Preamble
This year has been devastating in so many different ways. Wars flaring up, and because of it, the killing of tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men across the globe. Fires in California (USA), destroying so many properties as well as human lives. Fires and floods are not just stories about destruction of property and killing of human lives, they are a testament of nature's might, human perseverance, and the vulnerable balance between living beings and the environment in which we live. As the human populaton spirals out of control, deforestation, human caused pollutants, all contibute to climate change.
No one expected a terrorist attack at Bondi beach in December of this year, where the Australian Jewish community were targeted. Mass shootings in America and elsewhere are a common event. The last mass shooting in Australia was in Port Arthur, Tasmania (Australia) in 1996. Australian gun laws since then were obviously not strong enough to prevent this heinous crime. There were numerous heroes in the recent massacre, but the one who stood out was 43 year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, who took down one gunman at great risk to himself, disarmed him and then suffered two bullet wounds from the other gunman because of his heroic act. None of us can imagine the grief that Australian Jewish families are currently suffering. A day of joy turned into a nightmare of grief. We are praying for their physical and psychological well being. Please, do not feel alone in your grief - a nation is now grieving with you, because of your loss.
Yet, among all these disasters and tragedies, one is always struck by the generosity that Australians show towards one another, especially in their hour of need. Beds and shelters are provided, or food is delivered, or help is given to clear the debris from the neighbor's property that the natural forces of nature have destroyed. Such stories of community solidarity in terms of nature and/or man-made disasters are also evident in so many countries around the world.
Of the seven continents, Australia is the smallest at 2,969,976 square miles (i.e., 7,692,202 square kilometers). However, if one considers it an island (which it is), Australia is the largest island in the world. It is not surprising that in one region, Australians are fighting fires, whereas in another, they are experiencing floods. For example, in 2019 thousands of people in different parts of Australia were affected by natural disasters. In that year in Townsville, Queensland, around AUS $80 million dollars’ worth of damage was caused by record floods, whilst in Tasmania, another Australian State, bushfires destroyed homes.
Nevertheless, Australians still see themselves as living in 'The Lucky Country.' The latter was a title of a 1964 book by Donald Horne. The title has become a nickname for Australia and is generally used in a favorable context, although the origin of the phrase was negative in the context of Horne's novel. It has been used in reference to Australia's natural resources, weather, history, its early adoption on the British system of government, its geographical distance from problems elsewhere in the world, and its natural resources that underwrite its prosperity (e.g., from farm produce to coal to natural gas to solar energy to wind farms, within a vast area of land that is enjoyed by a relatively small population of 26.65 million people). Moreover, Australia has a unique flora and fauna that is distinctively recognized throughout the world as Australian. No wonder tourists from around the globe flock here to holiday, international students want to study here, and refugees want to make Australia their home. There are varying estimates for how long Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived on this continent. The current best research estimate suggests that they have been in Australia for upwards of 60,000 years, the longest continuous surviving culture in the world. The way the aboriginal ancients managed the land, is a history lesson for all Australians to learn. Once again, the indigenous population suffered because of the late invaders - a story of native "cleansing" that is duplcated on every continent in the world.
No matter what your belief system, I wish you a happy and joyous festive season.
Marie-Therese.
Santa's little Australian helper.
Photo Courtesy: Etsy.
Note: The next post will appear on the 10th of January 2026.
