In Nesting Newbies Magazine (Issue 4), Catharine Clark, owner of the Catharine Clark Gallery, shares her advice and encouragement for newbie art collectors.

Here she shares some online resources and suggested reading:

BOOKS

The Intrepid Art Collector: The Beginner’s Guide to Finding, Buying, and Appreciating Art on a Budget by Lisa Hunter

The Art of Buying Art by Alan Bamberger

The Art of Buying Art: An Insider’s Guide to Collecting Contemporary Art by Paige West

Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton

Collecting Contemporary by Adam Lindemann

The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art by Donald N. Thompson

Patronizing the Arts by Marjorie Garber

Interview between actor (and collector) Dennis Hopper and Terry Gross (WHYY)

WEBSITES

artnet

The Art Newspaper (also available as a newspaper subscription)

Art-Collecting.com – Art Collecting Resource and Online Gallery Guide

ArtBusiness.com

ARTnews (also a magazine)

ARTFORUM (also a magazine)

Art in America (also a magazine)

Read Catharine’s informative article on “The Role of the Gallerist.”

In Nesting Newbies Magazine (Issue 4), Catharine Clark, owner of the Catharine Clark Gallery, shares her advice and encouragement for newbie art collectors.

Here she discusses the role of the gallerist:

If you want to begin collecting in a gallery setting, consider the gallery’s staff as an invaluable resource that is employed to assist you and help educate you about the process or the concepts an artist used in his or her work. It is likely this person will ultimately become a friend. Buying artwork over time generally means you become part of a community of people with shared interests, values, and world views. Collectors often develop into more than just another person purchasing a painting—they become part of a network of people who value patronage of the arts, want to support artists and galleries, and become involved with the wider community of museums and nonprofits that in turn provide artists with opportunities to exhibit work and visitors the chance to learn from it. While a gallery’s staff can appear inaccessible or too busy to assist you, the truth is, they are generally working for the artists their gallery represents—and this is no small job. Hopefully, they are working to support the artists whose work you will ultimately be collecting. The gallery’s investment in an artist’s career can be the reason an artist continues to make work over the long term.

Galleries manage artists’ careers in much the same way that agents manage actors’ careers. For example, in addition to selling artists’ works, the gallery tracks all the comings and goings of their pieces in exhibitions at museums, nonprofits, and other galleries, and gallerists often manage the contracts and loan agreements between the artists and the borrowing institutions. The gallery advises their artists and helps create career opportunities in the form of inclusion in exhibits within and outside of the gallery’s purview—which may mean facilitating studio visits and meetings with curators and writers and assisting with press releases and marketing in order to provide greater visibility for the artists’ pieces. In order for galleries to survive and for artists to become self-sustaining, in addition to contacting the people who enter the gallery space, staff must be on the phone reaching out to collectors around the globe. Whatever the myriad of responsibilities that galleries manage on behalf of their artists, they are generally delighted to break from what they are doing and interact with anyone who wants to discuss the works in the gallery’s program, whether or not the individual is someone who intends to purchase. Interruption is encouraged, and conversation is embraced!

That said, there are some pitfalls that the public occasionally falls into, rendering interactions frustrating or insulting for the gallery staff. Asking a gallerist repeatedly about whether a work is a good investment is generally frowned upon. Asking about what the artwork means or how it is made or functions is invited. Of course, for more expensive work, a gallerist should be able to provide a history of sales and should be able to identify museums that have acquired the artist’s work in order to support the prices the gallery is asking for the piece. To insult the artist or the work or to comment negatively while not being open to the information a gallerist is providing about an artwork is disrespectful. Whether you like the work or not, chances are the gallery director does, or it would not be exhibited in his or her space; and to comment negatively is to insult the person who selected the work. However, a thoughtful, yet critical discussion, is generally welcomed.

