Here is a new video of some of Carl's Sculpture from YouTube.com. Hope you enjoy.
copyright 2008 Carl Wright
Friday, May 2, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Upcoming Art Shows Featuring Carl & Jody
There are some great art gallery shows featuring Carl & Jody coming up.
First is the Spring show at the David Dickirson Gallery at Tamarack in Beckley, WV. The show is from March 16th through April 26th. This is a show featuring Jody & Carl and 15 other highly talented artists from West Virginia. Carl will have 2 sculptures in the show and Jody will have 3 paintings. For more information call Karen Lilly (the Gallery Director) at 304-256-6843 ext. 157.
Next is the Flora, Fauna, Fabulous, & Fun show at the Chasen Galleries, Richmond, VA. The two-person gallery show runs from 4/15/08 - 5/25/08. The opening reception is on 4/15/08 from 6pm to 9 pm. Jody will be bringing 20+ paintings and Carl will have 8+ sculptures on hand. For more information see http://www.chasengalleries.com.
Jody is having a show at the Queen Street Gallery in Martinsburg, WV in Fall 2008. More details will be posted as they are available.
Carl has two exterior sculptures, Eihei & Motion, in Algonquin, IL til Novemer 2008. They are on the Main Street of Algonquin at the Algonquin Community Center.
Carl is now also represented by Park Place Sculptures in Kansas City, Kansas. See thier website at http://www.parkplacesculptures.com .
copyright 2008 Carl Wright
50 Secrets Book-Signing
Jody's book - 50 Secrets Humans Should Know is out and Jody will be doing a book-signing. The book signing will be at the Borders Bookstore on Garland Groh Road in Hagerstown , MD on Saturday May 10th from 2pm to 4 pm. Jody will talk about her book and have 1 or 2 paintings there also that were used in the book.
copyright 2008 Carl Wright
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Getting a gallery to pay an Artist
Having run an independent stand-alone gallery for 13 years and being an artist for 19 years gives me a different perspective on gallery-artist relations. To be sure running a gallery is fraught with joy and problems. The joy comes from helping a client step up, and buy a better artwork that the client will enjoy for a longer time. The joy of discovering a new artist and promoting him/her. The inner delight knowing that many people covet what you do and know in their heart of hearts that they could do it better – if they did not have kids, or a mortgage, or had more savings, or an understanding spouse.
The difficulties come in a lot of the time in the customer service area – sometimes with customers (kind of unusual) and artists – not unusual at all. Customer difficulties are always resolved quickly since the gallery wants the clients money and satisfaction. Without either the client’s money or satisfaction, a gallery owner can’t meet his bills. If the client is truly unhappy, he/she will badmouth the gallery to all their friends. Very bad for business.
Artists are a different story. Most artists put their work on consignment – meaning the gallery owner shows the work, sells the work, collects the money, and then the artist gets paid usually 15, 30, 45 or 60 days after the sale.
The artist is somewhat dependent on the gallery owner for his livelihood. If the gallery owner sells work, the artist can more easily pay their bills. If the gallery owner sells work and has tough economic times, the artist will have trouble paying his bills since the gallery owner has the money and his needs come first (in his mind). This creates a difficult situation for the artist, how hard do you push the gallery owner to pay what is rightly due the artist? A consideration – does the artist want to continue with this gallery? Have they worked well together in the past? Is this a momentary thing?
The thing for an artist to remember is that the gallery owner has collected money on your work. He is paying someone – just not you. You, as an artist need to change the dynamic so that you are paid first. If after several phonecalls, faxes, and emails that are all ignored; send a demand letter for payment.
A demand letter basically states that you are owed money. State the date of the transaction, the financial terms agreed to, and also when you expect to receive payment before taking other action. Send the letter by US Mail registered return receipt. This is the first step in showing that you have an official record of asking for the money. You need to keep a paper trail to document what your actions are in case you need to file suit in court. This means any phonecalls before and after the demand letter get written in a log with date, time and what was discussed. Same with faxes and emails in addition to keeping a copy of what was sent. If there is still no response after about 7 days after receipt of the return receipt – contact a lawyer to send a letter on his stationary for the money to the gallery owner. That is a great tactic and usually will cost under $100. Most people do not like getting letters from lawyers and will send the money post haste.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or pretend to be. A lawyer should be consulted to make sure of any and all of your rights as being owed money.