The Price of Art in Australia [1]
Introduction
In Australia, there are very few artists who make an unsubsidized living from their artwork. In fact, the Australia Council for the Arts in 2010 released a series of statistics in a study entitled - “Health Check for Careers of Australian Artists” - that painted a discouraging picture of the earnings of artists in Australia. According to their findings, based on data gathered from 44,000 respondents, that full-time, and what's more, successful Australian artists continue to struggle financially. The latter is a small full-time artist group that earned a median income of just Australian Dollars (AUD)$35,900 a year, which included art and non-art related income, whereas the average Australian male income in the same year was AUD$62,155. Further discouraging statistics revealed: (i) 16% of artists earned less than AUD$10,000 per year; (ii) Only 5% earned more than AUD$100,000 per year (ca. 220 artists - ranging from sculptors, painters, mixed-media, and performance artists in an Australian population of more than 23 million); (iii) Slightly more than 50%, who lived with a partner, revealed that their spouse's income is vital to supporting their artistic practice; (iv) While income levels of other professional occupations requiring similar lengths of training (2-4 years) and experience (university or college qualifications) have been steadily rising, the ongoing disparity between the incomes of artists and other professionals is becoming more and more pronounced.
Title: Tide (2000).
Artist: Bronwyn Oliver.
Material and Size: Copper, 400 cm.
Photo Courtesy: Smith & Singer.
Bronwyn Oliver's 'Tide' (2000) was put up for auction by the Fink family who commissioned it for their high-end Sydney restaurant, Quay. It sold for AUD$1.25 million dollars, far more than the artist's commission.
In Australia, these statistics would even be poorer in the case of textile artists, where the medium itself is barely recognized as being an art form and moreover, is often confused as craft and not art based, even though art quilts have been recognized in North America, in Asia and in Europe as legitimate form of art.
Title: The Reconciliation Quilt (1867).
Artist: Lucinda Ward Honstain.
Technique and Media: Hand appliquéd; hand pieced; embroidered; straight applied binding on cotton calico.
Size: 85 in wide x 97 in high.
Photo Courtesy: International Quilt Museum, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA.
Honstain’s quilt expresses the social and political identity of Brooklyn in 1867. Specific images refer to the Civil War: a powerful image of a black man facing a white man half his size proclaims: “Master, I am Free.” Another reads: “Jeff Davis and Daughter,” referring to the legendary reunion of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, and his daughter after his imprisonment. These images represent hope for the reconciliation of the Northern and Southern States after the American Civil war. It sold for US$254,000 in 1991, the equivalent of approximately US$494,000 in 2024 dollars.
What further compounds the situation in Australia (as distinct from Europe, developed Asia and North America) is that there is next-to-no art market in Australia between the AUD$500 to AUD$50,000 range. Investors, museums and art galleries dominate the over AUD$50,000 mark, and furthermore in Australia they are few in number. Unlike Americans, most Australians do not have artwork on their walls. Their favourite, so called decoration on their walls, are framed photographs of their children, and their family life etc. Occassionally they will grace their rooms with cheap posters.
Comment: Vintage Tin Sign: Sydney Cityscape - 20.32 cm, Iron Material, Home Garden Bar Farm Office Wall Decoration. Available for AUD$6.99.
Many public galleries and museums rely on donated artworks to enhance their collections rather than becoming a player in the art market, which further diminishes the earning ability of artists. A former curator of the National Gallery of Victoria welcomed a AUD$100m donation from the Fox family to help fund the construction of its new contemporary art space, saying philanthropy is needed to make up for a shortfall in public funding.
Comment: The design for the National Gallery of Victoria’s new contemporary space. Billionaire Lindsay Fox and and his wife Paula donated AUD$100m to the project.
Photo Courtesy: Render by Secchi/Angelo Candalepas and Associates.
What makes Australians so art averse, even though all Australian school children participate in art making? Australians will buy mass-marketed fine-art prints at fairs/markets (AUD$10 to AUD$30 range) or perhaps a signed football jersey mounted in a picture frame to be hung on a wall (AUD$400 to AUD$500 range). But to buy an ArtCloth work mounted in a frame or one that is freely hanging on a wall that is priced between AUD$500 to AUD$50,000 would be deemed to be financially irresponsible!