To ask for a significant discount is usually discouraged. Artists and gallerists are professionals and have priced their works based on economic principals, like supply and demand, as well as considerations, such as sales history, material costs, time, size, career level, etc. The best way to not be offered the opportunity to purchase a desirable piece by an artist whose work you want to own is to ask for an excessive discount. The next time a good work by that artist becomes available, the gallerist will approach another collector.

One Artist: Huge Price Range

People new to collecting are often surprised to learn that there’s artwork in what appears to be upscale galleries that is accessibly priced. For example, at the gallery that I own and direct, Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, artwork is available for sale from $60 to $350,000. This means that there is truly something for every budget! The artist whose work is priced at $350,000 also has works available for $750. The more expensive works are unique; and the less-costly ones are multiples (like etchings or lithographs). And because this artist has work priced as high as $350,000, he has a career that reflects this market level: His work is represented in more than 50 major international museum collections; he sells his work consistently; he has been working for more than 40 years; he has critical reviews, monographs, and auction records that support the pricing of his work. The artist whose work is priced at $60 is also—perhaps a surprise to some—a serious artist, and his video work has been included in the Whitney Biennial, in a solo presentation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, in major museum collections, and he has had many significant critical reviews of his work in established art publications, like Artforum. So, in spite of the accessible price tag, if you like a work, there is really nothing to fear about the artist not having a professional career or a committed studio practice.

Read Catharine’s suggested reading for more on collecting art.

Nesting Newbie fan, Kristen, sent us this message about one of her favorite hot spots in Chicago…

“Just passing along some Chicago buzz. There’s a new furniture boutique in the Lakeview neighborhood in the Windy City. Chic Antique sells really amazing, refinished antique furniture. You can also bring in pieces of your own to have them refinished by the owner Crystal (who’s also an interior designer). They do free local delivery which is a plus, and nothing in the store (that I’ve seen) is over $500. Really unique stuff that you won’t find anywhere else. Cute kitschy accessories too!”

This caught our attention, so we pinged Crystal to find out more, and she sent over these images of what’s inside Chic Antique right now…

Crystal modernizes old pieces through bold colors, materials, and hardware to give them fresh face lifts that will fit into the chic modern homes of today’s generation. Hmmm…that turquoise trefoil side table with the white marble top is talking to us…let’s check out more.

Ooooh…that white chair with green graphic cushion, oh, and that black chest of drawers with the gold detailing and cool hardware…okay, we’re seeing where she’s going with this!

More turquoise (a favorite color!)…and lots of great finds.

But is Kristen right about the prices? Crystal says that prices range from $4 for vintage jewelry to $475 antique dressers. Most chest of drawers and dressers range from $250-$475. That’s really affordable for one-of-a-kind!

We asked Crystal to take us through a piece’s transformation…

“I found the mid-century chest of drawers at a flea market in the suburbs of Chicago, and decided to give it some pizazz with a white and fuchsia high gloss split finish. (I made half the dresser white and the other side fuchsia.) Then, I replaced the wicker door inserts with funky zebra printed cotton fabric. I added some mid-century vintage knobs and..ta-da!”

“It sold pretty quickly and, since then, I make sure that I always have a statement piece in the store to show how creative I am with older outdated-and-you-want-to-pass-by pieces. I also try to remake things into a variety of decor styles, so there’s something for every preference…whether that’s shabby chic, contemporary, traditional or super glam (my personal favorite:).”

Crystal takes great care to find well-made pieces constructed of solid wood with dovetail joinery. So, for interesting, affordable and quality furnishings and accessories for your home…seek out this very HOT SPOT!

Chic Antique
Lakeview East: 3435 N. Broadway
Chicago, IL. 60657
chicantiquechicago.com
773.857.2695

Sweetheart.

That’s what the weather was called.

Sweetheart weather, the prettiest day of the year.
And that’s when it started.

On a day so pure and steady trees preened.
Standing in the middle of a concrete slab,
scared for their lives, they preened.

Silly, yes, but it was that kind of day.

Douglas Dolezal, a designer (and very creative) friend of mine shared this Toni Morrison piece with me. Doug loves the fall…he says it’s when the clock falls back and you can begin again. So poetic. (He’s that kind of guy).

