Your friend's aunt is a Sunday afternoon painter. So when you have some sort of occasion warranting a potential gift, you get a sampling of her work. What do you do? Do you like it? Do you feel like you have to like it? Is she actually any good? What if there is evidence of some technical skill but you really aren't interested in it whatsoever? Clearly there is no problem if you do appreciate the work in question, but if that is not the case, a potentially akward social dilemma has hatched.
Of course, you want to maintain your friendship and not hurt any feelings. Here's where tact and sensitivity rule the day. After the event has passed, then comes the question of where to hang the painting. If your friend stops by frequently, hopefully you can come to some sort of understanding. If not, you might be able to get away with the "stairwell to the attic gallery", or something similar.
But what about being on the artists end? For those of us consistently producing something experimental and heartfelt, we sometimes end up with extra inventory, right? Based on the above scenario, you can guess that I'm not the sort to foist artwork on any friends if they have something to celebrate. I've discovered that the real questions might be: What would be a blessing to them? Or, would they be interested in a custom project? This makes the gift more about them and less about the obligation of the me, or the giver/artist.
Weddings are th WORST. However, I do end up with plenty of sales of pieces specifically purchased as gifts for some couple about to get married. I'm just hoping that these choices are made carefully, by people who really know the couple and their tastes. Then the gift can actually be an expression of celebration, and a blessing.
The green bowl above is one of my many, many bowls that have been purchased as gifts. (Though I still make them occasionally, my main focus is elsewhere these days.) For me, making glass bowls and other giftware has become something I'm careful of since I like to find a good match in a customer, and avoid assumptions through a middle person.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Any other opinions or stories that come to mind? Do tell!
Of course it all depends on the situation and I don't think I ever ended up in one, that was really uncomfortable. When I give someone any kind of my art... and that only happens on very rare occasions, it is to someone, who would most likely also buy the piece. I always try to find a way to make sure, I know its welcome.
The few "art gifts" I have received are from such high profile artists, that these pieces are real treasures to me.
That sounds entirely appropriate. And how wonderful to receive something from high profile artists! That's when you feel honoured.
Very honored indeed.
I encounter these same thoughts. I have found that people really do appreciate the gifts I give that I have created and whether it was made specifically for them or not. My gift giving goal is to always make it meaningful not just to give something because it is expected. That is where my over-thinking comes in. What is meaningful to me may very well be over the top of anyone else's standard.
As far as receiving gifts of art from others...I do understand what you are saying. That actually happened to me the other day. I guess I go on a case by case basis.
You got it! I agree on the case by case basis. Each situation is unique.
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STOPI have also been gifted few pieces, as most people probably think I'm pretty picky, and I have never gotten into loops of gift giving with people.
That said, my best collectors have started as gift recipients, and most probably very disproportionate gifts, if I value my work in it's professional sense.
But I wanted them to have them, and in one case those people had already bought one small thing, and later bought a few more very expensive works, as well as gifting me the computer that I write this comment on.
Another collector of mine, who has shown me great support, started as the recipient of a drawing.
I gave all my language clients a drawing one year, as I really needed to retain them into the next year, and I was trying to buy them off.
haha
It made no difference in a couple of cases.
But now I have a family who buy a few things off me every year or so.
So both those cases worked out pretty well, for all concerned.
It also establishes a very strong relationship with people, except if it doesn't.
I have gifted to a much more valued artist, (I mean in the gallery art world system) and received gifts in return.
I decided to post that one comment and also make another, as I have also had the experience of being a (voluntary) refugee as I ran from my home country to the other side of the world.
As I did that on a whim, almost, and hadn't been planning for it, I had to deal with the fact that not only did I have enormous quantities of my own work, I had quite a strong collection of my contempories.
I was able to sell some of the strongest works, to another collector, for the same prices I had paid. (A lot of time had not passed)
I had some really famous works, that would have been worth quite a lot by now. I had a very good eye for art and artists, and almost everyone who I had in my collection has gone on to at least relative success.
I bought them before that had proven themselves, but as my life has worked out, I didn't get to benefit from that same judgement.
I kept some of the things stored in several places around friends houses and so forth, and when I lived in Australia for 14 months again a few years later I was able to relieve people of their burdens where possible, and then gifted several works to the Logan Art Gallery Collection, including a collection of forty watercolours of mine, and they had already bought two of my works, and arranged the gifting on another two or three works to other institutions.
also the Griffith artworks collection received several of my works, but it now seems they have been lost or stolen.
So I have a special place in the history of the Logan collection anyway, although most of it was arranged hastily and unofficially.
However I recently saw one of the (my) (lol) artists on facebook who had gone to the gallery, asked to see his work in the back room, and had been able to photograph it and had shared same on facebook with a big shout-out for me.
So that's got to be worth something.
That was the most fabulous work too, I really miss having lived with it for all these years.
I am trying to arrange to scan the photos that my wife has of our house there when I still was it's proud owner.
I had three big fabulous works hanging in that house, and many smaller things.
anyhow, it also seems relevant to your post, so hope you don't mind me rambling on like this.
big hugs, I have just run across you from the creatives challenge thing, so look forward to more.
Wow, @spaingaroo, what an interesting story! You've been very flexible and generous over the years with your work. A strange journey, though to have dispersed with a vast amount of work in many directions. I am glad to hear that your work has been respected with the Logan Gallery during this time. I am hoping that you have some photographs that you can post of some of these pieces? I would love to hear more about the work itself, especially since it sounds as though some of it would have been created during some trying times. Anyway, thank you for sharing this piece of your story! I will watch for more!