General Observations
The greatest hurdle even for professional fine-artists is to find a place to exhibit their artwork. Where and when you show your artwork will occupy your mind endlessly. The commercial galleries have a full roster of artists; the public galleries and museums do not want to take risks and so rely on their collections, and on artists, who have a current high standing amongst the artistic glitterati. There are too few co-operative and juried shows - most of the latter demanding thematic work which might not suit a person's art style or even their mindset. There are far too few art associations, and those that exist, are riddled with politics as artists jostle for position to secure recognition. There are not enough grants, residencies, art competitions and awards, and art patrons (and even fewer for the emerging artists). There are too few journals, magazines, newspapers, radio and television programs that will project an artist's art and art practice to their readership/audience/viewership. All this marketing, legal and managerial effort, needs to be mounted by the same person who needs to be calmly thinking about marketing their art, whilst creating their own art!
Comment: A young Sydney-based artist, Julia Gutman, won the 2023 prestigious Archibald Prize, 'Life in the Third Person.' It was Gutman's largest and most intricate work to date.
Title: Life in the Third Person (2024) detail.
Artist: Julia Gutman.
Material and Technique: Woven textile.
Size: 12.62 x 3.3 m (installed).
Courtesy: Artist and Sullivan + Strumpf.
Photo: Rift Photography.
In 1550 Giorgio Vasari (Italian painter) wrote: 'If the arts of our own time were justly rewarded, they would produce even greater works of art than those of the ancient world. Instead, the artist struggles to ward off famine rather than to win fame, and this crushes and buries his/her talent and obscures their name. This is a shame and disgrace to those who could come to the artists help, but refuse to do so.'
Giorgio Vasari - Self Portrait.
Clearly, his is the narrative of the birth of the image of the poor, but struggling artist, who is not understood and in fact shunned in their lifetime, but who raises to fame, and makes others wealthy, after their death!
It is clear that the internet has made exposure of one’s artwork much easier. Blogs, Pinterest, FaceBook, art websites etc., can create national and international exposure of one’s artwork - 24x7! Moreover, connected to Etsy or ebay, one’s artwork can be sold nationally or internationally. On the other hand, entrepreneurial artists have made money on the web by constructing projects (e.g., on-line workshops, master classes) and by selling their designs, products, artwear and by blogging about their art (e.g., Alisa Burke). Their websites may also contain paid advertisements. Normally they have followers in their thousands that makes advertising on their website an attractive side business.
Alisa Burke.
Photo Courtesy: Alisa Burke - Redefine Creativity website.
Care and advice should always be sought when selling on the web, since where ever and whenever there is a potential to make money, there are fraudsters ready to cash in! I never forget my first encounter with a fraudster. A so-called respectable mainland Chinese organization gained approval from a respected Australian organization to exhibit their members fine-art prints in reputed Chinese galleries. I was dubious, but nevertheless felt compelled to support this Chinese-Australian venture, and so sent a digital limited-edition print to the organisers. Lo and behold, many Australian artists like me, sent their limited edition fine-art prints. None were ever exhibited and sadly, not seen again! Luckily my print, being a digital print, meant I still had retained my image. Somewhere in China, Australian prints were being sold by that fraudster. I hope whoever bought my print from that Chinese thief, continues to enjoy their engagement of it!
Comment: The stolen print: 'Discrimination III - Ngurudu Anomaly' (2005).
Materials and Technique: Digital print employing archival pigment inks, metallic and opaque acrylic paints.
Size: 29 cm (width) x 76.5 cm (height).
In Australia, and in most developed countries, there are numerous organizations, associations, guilds and cooperatives that one can join – some of which provide for its members equipment and/or workshops in order to improve their technical skills. There are residencies, grants, fellowships and awards that can promote your reputation as a textile artist or as a printmaker. There are art companies, and member organizations that may hire you to teach your technical skills to others. Searching for these categories on the internet can be tedious, at the best of times. Nevertheless, it is an important chore that you should do. After all, if your art is not engaged by an onlooker, it becomes invisible, and so you might as well bury it!
