Comments on: The Art Collector Next Door

By: When Marketing Your Art Feels Unnatural — Art Biz Blog

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 04:03:41 +0000

[…] pressure to approach the potential buyer at the perfect […]

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By: Sometimes What You Don’t Do Is Just As Valuable As What You Do | Pine Ledge Fiber Studio

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:17:25 +0000

[…] And the person who wanted to know if I had any more like the narrow hand-dyed piece I’d made specifically to show her? She’s already a collector of my work. One of those special people I learned about from Alyson Stanfield . […]

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By: Collecting Your Collectors’ Names — Art Biz Blog

Fri, 12 Aug 2011 11:01:32 +0000

[…] Lee Shiney attended my book signing and talk in Wichita, Kansas. He writes: You were talking about keeping in touch with buyers, using mailing lists, etc., and my dilemma had always been that often I didn’t know who bought work because it was cash and carry out of small shops. There was no record of the actual buyer. […]

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By: Daggi Wallace

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:03:11 +0000

One of my collectors is a single middle aged man who drives an old car and lives in a small apartment, yet he has bought several paintings from me. None of these are in a series, all are a different subject matter, one he bought right off the easel before it was finished! He also buys from other artists, and writes the most beautifully poetic letters of thank you after he takes the pieces home. He loves to come by the studio and sits and talks for hours sometimes. He does not currently have the wall space to hang all of the art he collects, and you’d never know he was an avid collector by looking at him, but he has been a huge support to me, including donating to my nonprofit ogranization that I started last year. It is not unusual for him to buy several pieces at a time on layaway and he is always on time with payments. Never judge a book by its cover!

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By: Ingrid Albrecht

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 17:00:47 +0000

This reminds me of when I was doing art fairs years ago. A late middle-aged woman came into my booth, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and struck up a conversation and told me that she was a retired school teacher. Since I was also a former school teacher we had a nice conversation. She loved my work and asked me many questions about several pieces. Two hours passed and I was still answering questions about changing frames etc. My neighbors next to me thought I was CRAZY for spending the time I did with her. I had many other visitors to my booth because I had received an award that day, but I gave everyone who entered my booth the attention they deserved. The third hour with this woman arrived and low and behold she had not one, but three paintings she wanted to purchase. I gave her a discount for multiple purchases and she became a loyal customer each year I participated in that art fair. My neighbors next to me did not make sales that day and never returned to that art fair. My lesson from this experience was to treat each person who entered my booth as a treasured potential customer…greeting them and be willing to answer any questions for them. One can ‘never judge a book by its cover’!

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By: Ayn Hanna

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:39:09 +0000

I also first thought of Herb and Dorothy Vogel. And then I also was reminded that several of my biggest sales have come from friends who I really never saw or looked at as potential collectors of my work.
And what I learned from this was, not only should we treat everyone who approaches our art as equal and don’t discount anyone as potential collectors, but also that the people who buy my work are doing so more because of the relationship I’ve established with them – getting to know me and understanding more about my work – than just by seeing my art by itself in a show or online. I think it’s this deeper personal connection that draws people to want to buy a piece of my art, whether it be a large work or smaller, more affordable piece.

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By: Kyle Vincent Thomas

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 19:35:22 +0000

I love that painting! 🙂

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By: Sandhya Manne

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 18:03:49 +0000

Wow…I really enjoyed reading all these stories….amazing!!

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By: Patricia C Vener

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:37:34 +0000

My first sale of a major bead weaving piece was to a retired couple (he had worked at the Social Security Office in Maryland). The piece was a massive work in purple and lavender and vintage crystal – she told me she was planning on wearing it to a family reunion. He had seen it first and said to me, “Oh, I have to call my wife over here!”
Looking at them one might assume that they were more conventional than they actually were. People make choices on how they want to spend their money. While many ogle the latest sneaker or exercise equipment, others choose art and fine craft – even so far as furnishing their homes with one of a kind or limited edition pieces by highly skilled artisans instead of going out to Ikea or some other mainstream home furnishing store.

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By: Casey Klahn

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:45:44 +0000

Your story is a good one, Alyson. Looking at their shoes to tell their income is an inexact science at best, isn’t it?
I met a nonagenarian at the art fair, and she had the eyes to prove her age: blue, pale and flattened with age. She was small and sweet, with a French accent. Her apartment was a couple blocks from the venue, and her story was that she had an art collection. Much of it was stuffed under her bed, so large it was.
She had some by Miro. Some by Picasso. A Klee. A Matisse. You get the idea.

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