Tired of looking at barren white walls? Want to liven up your place, but don’t know where to begin? Coffee and cigs and I believe that starting an art collection may be the solution you’ve been avoiding.
To begin, art collecting is not strictly for the wealthy or super obnoxious. Rather, starting an art collection depends mostly on figuring out what you like and setting a budget. The following 6 basic tips may assist you in your art purchasing endeavors:
1. It’s so nice, we’ll say it twice: buy art that you like. Chances are you will share your home with your art purchase(s) for years to come, make sure it’s something you actually want to gaze upon on a daily basis.
2. Explore. Visit art galleries, local art museums, and art fairs. Art historians and curators can serve as helpful guides in your art education.
3. Familiarize yourself with your art market. Student art shows at your local university or art school is where you’ll often find high-quality work at affordable prices.
4. Subscribe to a few art magazines, read books on art history, and attend artists talks in your local community.
5. Document. The more serious the investment, the more you should keep detailed records (e.g. certificate of authenticity, proof of purchase receipt, provenance).
6. Properly care for your art collection. Displaying, handling, and storing play important roles in the longevity of your artwork. So too does, light, heat, and humidity.
To help you further along in your art thinking, we would also like to highlight works of art worth collecting by 6 female artists. Why a post featuring women-only works of art? For one reason (out of many), they tend to be undervalued. According to a study prepared by Hill Strategies Research of Hamilton for Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, the poorest-paid artists happen to be female visual artists with average earnings in 2005 of $11,421. Since Canada-Land far exceeds America-Land in, well just about everything good in the world (right, Swifter?), we figure the numbers can’t be all that great south of the border.
Amy Guidry
“Psychology and Art. With Surrealism being the grand marriage of the two…” Guidry’s works are the perfect marriage of photorealistic and surrealist. You can sense the inspiration of previous surrealist artists in her work, but she still manages to make ever piece distinctly her own. A selection of her available artwork can be seen at Wally Workman Gallery
Emma SanCartier
Emma SanCartier is an illustrator that specializes in whimsical watercolors. With a dainty abstract and childlike take, SanCartier takes inspirations from fairy tales and mythology, and creates beautiful watercolors. You can purchase her affordable prints and greeting cards here.
Lori Vrba
Working strictly in medium format photography, Vrba develops her silver gelatin prints and then stains the prints with tea and selenium. This process results in stunning photographs with a distinctly vintage feel. If you enjoy Sally Mann, Vrba is definitely one to watch out for. Purchase info is available here.
Soheila Esfahani
Soheila Esfahani, who was born in Tehran, Iran, and now lives in Canada, explores the “mystical concepts of transformation” in her artwork. Working with a mixture of acrylic paint in a squeeze bottle, her artistic “writing” is inspired by the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi. A selection of her available artwork can be seen at Dunn Street Gallery.
Caroline Hwang
Brooklyn-based artist, Caroline Hwang, combines graphics, acrylics, and textiles to create images often depicting melancholy, whimsy and the dynamics and difficulty of all relationships. A selection of her available artwork can be seen at Open Space.
Anastasia Cazabon
A photographer from Cambridge, MA, Anastasia Cazabon’s artwork revolves around telling stories. Her photographic series “From the secret world” aims to capture the “secret, yet everyday lives of adolescent girls.” A selection of her available artwork can be seen at Photo Edition Berlin.
Do feel free to share your favorite works of art in the comment section below.