Comment: Partial view of the facilities available at the Newcastle Pirntmakers Workshop (Australia).
Photo Courtesy: Newcastle Printmakers Workshop.
Below I have listed some of these categories that exist in Australia. If you live elsewhere, then it is these categories you should list and explore if they are present in your local environment.
Just to mention a few organizations, there are: Australian Textile Arts & Surface Design Association (ATASDA), Embroidery Guilds, Australian Lace Guilds, Australian Sewing Guilds, Ozquilt Network Inc., Feltmakers Inc., Knitters Guilds, the Society of Folk and Decorative Artists, Decoupage Guilds, Hand Weavers and Spinners Guilds, and a variety of localized organizations. There are a variety of councils: Australian Council for the Arts, Print Council of Australia, National Association of the Visual Arts (NAVA) and a large raft of printmakers organizations that have facilities which are available to their members (e.g. Megalo Print Studio & Gallery, Newcastle Printmakers Workshop etc.) and some of which provide workshops to improve the technical skills of their members. There are a vast array of art and craft magazines published by ArtWear Publications, Pacific Publishing, and Practical Publishing as well as newsletters published by guilds, organizations, co-operative and associations (e.g., ATASDA’s Fibreline). There are a number of awards: Australian Craft Industry Awards; Australian Craft Awards; Emerging Artist Craft Awards; Wearable Art Awards; Fremantle Print Awards. There are residencies and fellowships: Australian Tapestry Workshop; Craft ACT; Megalo Print Studio & Gallery etc. Some organizations hire tutors to teach workshops (e.g., ATASDA, Community Art groups such as the Victorian Feltmakers, Newcastle Printmakers Workshop, Eurobodalla Fibre and Textile Artists Group and Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts (Townsville, Queensland etc.)
Click on the following link of my exhibition article on the Print Council of Australia's website: The Effects of Global Warming (Exhibition).
The Print Council of Australia (PCA) is a national not-for-profit member organization that promotes contemporary fine-art printmaking, including artist books, zines and works on paper. They publish 'Imprint', a quarterly art magazine dedicated to contemporary printmaking in Australia and beyond.
Showcasing the best in contemporary printmaking, the PCA Gallery has a changing exhibition program featuring new works by Australian printmaking practitioners.
Comment: The Print Council of Australia Gallery is located at Studio 2 Guild, 152 Sturt St., Southbank, Victoria. PCA Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Friday (10am – 4pm).
Photo Courtesy: Print Council of Australia.
As your reputation and art matures, it is important to be represented by commercial galleries and art companies. In my case I started my own art/publishing house, namely, Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd – that represents mine and other’s art interest. It also publishes this blog.
If you are not sure what to do in order to exhibit your art, you may need to go to similar associations in your neighborhood, such as the Australian Commercial Gallery Association (ACGA) in order seek out galleries that will represent you. You need to get legal advice before signing any contractual relationship, since there are gallery owners who serve their own “best” interest first and foremost rather than create a “fair” trading environment for both themselves and for their artists.
Beware of buying walls to exhibit your art (either in group or solo exhibitions in private galleries) since some contracts we have scrutinized load near invisible costs onto the shoulders of the artists – from food and drinks at the opening of the exhibition, to shipping artwork to and from the gallery, to advertising the exhibition etc.
In one case that I'm aware of, an obscure clause in the contract would have rendered the artist's work hostage to offset any unpaid near invisible costs and in another case, by exhibiting the work at the commercial gallery, the gallery became ipso de facto a representative for the artist's work that was exhibited within the gallery, with the gallery securing a whopping 50% of the retail price as well as loading the full Goods and Services Tax (10%) impost of the retail price onto the wallet of the artist. If a gallery already represents the artist then the latter contract could place the artist (not the gallery) at fault in law. Galleries that belong to ACGA or equivalent organisations are more likely to avoid unfair trading practices as well as commercial galleries that I have exhibited with that do not belong to ACGA, and because Art Quill & Co vets all contracts very carefully before I sign them, I have so far avoided these unseemly practices. All publicly funded galleries/museums in Australia and perhaps elsewhere in the world, are very upfront with their costs as well as with any imposts imposed on selling the exhibitor's artwork. Unfortunately in the art business, the more ethical the gallery the harder it is for them to accept your artwork for exhibiting, since every artist wants to exhibit with them!
