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.

Markings #12    ©2007    44"x 32"

Giving

One of the things we talked about in Christine Kane’s E-seminar in January was what she termed expansive giving. Sharing our resources because we are inspired to do so. It goes beyond donating money to charity and for some it’s related to tithing. Many that believe in the Law of Attraction have a bunch of rules about what constitutes this type of giving back to the universe.

I’ve always donated some portion of my income to charity each year but it’s never been a huge amount. When I made the decision to rearrange my life to make a living from my art I decided to build in the giving up front so it’s a part of my business.

At the end of each month I work through my art business finances and give 10% of my gross income to others. I’ve decided I don’t have any rules about what this might mean. Some months I’ve given the money to charities that support causes I believe in. Some months I’ve given the money to people that have helped me or inspired me. Some months I imagine I might buy something to support an artist or small business owner and then give the item to someone else. I can imagine all sorts of ways of giving back to my community and the universe without feeling trapped by someone else’s rules.

It’s been very fun the last few months to sit and think about where I want to give my money. And I’m thrilled to say that every month I’ve had at least of bit of income so I can give.

This month I sent a check to FINCA, an organization that provides financial services to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living.

Courage

In many ways the point of expansive giving is about opening up and trusting that the universe always provides. That there will always be enough. It takes courage to not hold on to it all too tightly.

I know when I first make the big leap and quit my job I’ll be living a different standard of living. From software engineer to artist just starting down the road to being self-supporting. When I first thought about it I was pretty scared. Then Christine introduced the idea of giving away 10% of our income I thought "no way, I’ll barely have enough to live on". Those thoughts are about fear.

So I made the decision in January to commit a full 10% of my gross income to giving, sharing and donating. I don’t want to live my life being afraid. Courage is my word of the year and this is part of that. Trust and love are a lot more fulfilling than fear.

Moving Progress

I’ve had painters at my house all week painting inside and out. Everything inside has been draped in plastic for a few days as they were spraying the walls (I have an 18 foot high ceiling). So just like last week not much art is going on at my house. I’m out of the house all day and just home at night to sleep in beds in the middle of the room. My son thinks it feels like a haunted house in here with all the plastic.

This long weekend, it’s memorial day weekend here in the US, the unofficial start of summer. It isn’t going to be much of a holiday for my family. I’ll be working on small house and landscaping projects all weekend with the help of my kids.

We’re in the home stretch. I’ve now got a real estate sign in my yard that says "Coming Soon" with the goal of having that switch to "For Sale" the first week in June.

Markings #12 – Moving Sale

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, all of my artwork is for sale. The above piece is one of those pieces. It’s full retail price is $2500 and through June 15th it’s available for $1500.

For those curious about my pricing, it’s roughly $230-$260 per square foot based on the year it was made. I round up or down to reach an even number. If you are interested in purchasing Markings #12, or any of my available work please email me.