I had assumed when I started out that I would sell only through
galleries and had my “dream gallery” in mind. The owner loved my
work and wanted to carry it but dealing with her was a drag from
start to finish. First I waited two months to even start with her
because she said “it’s dead here in August and September.” Then I
sent her my consignment contract at the end of September and never
heard from her. I called and called and called (she was 5-1/2 hours
away from my home) without getting to talk to her. Finally I caught
her and she told me that she did not plan to read my consignment
contract—just too busy! She wanted a handshake only. She also told
me my prices were way too high and that she wanted 50% of retail.
She promised me that with those terms I would do well.
The truth is that with those terms, the stress on me to produce
would have been heavy since I could not have made any profit
whatsoever.
Since she was too busy to ever talk to me and too busy to read my
contract and had no insurance to cover my work and wanted me to
lower my prices so much, I decided not to consign with her.
I have since then done three shows and have been able to sell at the
prices I originally set. I am kind of turned off the idea of
consignment.
I also saw an article in one of the craft magazines that quoted
another gallery that I thought I might approach. The owner said “an
unknown artist wanted me to charge $100.00 (I think that was the
amount) for his work!” This left me with the idea that gallery
owners were always going to expect new artists to sell for “dirt.”
J. S. Ellington
jsellington@cs.com