Reference:
[1] N. Hollen and J. Saddler, Textiles, 3rd Edition, MacMillan Company, London (1968).
This year has been devastating in so many different ways. Wars flaring up, and because of it, the killing of tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men across the globe. Fires in California (USA), destroying so many properties as well as human lives. Fires and floods are not just stories about destruction of property and killing of human lives, they are a testament of nature's might, human perseverance, and the vulnerable balance between living beings and the environment in which we live. As the human populaton spirals out of control, deforestation, human caused pollutants, all contibute to climate change.
No one expected a terrorist attack at Bondi beach in December of this year, where the Australian Jewish community were targeted. Mass shootings in America and elsewhere are a common event. The last mass shooting in Australia was in Port Arthur, Tasmania (Australia) in 1996. Australian gun laws since then were obviously not strong enough to prevent this heinous crime. There were numerous heroes in the recent massacre, but the one who stood out was 43 year-old Ahmed al Ahmed, who took down one gunman at great risk to himself, disarmed him and then suffered two bullet wounds from the other gunman because of his heroic act. None of us can imagine the grief that Australian Jewish families are currently suffering. A day of joy turned into a nightmare of grief. We are praying for their physical and psychological well being. Please, do not feel alone in your grief - a nation is now grieving with you, because of your loss.
Yet, among all these disasters and tragedies, one is always struck by the generosity that Australians show towards one another, especially in their hour of need. Beds and shelters are provided, or food is delivered, or help is given to clear the debris from the neighbor's property that the natural forces of nature have destroyed. Such stories of community solidarity in terms of nature and/or man-made disasters are also evident in so many countries around the world.
Of the seven continents, Australia is the smallest at 2,969,976 square miles (i.e., 7,692,202 square kilometers). However, if one considers it an island (which it is), Australia is the largest island in the world. It is not surprising that in one region, Australians are fighting fires, whereas in another, they are experiencing floods. For example, in 2019 thousands of people in different parts of Australia were affected by natural disasters. In that year in Townsville, Queensland, around AUS $80 million dollars’ worth of damage was caused by record floods, whilst in Tasmania, another Australian State, bushfires destroyed homes.
Nevertheless, Australians still see themselves as living in 'The Lucky Country.' The latter was a title of a 1964 book by Donald Horne. The title has become a nickname for Australia and is generally used in a favorable context, although the origin of the phrase was negative in the context of Horne's novel. It has been used in reference to Australia's natural resources, weather, history, its early adoption on the British system of government, its geographical distance from problems elsewhere in the world, and its natural resources that underwrite its prosperity (e.g., from farm produce to coal to natural gas to solar energy to wind farms, within a vast area of land that is enjoyed by a relatively small population of 26.65 million people). Moreover, Australia has a unique flora and fauna that is distinctively recognized throughout the world as Australian. No wonder tourists from around the globe flock here to holiday, international students want to study here, and refugees want to make Australia their home. There are varying estimates for how long Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived on this continent. The current best research estimate suggests that they have been in Australia for upwards of 60,000 years, the longest continuous surviving culture in the world. The way the aboriginal ancients managed the land, is a history lesson for all Australians to learn. Once again, the indigenous population suffered because of the late invaders - a story of native "cleansing" that is duplcated on every continent in the world.
No matter what your belief system, I wish you a happy and joyous festive season.
Marie-Therese.
Photo Courtesy: Etsy.
Note: The next post will appear on the 10th of January 2026.