I know there are plenty of days left in August…but I’m getting anxious for autumn. It’s my absolute favorite season, and in California, it’s so fleeting. But that’s one of the things I like about it…it forces me to pay attention…to be present, and enjoy a last hurrah before winter sets in. There is something about the leaves changing that makes me want to nest! I ferociously clear out my accumulated clutter and start a makeover project or two. Sometimes that means a big undertaking…but most of the time, it’s a small gesture that satisfies my need for something new and different.

I know something’s stirring inside me as I’ve been bookmarking websites and tearing out magazine pages at an increasing rate…perhaps, like autumn’s trees, I am preparing to preen. : )

Here are a few of the things that have made my inspiration files…I can see picking a piece (or two), or I think everything here would look great in a room together.

The Florica Collection by Clarke & Clarke is refreshingly bold, and I particularly like Arabella in chocolate/aqua and could see making them into curtains similar to the room shown above.

One of The Rug Company’s newest designs by Paul Smith caught my eye…Carnival is hand-knotted Tibetan wool, and the ribbons of color remind me of streamers one might throw at the New Orleans’ mardis gras or Brazilian “Carnaval.”

Ilan Dei has created a contrasting collection between well crafted contemporary furniture and urban graffiti. Unnoticeable at first glance the graffiti is like a seedy underbelly of the furniture that you can only experience from certain angles and interactions. The Namibia Ripples Console, made from FSC walnut, was inspired by Ilan’s travels to Namibia, and the subtle graffiti is inspired by the street art around the Venice Beach Studio. It’s functional art and I love that!

Romina Bacci is a photographer and graphic designer by trade, so she has an eye for composition. She sells her prints (framed or unframed) on Miles of Light, her etsy store. I am drawn to her “Marina, The Sea Collection.” The graphic impact of all nine images would be striking, and quite doable because they are so affordable.

Our obsession with pillows, pillows and MORE PILLOWS continues and we are just so happy to see that Hammocks & High Tea is putting their “modern Caribbean” aesthetic into the mix this season. Their Autumn/Winter Collection includes their popular placements, napkins, tea towels, perfume boxes, cloth sachets, and drawer liners…and introduces 24-inch pillows in 100% certified organic cotton. Could we be any happier?

Take a look at our favorite patterns and colors on parade:

saree: sea blue
(available online soon)

janya: dune

ikat chevron: gold

maya: plum

ikat chevron: grey

linden: turquoise

The pillows are $160 each, and many styles come in other colorways. Check out their new 100% Certified Organic Room Sprays, too. All Hammocks & High Tea products can be found at various boutiques across the country as well as online at hammocksandhightea.com.

We’re getting an absolute kick out of Suzette Mehler’s faux pop-up art frames! She’s the founder of Faux Museum®, 3-D paper frame recreations of hard-to-find gilded antiques. Made of 1/16 inch mat board, they mimic the ornate beauty of the real-deal but they are so much more tongue-in-cheeky…which make us give them a shout out!

Suzette adores and collects gilded frames, but she was looking for a lighter, safer option for displaying art in a child’s room. Fun solution for all rooms, in our opinion…and at happy price points too! Order online at fauxmuseum.com.

We checked in with Cecilie Starin–an interior designer with a global design perspective–and asked her how to incorporate travel souvenirs and photos into décor that will deliver our own personalized look. She suggests…

Maps of places traveled
“Use them as wall coverings. Nautical maps add a rustic elegance. My mom always had a world map over my bed. It teaches you there’s so much to see out there.”

Souvenirs, tickets stubs, bits from meaningful/sentimental events
“Use a variety of frame sizes, shapes, shadowboxes, etc and create a grouping on a wall for a salon-style art installation.”

Travel photos
“Turn them into sepia and/or black & white images for interest and group them together or blow them up so they are really large, like 400x or cut them up and make a collage.”