The difficulties come in a lot of the time in the customer service area – sometimes with customers (kind of unusual) and artists – not unusual at all. Customer difficulties are always resolved quickly since the gallery wants the clients money and satisfaction. Without either the client’s money or satisfaction, a gallery owner can’t meet his bills. If the client is truly unhappy, he/she will badmouth the gallery to all their friends. Very bad for business.
Artists are a different story. Most artists put their work on consignment – meaning the gallery owner shows the work, sells the work, collects the money, and then the artist gets paid usually 15, 30, 45 or 60 days after the sale.
The artist is somewhat dependent on the gallery owner for his livelihood. If the gallery owner sells work, the artist can more easily pay their bills. If the gallery owner sells work and has tough economic times, the artist will have trouble paying his bills since the gallery owner has the money and his needs come first (in his mind). This creates a difficult situation for the artist, how hard do you push the gallery owner to pay what is rightly due the artist? A consideration – does the artist want to continue with this gallery? Have they worked well together in the past? Is this a momentary thing?
The thing for an artist to remember is that the gallery owner has collected money on your work. He is paying someone – just not you. You, as an artist need to change the dynamic so that you are paid first. If after several phonecalls, faxes, and emails that are all ignored; send a demand letter for payment.
A demand letter basically states that you are owed money. State the date of the transaction, the financial terms agreed to, and also when you expect to receive payment before taking other action. Send the letter by US Mail registered return receipt. This is the first step in showing that you have an official record of asking for the money. You need to keep a paper trail to document what your actions are in case you need to file suit in court. This means any phonecalls before and after the demand letter get written in a log with date, time and what was discussed. Same with faxes and emails in addition to keeping a copy of what was sent. If there is still no response after about 7 days after receipt of the return receipt – contact a lawyer to send a letter on his stationary for the money to the gallery owner. That is a great tactic and usually will cost under $100. Most people do not like getting letters from lawyers and will send the money post haste.
Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer or pretend to be. A lawyer should be consulted to make sure of any and all of your rights as being owed money.
copyright 2008 Carl Wright
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Quality, Delivery times, and Client Input
Quality versus Price or Price versus Quality
After getting a wonderful commission for some artwork, there are some considerations to consider. There is quality to price issues, delivery times, and client input. First, there is a price to quality ratio. Quite a few artists I have met are of the opinion that you give sufficient quality for the price quoted. Actually the reverse is the proper way to think of the ratio. As an artist you should have a certain non-negotiable level of quality that you out into each and every piece of art that you create. That quality equates to a certain price. Then do not budge more that 5% from that price. Reason is that in many cases, the client will forget that they agreed to a lower level of quality for a lower price. When you deliver the completed artwork, then you have to resell the concept of lessened quality for a lesser price. Besides, as a pride issue, would you really want to put out substandard or subpar work for a subpar price? The client who foisted this on you is proud of their “negotiating” skill and brags to all his friends. All the braggarts’ friends see is a sad and low quality artwork that he bought because of a low price. Is that the reputation you want to be tarred with – a low budget, low quality artist? Don’t think so. Artwork should make the soul soar to a higher level, not fall to earth like a lead balloon.
Delivery Times
Make delivery promises set in concrete. Your client expects you to deliver the right item in the right time frame. Anything else is playing into the old lame game of artist as tortured soul, poor business person, etc. Also gives the customer if they are shrewd an opening to renegotiate the price downwards. Or you can invoke penalty clauses if those are in your contract for the artwork. Penalty clauses are a quick way to lose any and all profit in a project. On-time delivery is a sign of a professional artist.
Client Input
All people feel that they are creative. Be aware of this when accepting custom work. You need to listen carefully to the client, take notes, and if possible try to work in some of the clients’ notions. Ultimately though, the client asked for you based on your previous work. The client may have some great insights that will help your work tremendously. Sometimes, you have to diplomatically ignore the client suggestions – preferably not in their presence though. If your design is strong and thoughtful enough, the client will forget all about their hot trendy ideas and embrace your ideas. In fact the client may just congratulate you on how well you translated their ideas to the “perfect” artwork for them. That would be wonderful.