The Price of Art in Australia [1]
Introduction
In Australia, there are very few artists who make an unsubsidized living from their artwork. In fact, the Australia Council for the Arts in 2010 released a series of statistics in a study entitled - “Health Check for Careers of Australian Artists” - that painted a discouraging picture of the earnings of artists in Australia. According to their findings, based on data gathered from 44,000 respondents, that full-time, and what's more, successful Australian artists continue to struggle financially. The latter is a small full-time artist group that earned a median income of just Australian Dollars (AUD)$35,900 a year, which included art and non-art related income, whereas the average Australian male income in the same year was AUD$62,155. Further discouraging statistics revealed: (i) 16% of artists earned less than AUD$10,000 per year; (ii) Only 5% earned more than AUD$100,000 per year (ca. 220 artists - ranging from sculptors, painters, mixed-media, and performance artists in an Australian population of more than 23 million); (iii) Slightly more than 50%, who lived with a partner, revealed that their spouse's income is vital to supporting their artistic practice; (iv) While income levels of other professional occupations requiring similar lengths of training (2-4 years) and experience (university or college qualifications) have been steadily rising, the ongoing disparity between the incomes of artists and other professionals is becoming more and more pronounced.
Artist: Bronwyn Oliver.
Material and Size: Copper, 400 cm.
Photo Courtesy: Smith & Singer.
Bronwyn Oliver's 'Tide' (2000) was put up for auction by the Fink family who commissioned it for their high-end Sydney restaurant, Quay. It sold for AUD$1.25 million dollars, far more than the artist's commission.
In Australia, these statistics would even be poorer in the case of textile artists, where the medium itself is barely recognized as being an art form and moreover, is often confused as craft and not art based, even though art quilts have been recognized in North America, in Asia and in Europe as legitimate form of art.
Artist: Lucinda Ward Honstain.
Technique and Media: Hand appliquéd; hand pieced; embroidered; straight applied binding on cotton calico.
Size: 85 in wide x 97 in high.
Photo Courtesy: International Quilt Museum, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA.
Honstain’s quilt expresses the social and political identity of Brooklyn in 1867. Specific images refer to the Civil War: a powerful image of a black man facing a white man half his size proclaims: “Master, I am Free.” Another reads: “Jeff Davis and Daughter,” referring to the legendary reunion of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, and his daughter after his imprisonment. These images represent hope for the reconciliation of the Northern and Southern States after the American Civil war. It sold for US$254,000 in 1991, the equivalent of approximately US$494,000 in 2024 dollars.
What further compounds the situation in Australia (as distinct from Europe, developed Asia and North America) is that there is next-to-no art market in Australia between the AUD$500 to AUD$50,000 range. Investors, museums and art galleries dominate the over AUD$50,000 mark, and furthermore in Australia they are few in number. Unlike Americans, most Australians do not have artwork on their walls. Their favourite, so called decoration on their walls, are framed photographs of their children, and their family life etc. Occassionally they will grace their rooms with cheap posters.
Many public galleries and museums rely on donated artworks to enhance their collections rather than becoming a player in the art market, which further diminishes the earning ability of artists. A former curator of the National Gallery of Victoria welcomed a AUD$100m donation from the Fox family to help fund the construction of its new contemporary art space, saying philanthropy is needed to make up for a shortfall in public funding.
Photo Courtesy: Render by Secchi/Angelo Candalepas and Associates.
What makes Australians so art averse, even though all Australian school children participate in art making? Australians will buy mass-marketed fine-art prints at fairs/markets (AUD$10 to AUD$30 range) or perhaps a signed football jersey mounted in a picture frame to be hung on a wall (AUD$400 to AUD$500 range). But to buy an ArtCloth work mounted in a frame or one that is freely hanging on a wall that is priced between AUD$500 to AUD$50,000 would be deemed to be financially irresponsible!