Cecilie offers further details regarding photography…

“Photograph architecture and architectural details and group these photos. For example, photograph the doors of Bologna, the Bakery signs of Paris, manhole covers of London or bridges of Florence. Shoot close ups of market scenes or specialty food shops – these images will have the look of real art, but will have sentimental meaning that will inspire memories of the trip. Frame your photos with black frames and white mats, then hang in multiples (3, 6, 8, 12) in the same size frame. Groups will make a strong visual impact.”

Plover…we’re coming on over…to your HUGE online sample sale. For 3 days only (August 4th-6th), all non-sale items will be 50% off!! {1% of proceeds will also be donated to the National Wildlife Federation to help clean up the oil spill in the gulf}. Newbie fans…mark your calendars!

Plover Organic is known for their deeply saturated, vintage-inspired bedding (for babies, children and adults), throw pillows and table top-all of which are block printed by hand in India under Fair Labor regulations. They use low impact, fiber reactive dyes and 100% organic cotton.

Old documents, graphic typefaces, vintage photos, handwritten cursive…I have a thing for these old bits and pieces, but I hate clutter and can’t see the point of collecting things that you can’t have out and enjoy. It’s been my own personal dichotomy: an attraction to ephemera and a distaste for decorating with too much stuff!

Imagine my joy when I discovered Old Village Hall! Scott Hill, former director of Visual Merchandising for Ralph Lauren, found a creative way to turn old bits and pieces into textiles for one-of-a-kind furniture and accessories.  He is inspired by Colonial and 19th century imagery and silk screens on top of Belgian linens and toiles. His shop is in New York City’s East Village–a little too far for this San Francisco, California girl {sigh}–but fortunately he has some furnishings, antique finds, and a line of totes, duffle bags, and pillows he sells on his website!

Ghost Toile Arm Chair – traditional black and cream toile made intriguing with ghostly figures and sketches of George Washington!

Large Red “Schoolboy” Tote – Take your own Ivy Leaguers with you everywhere!

Robespierre Pillow – Fight tyranny and find freedom for your interiors!

It was another exciting year at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) and I am thrilled to bring Nesting Newbies fans a few of the hottest trends and my picks coming out of the show:

Bold wall paper and tile: There we so many new bold prints and black everywhere!

My favorite wall paper was by industry icon Graham & Brown— Barbara Hulanicki-Skulls #19911 — featuring textured black on black skulls.

And from Italy, Damier Noir ceramic tile by LEA Ceramiche

Hand blown glass lighting: There were several companies worth speaking of developing lighting more like individual pieces of sculpture versus more typical or traditional lighting.

Tsunami Glassworks from Windsor, Ontario offered a great example of absolutely gorgeous pieces of art. Once again, I love the black blown glass.

Lasvit from the Czech Republic have done some major installations such as the Metro station in Dubai, and are renowned for amazing lighting design. These are statement pieces.

United Glassblowing based in Costa Mesa, CA is owned and operated by the very hip husband and wife team — Caleb Siemon and Carmen Salazar. They make gorgeous music together, creating beautiful hand blown glass pendants, sconces, lamps, and vessels. Definitely worth checking out.

Gorgeous hand crafted wood furniture: Out of Rhode Island comes a collaborative furniture design group called StudioDunn. Their pieces such as the Newport table have handmade joinery but are streamlined and modern.

Also Dexel Crafted marries contemporary design concepts through traditional woodworking techniques. Both companies will customize pieces for you.

Out of Brooklyn is City Joinery. Their work prides itself in functional designs with exquisite materials and subtle details. These are built to last.

Standout cool new company: Kremelife’s (out of Los Angeles) bold pillows and wall paper stand out as top picks. So much so, I placed my first order while still at the show!

Can’t wait to go back next year!

Editor’s Note: Pamela Hall created a chic “Knitter’s Nook” in Issue 3 of Nesting Newbies Magazine. Pamela is a style maven and principal of Core Design Interiors serving both residential and commercial clients.