New York Times regarding authenticity...read it here if you want to know what put a bee in my bonnet today.

First of all thank you the Emma for sharing the link to the article. Without her I don't think I would have come across it, and it is so very important to what I do. If you have never read Emma's blog you should, it is one of my go to's for great design inspiration and a great read.

Alrighty then...

The first question that comes to mind when reading the article is; if an artisan is mass producing (and not by his own hand) for the likes of Restoration Hardware et al, is his product artisan made anymore? I don't think so. Now don't get me wrong, great for him or her if they have made the leap into mainstream, it is great, really, it will offer them a form of financial security that few artists or artisans ever reach. However for big box retailers to sell these items as artisan made (if they are indeed doing this) is a bit misleading in my opinion. Artisan designed perhaps, or artisan inspired but not artisan made. It is important for the consumer to know the difference. Only then can they make an informed purchase.  Worse than mass producing an artisan piece is to mass produce it in China which CB2 is doing...how is that helping the economy, not to mention the environment...but that is for another day.

Often times I will have artists come into the gallery and say 'tell me what sells and I will make/paint it' I always tell them that is not the way it works. Art and handmade goods have an element of passion to them that is evident to those who appreciate art. You cannot paint birds because they sell unless you have a passion for birds, or an emotional need to paint them. A painting with no soul will not easily sell while one that jumps from the canvas with it's emotion very apparent will walk out the door. And so it is that art is subjective.

The article asks, "have we finally reached a saturation point, where the “authentic” loses its eternal quality and becomes just another fad?" as retailers like West Elm, Pottery Barn and CB2 jump on the band wagon. It is a valid question, but I ask are they selling handmade or are they selling something that appears handmade? I would suggest it is the latter. While we're here, let's define authentic (again as defined by Merriam-Webster);

Definition of AUTHENTIC

1 obsolete : authoritative

2 a : worthy of acceptance or belief as conforming to or based on fact <paints an authentic picture of our society>

b : conforming to an original so as to reproduce essential features <an authentic reproduction of a colonial farmhouse>

c : made or done the same way as an original <authentic Mexican fare>

Note that original and authentic are not the same thing. Authentic implies reproduction, not original. I think it is fair to say that these two terms are oft used in the wrong way.

An artist or artisan that is reproducing, or allowing the reproduction of their work has in my opinion crossed over to the other side. That is not to imply that the other side is the dark side, or the wrong side, but I believe they are now on the corporate side of the fence as opposed to the handmade side.

Some of the individuals interviewed for this article seem to feel that their one of a kind or handmade items have lost some of their place at the hands of mass produced 'artisanal' objects ; as Casey Barber says in the article “If you spend enough time looking at this stuff” — objects that are vintage, handmade or that just appropriate those looks — “you get overloaded pretty quickly,”

Ms. Barbers feelings are worrisome for me and the the artists/artisans I represent. Big box retailers already have the upper hand where pricing is concerned, if they begin to mass produce 'handmade' (ish) items at a fraction of the cost, where does that leave me, my business and my artsists?

Supporting local businesses and buying handmade is a proactive way to 'occupy' Wall Street. By spending money in my store (or one like it) your hard earned dollars filter to me, the artists and out to my community and theirs. I just said this afternoon to one of my artists that every dollar spent here means another dollar I can use to buy local or buy handmade. He (Michael Scott) made a great analogy that buying local or handmade means the money is flowing out, not up...I thought that was an incredible observation and so easy to visualize.



Red Sky by Michael Scott

We can't buy everything local, or handmade, but where we can we should and the difference will be palpable.

It is important that I note that even I have a few mass produced items in the gallery...much to my chagrin...but I am always honest and up front about what is handmade and what is not...that way you, the buyer, can make the decision.

Thanks again to Emma at the marion house book for her post and to Michael and his brother for listening to me ramble this afternoon when all they really did was come in to drop off new paintings...which are fabulous by the way!

Happy Thursday all!

Allow me to step on my soap box ...

Hello all...Happy Tuesday!
Okay...I'm gonna get on my soap box...about what you ask? Well, about how we choose to spend our money particularly as the holiday season approaches.

As many of you know I own an art gallery/ gift shop, so the idea of buying handmade, local or from a small independent retailer is close to my heart as it affects me greatly.

Handmade necklace out of recalimed wood, by Adea Chung of Billy Would

Buying handmade can have such an impact on so many people on so many levels. Consider how you feel when you get something that has been made for you, and only you, it is a feeling that cannot be compared. Consider how it feels to receive a one-of-a-kind gift that no one else in the world will own except you, and consider how much care and consideration went into choosing that gift specifically for you, because you are special. It's a pretty great feeling right? Now imagine buying handmade for the people in your life, and imagine passing along such wonderful feelings with each gift you give...imagine what a happy holiday season it would be.

Handmade Serving Bowl by Antje Gagne

Consider how it affects everyone when you buy local. Think of your local merchants and remember that they are also your neighbours. If everyone spent just $50 at a local/independent retailers each month the impact would be huge. The 3/50 project is an online movement that began in 2009 as way to encourage and empower people to heal the economy through mindful spending. The statistics (based on U.S. numbers) are staggering; "If just half the employed U.S. population spent $50 each month at independently owned stores, their purchases would generate $42,629,700,000 in revenue". Imagine how that would affect your community, and your neighbours.

Handmade Piggy Bank by Thomas Suh

With the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement which calls attention to the disparity of income between the upper and middle class perhaps it is time to make some simple shifts in our shopping habits. Simple changes that while individually are a drop in the pond, when we all focus our attention on them, become waves. Think about buying quality over quantity, about buying ethically over conveniently.

I have adopted a slogan of sorts as the holiday season approaches (only 9 Saturdays until Christmas) 'Buy local or buy handmade, either way you will positively affect someone's bottom line, but it won't be Wall Street's.'

Buying local or handmade is a gift that keeps on giving, to you, to your community, to your recipient.

Who is your favourite local merchant, or handmade artisan?

Thanks for sticking around, I'll step off the box now :c) Have a great day!