General Observations
The greatest hurdle even for professional fine-artists is to find a place to exhibit their artwork. Where and when you show your artwork will occupy your mind endlessly. The commercial galleries have a full roster of artists; the public galleries and museums do not want to take risks and so rely on their collections, and on artists, who have a current high standing amongst the artistic glitterati. There are too few co-operative and juried shows - most of the latter demanding thematic work which might not suit a person's art style or even their mindset. There are far too few art associations, and those that exist, are riddled with politics as artists jostle for position to secure recognition. There are not enough grants, residencies, art competitions and awards, and art patrons (and even fewer for the emerging artists). There are too few journals, magazines, newspapers, radio and television programs that will project an artist's art and art practice to their readership/audience/viewership. All this marketing, legal and managerial effort, needs to be mounted by the same person who needs to be calmly thinking about marketing their art, whilst creating their own art!
Artist: Julia Gutman.
Material and Technique: Woven textile.
Size: 12.62 x 3.3 m (installed).
Courtesy: Artist and Sullivan + Strumpf.
Photo: Rift Photography.
In 1550 Giorgio Vasari (Italian painter) wrote: 'If the arts of our own time were justly rewarded, they would produce even greater works of art than those of the ancient world. Instead, the artist struggles to ward off famine rather than to win fame, and this crushes and buries his/her talent and obscures their name. This is a shame and disgrace to those who could come to the artists help, but refuse to do so.'
Clearly, his is the narrative of the birth of the image of the poor, but struggling artist, who is not understood and in fact shunned in their lifetime, but who raises to fame, and makes others wealthy, after their death!
It is clear that the internet has made exposure of one’s artwork much easier. Blogs, Pinterest, FaceBook, art websites etc., can create national and international exposure of one’s artwork - 24x7! Moreover, connected to Etsy or ebay, one’s artwork can be sold nationally or internationally. On the other hand, entrepreneurial artists have made money on the web by constructing projects (e.g., on-line workshops, master classes) and by selling their designs, products, artwear and by blogging about their art (e.g., Alisa Burke). Their websites may also contain paid advertisements. Normally they have followers in their thousands that makes advertising on their website an attractive side business.
Photo Courtesy: Alisa Burke - Redefine Creativity website.
Care and advice should always be sought when selling on the web, since where ever and whenever there is a potential to make money, there are fraudsters ready to cash in! I never forget my first encounter with a fraudster. A so-called respectable mainland Chinese organization gained approval from a respected Australian organization to exhibit their members fine-art prints in reputed Chinese galleries. I was dubious, but nevertheless felt compelled to support this Chinese-Australian venture, and so sent a digital limited-edition print to the organisers. Lo and behold, many Australian artists like me, sent their limited edition fine-art prints. None were ever exhibited and sadly, not seen again! Luckily my print, being a digital print, meant I still had retained my image. Somewhere in China, Australian prints were being sold by that fraudster. I hope whoever bought my print from that Chinese thief, continues to enjoy their engagement of it!
Materials and Technique: Digital print employing archival pigment inks, metallic and opaque acrylic paints.
Size: 29 cm (width) x 76.5 cm (height).
In Australia, and in most developed countries, there are numerous organizations, associations, guilds and cooperatives that one can join – some of which provide for its members equipment and/or workshops in order to improve their technical skills. There are residencies, grants, fellowships and awards that can promote your reputation as a textile artist or as a printmaker. There are art companies, and member organizations that may hire you to teach your technical skills to others. Searching for these categories on the internet can be tedious, at the best of times. Nevertheless, it is an important chore that you should do. After all, if your art is not engaged by an onlooker, it becomes invisible, and so you might as well bury it!
Photo Courtesy: Newcastle Printmakers Workshop.
Below I have listed some of these categories that exist in Australia. If you live elsewhere, then it is these categories you should list and explore if they are present in your local environment.
