barbara arner on fri 6 sep 02
Hi
Okay here's the next part of my pricing dilemna. A vase is a vase is a vase. A form is a form. You perfect a form. A plate. A bowl. A vase. etc. Functionalware. Then there comes the other art. The art that holds meaning and expression and is not, though it can be in some cases, functional. But mostly for viewing and thinking's sake. How do you put a price on that? These pieces have titles and have a story to each of them. How do you know what the value of this type of artwork is? If you can shed some light on this, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks,
Barbara Arner
vince pitelka on sat 7 sep 02
Barbara Arner wrote:
"These pieces have titles and have a story to each of them. How do you know
what the value of this type of artwork is? If you can shed some light on
this, I'd appreciate it."
Barbara -
This is a hard one, but I don't think that it needs to be that different
from pricing functional work, because all work is narrative to some degree.
All work communicates some information about the maker and about issues of
design, utility, and formal expression. We tend to think of narrative work
as that which has some obvious message. That interpretation is conditioned
by mass media that slaps us in the face with the essential information.
Rationally, we know that art is rarely like that. We usually have to work
to interpret art, and that is as it should be.
So, whether a functional pitcher, a non-functional vessel, or a pure
sculptural piece, the pricing structure all depends on some blend between
the artist's investment in materials, time, and sweat, and the response to
the work in the marketplace.
Okay, so far this doesn't give you much to go on. But all you can do is
compare your work to similar work (if it exists) in the marketplace. That
is really the only gauge that any of us can use. If we create a price
derived purely out of our own private impression of the value of our work,
we are likely to grossly overvalue or undervalue our work, and neither
serves us well. The only thing we can do is objectively examine the
marketplace, and come up with a realistic estimate of value based on that
examination. At least that gives us a good starting point.
The other issue here is exposure. If you have not had much exposure, you
cannot expect to command the prices you see in work created by well-known
artists. So when you are looking at work, determining which examples are in
some way similar to your work, do not make pricing decisions based on work
created by the most well-known ceramic artists. Eventually you will get
those prices, but you have to work up to it.
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Home - vpitelka@worldnet.att.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
http://www.craftcenter.tntech.edu/
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