Lisa Call

Art Auction Requests

Yesterday I received yet another art auction request. This is an often discussed topic for artists and I’ve written about it before. Most artists write about it at some point it seems.

The Society of North American Goldsmiths has a couple of excellent publications on the topic here. Based on their recommendations this is the letter I sent to the person making the request yesterday:

Dear ____________,

Thank you for your interest in my artwork. I’m flattered. Your event sounds wonderful!

I am more than happy to donate art to art auctions and your causes sound very worthy. I’m asked to donate to many auctions each year and am unable to accommodate every request so I’ve come up the following criteria to identify the events I will participate in.

I need to be able to set the minimum bid on my artwork. This protects me and the value of my artwork as selling art at auctions for extremely low costs is not in my best interest in the long run. If the piece isn’t sold for the minimum bid then I’d like it returned to me.

I also would like a % of the proceeds of the sales price – 20-50% is the range I normally encounter. This practice honors the work I do as an artist. The IRS only allows me to write off the costs of supplies on my taxes and not the market value of the donated art. So essentially I’m out all material costs and can’t make it back in a tax break. So you are asking me to donate both time and money by asking me for my art. Giving a % of the proceeds of the sales back to the artist (who are often as needy as the non-profits asking for art) is a practice more and more art auctions are adopting as it becomes more of a win situation for everyone in this way.

You haven’t given the details of the auction in your email so if you could send me that information I’d be happy to discuss this further.

Thank you again for your interest in my artwork.

 
I don’t participate in many auctions given my requirements, which is fine as I donate 10% of my gross income from art via my expansive giving policy and am able to support the causes I care about in that manner.

I’d love to donate more art to auctions and if the organizers were to restructure them to provide more value to the artists I’d be right there in line offering my artwork.

Solo Show Prep

I’ve been in my studio many hours this week creating the artwork for the show. I didn’t blog much this week as I used my writing time to send out my January newsletter. If you aren’t on the mailing list and want an idea of what you are missing you can read the latest newsletter online: January Studio News.