After getting a wonderful commission for some artwork, there are some considerations to consider. There is quality to price issues, delivery times, and client input. First, there is a price to quality ratio. Quite a few artists I have met are of the opinion that you give sufficient quality for the price quoted. Actually the reverse is the proper way to think of the ratio. As an artist you should have a certain non-negotiable level of quality that you out into each and every piece of art that you create. That quality equates to a certain price. Then do not budge more that 5% from that price. Reason is that in many cases, the client will forget that they agreed to a lower level of quality for a lower price. When you deliver the completed artwork, then you have to resell the concept of lessened quality for a lesser price. Besides, as a pride issue, would you really want to put out substandard or subpar work for a subpar price? The client who foisted this on you is proud of their “negotiating” skill and brags to all his friends. All the braggarts’ friends see is a sad and low quality artwork that he bought because of a low price. Is that the reputation you want to be tarred with – a low budget, low quality artist? Don’t think so. Artwork should make the soul soar to a higher level, not fall to earth like a lead balloon.
Delivery Times
Make delivery promises set in concrete. Your client expects you to deliver the right item in the right time frame. Anything else is playing into the old lame game of artist as tortured soul, poor business person, etc. Also gives the customer if they are shrewd an opening to renegotiate the price downwards. Or you can invoke penalty clauses if those are in your contract for the artwork. Penalty clauses are a quick way to lose any and all profit in a project. On-time delivery is a sign of a professional artist.
Client Input
All people feel that they are creative. Be aware of this when accepting custom work. You need to listen carefully to the client, take notes, and if possible try to work in some of the clients’ notions. Ultimately though, the client asked for you based on your previous work. The client may have some great insights that will help your work tremendously. Sometimes, you have to diplomatically ignore the client suggestions – preferably not in their presence though. If your design is strong and thoughtful enough, the client will forget all about their hot trendy ideas and embrace your ideas. In fact the client may just congratulate you on how well you translated their ideas to the “perfect” artwork for them. That would be wonderful.
Copyright 2008 Carl Wright
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Art in the Corporate Environment
“Art is the signature of civilizations.”Beverly Sills
Recently, I have been thinking about art in the corporate environment. Wondering if there were any statistics, I started looking around and found some interesting abstracts.
So far the statistics are nowhere to be found. It appears that quantifying art and its impact on the workplace has not been dealt with in a published form. But it has been dealt with in a less than empirical way. Having said that does not negate the fact that art is important as a visual stimulus. The abstracts made fascinating reading and were very hard to put down.
Some extracts from an abstract by Caroline Made at St. Andrews College include: “Corporate art investment has become part of the firm’s overall business strategy to promote its brand name and image. Corporations proclaim that they house art in order to create a more enjoyable and beneficial working environment for its employees as well as highlighting the philanthropic nature of its support of the arts. ….The corporate collection bestows a complex yet highly beneficial element to the firm’s internal environment. Art in the workplace provides an aesthetically pleasing atmosphere for both the firm’s workforce as well as outside clientele.”
Her comments send shivers of delight up my spine. These comments were made about Deutsche Bank’s collection; but I would assume that they are true of any other corporate setting desiring to broaden their appeal to clients and co-workers. Art would be treasured more if there was a statistically-based, quantifiably accurate way to demonstrate that art in the corporate world increased business metrics. Say it increased productivity and morale by 45% and made new clients fall into a cataleptic fit until they bought a 5 year supply of the company’s product. Would that be great or what?
To me, it would make for an easier marketing and selling proposition. To be able to hand art statistics to a CEO or President of a corporation would be virtually priceless. CEO’s and other business leaders understand and appreciate numbers. Supposedly, “the numbers don’t lie”. It would take selling art away from being a soft, squishy selling proposition to a numbers game. One more sales objection would be satisfied.
It would be the end of boring, featureless hallways, or would hope for that. I can see the headlines now in the Wall Street Journal: XXX Technology Company Goes into Bankruptcy. You read the story and find out that the poor Luddite company owner did not buy art to enrich the company environment and his company failed because of that. And then I woke up.
Copyright 2008 Carl Wright
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Jody's Book is Available
Great News!
Jody's newest book "50 Secrets Humans Should Know" is now available. It is the culimination of Jody's goal to publish a book that encapuslated her philosophy and paintings in a gorgeous package.
The book, available through most major retailers and Amazon.com, is a delight. When the book is open, two pages face the reader. One page has a copy of one of her paintings and the facing page has a a short thought that goes with the painting.
This personal-sized book is the perfect gift. Click on the link If you would like to see the paintings that are available that are in Jody's new book: http://www.wsggallery.com/Dog%20Series%20Page%201.htm
To order a copy of the book from Amazon.com :http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b/104-0243492-9087104?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=50+Secrets+Humans+should+Know&x=15&y=21
Happy Reading!
copyright 2008 Carl Wright
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