Art Biz Coach/auctions

Alyson B. Stanfield's website http://artbizcoach.com/ is a goldmine of info. Her latest blog post http://www.artbizblog.com/ is on art auctions.

Artists receive frequent requests for donations. I only donate to causes that are important to me. While I prefer "artist friendly"* auctions I do donate to others, such as a recent one for a women's shelter, and of course to raise money for friends who are facing difficulties. .

* Artist friendly: reserve bid, promo for the artist, portion, at least 50% of the sale goes to artist.

I'll be donating this piece to an auction for a cause near and dear to me, the Jack Millikin Centre.

Art Auctions

Coming up May 2nd is an Art Auction and dance in support of the Jack Millikin Centre. http://www.jackmillikincentre.com/ Set in the boreal forest, the Centre will feature a dance hall with a horse hair dance floor, a centre for forest research and learning and a large work area for artists to develop a year-round artisan learning centre.

The auction and dance will be a lot of fun. Kudos to all the volunteers who make these events happen. I'll have two pieces up for auction, including Sister Water Snake (above), which celebrates all the incredible women born in the year of the snake in 53/54; we are now 55/56.

Art Auctions can be a win-win situation. Artists are frequently asked to donate their work. In my experience, it is wise to choose which ones to participate in...ones that benefit a cause you support, give you the opportunity to benefit financially and promote you and your art practice. Given the choice of setting a reserve bid and a choice of how much you want to donate of the winning bid is respectful of the artist and gives us an opportunity to participate in a number of auctions.

CARFAC has a number of "best practices". Here's the link for the Art Auctions information: www.bestpracticestandards.ca/docs/1_standardsdrafts/Best_Practice_Standards-Artists_Work___Fundraising_REV_2008-12-17.pdf