Just to mention a few organizations, there are: Australian Textile Arts & Surface Design Association (ATASDA), Embroidery Guilds, Australian Lace Guilds, Australian Sewing Guilds, Ozquilt Network Inc., Feltmakers Inc., Knitters Guilds, the Society of Folk and Decorative Artists, Decoupage Guilds, Hand Weavers and Spinners Guilds, and a variety of localized organizations. There are a variety of councils: Australian Council for the Arts, Print Council of Australia, National Association of the Visual Arts (NAVA) and a large raft of printmakers organizations that have facilities which are available to their members (e.g. Megalo Print Studio & Gallery, Newcastle Printmakers Workshop etc.) and some of which provide workshops to improve the technical skills of their members. There are a vast array of art and craft magazines published by ArtWear Publications, Pacific Publishing, and Practical Publishing as well as newsletters published by guilds, organizations, co-operative and associations (e.g., ATASDA’s Fibreline). There are a number of awards: Australian Craft Industry Awards; Australian Craft Awards; Emerging Artist Craft Awards; Wearable Art Awards; Fremantle Print Awards. There are residencies and fellowships: Australian Tapestry Workshop; Craft ACT; Megalo Print Studio & Gallery etc. Some organizations hire tutors to teach workshops (e.g., ATASDA, Community Art groups such as the Victorian Feltmakers, Newcastle Printmakers Workshop, Eurobodalla Fibre and Textile Artists Group and Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts (Townsville, Queensland etc.)
The Print Council of Australia (PCA) is a national not-for-profit member organization that promotes contemporary fine-art printmaking, including artist books, zines and works on paper. They publish 'Imprint', a quarterly art magazine dedicated to contemporary printmaking in Australia and beyond.
Showcasing the best in contemporary printmaking, the PCA Gallery has a changing exhibition program featuring new works by Australian printmaking practitioners.
Photo Courtesy: Print Council of Australia.
As your reputation and art matures, it is important to be represented by commercial galleries and art companies. In my case I started my own art/publishing house, namely, Art Quill & Co Pty Ltd – that represents mine and other’s art interest. It also publishes this blog.
If you are not sure what to do in order to exhibit your art, you may need to go to similar associations in your neighborhood, such as the Australian Commercial Gallery Association (ACGA) in order seek out galleries that will represent you. You need to get legal advice before signing any contractual relationship, since there are gallery owners who serve their own “best” interest first and foremost rather than create a “fair” trading environment for both themselves and for their artists.
Beware of buying walls to exhibit your art (either in group or solo exhibitions in private galleries) since some contracts we have scrutinized load near invisible costs onto the shoulders of the artists – from food and drinks at the opening of the exhibition, to shipping artwork to and from the gallery, to advertising the exhibition etc.
In one case that I'm aware of, an obscure clause in the contract would have rendered the artist's work hostage to offset any unpaid near invisible costs and in another case, by exhibiting the work at the commercial gallery, the gallery became ipso de facto a representative for the artist's work that was exhibited within the gallery, with the gallery securing a whopping 50% of the retail price as well as loading the full Goods and Services Tax (10%) impost of the retail price onto the wallet of the artist. If a gallery already represents the artist then the latter contract could place the artist (not the gallery) at fault in law. Galleries that belong to ACGA or equivalent organisations are more likely to avoid unfair trading practices as well as commercial galleries that I have exhibited with that do not belong to ACGA, and because Art Quill & Co vets all contracts very carefully before I sign them, I have so far avoided these unseemly practices. All publicly funded galleries/museums in Australia and perhaps elsewhere in the world, are very upfront with their costs as well as with any imposts imposed on selling the exhibitor's artwork. Unfortunately in the art business, the more ethical the gallery the harder it is for them to accept your artwork for exhibiting, since every artist wants to exhibit with them!
Reference:
[1] N. Hollen and J. Saddler, Textiles, 3rd Edition, MacMillan Company, London (1968).
