Creative Budgeting

I'm an art addict. Especially when it comes to collecting. As an addict, my habit can sometimes get the best of my financial good sense. When I fall in love with a work of art I sometimes think about the financial consequences after the purchase has been made. Oops.

New collectors generally worry about money before jumping into a purchase. I often hear questions like how much should I spend on original art, or how much is too much? Art is a luxury item (albeit a necessary luxury item in my life) and only you can decide how much is too much to spend on luxury. Getting comfortable with how much you want to spend on art before making a purchase should help make the experience that much more enjoyable.

Here are a few creative ways friends of mine cope with establishing budgets, setting limits, and sticking to purchasing guidelines for their art collections:

Wedding Bliss: Dan and Lisa base their art spending limits on how much they spend buying each other wedding anniversary gifts. Instead of spending hundreds on an anniversary trip, fancy dinner, or gifts they pool their money and once a year purchase a work of art together. They have fun researching artists that they like all year, visiting galleries and reading articles and reviews, and generally make their yearly purchase around the time of their anniversary.

One Lucky Baby: Kelly and Lee have started an art collection for their daughter Sara. Every year for her birthday she receives a work of art so that one day she will have a beautiful collection to call her very own. When she is old enough she will be able to choose her own art as a birthday present if she so desires.

Pennies a Day: Andy collects loose change (and a random bill every once in a while) to save up for art. At first I thought it would take years to collect even $100 of change, but he informs me that he has been able to save upwards of $700 in a six-month period. Not bad! He has established fun rules to help grow his art fund: All money found in pockets (by the dry cleaner or left in a coat pocket from last year) goes to the fund. $2 dollar bills he receives in change go to the fund. Any foreign money left over from a trip lands there, too. A major boost to the fund was during the introduction of the new $10 and $20 bills. All old $10's and $20's he received would go to the fund. He laments that those are harder to come by now and hopes the government has plans to make more changes soon.

Give it to me: Robin picks out a work of art and then alerts friends and family members that it is all she wants for her birthday. Rather than one person buying the work outright, she has conditioned her gift-givers to send cash towards her art purchase. She always buys the art in the end, even if she doesn't collect all of the money needed. She feels that the gifts she receives, any money at all, helps offset the price like a nice discount.

What if you could register for art like you register for china and towels for a wedding? (Warning: this is a shameless plug! Read on at your own risk...) Well, now you can! Your wedding guests can help you beautify your walls just as easily as they help you beautify your dining table. In my book, this is the ultimate "budget" for art!

I'd love to learn about your creative budgeting techniques! Send me an email!

Comments

[rachael]

As an artist,I have another perspective, too. I live cheaply and come solidly from the working /middle class so I always make work I can offer directly from my studio at low prices (between $30 and $300). But folks seem afraid to ask... if you love an artist's work, ask them what they have at starter prices! The worst they can do is be mildly offended, the best (and most likely) thing they can do is realize you are very interesting in their work and work with your budget...
that's my thought. Other ideas are good too!
Rachael
http://balduffington.blogdrive.com

[Paige]

Rachael: Excellent point! I encourage everyone to visit as many studios as they can, so your suggestion of asking about available works - at whatever price - is a good one. One sticky point may be, as you know, that many artists will send you back to their gallery to buy work if they have that type of relationship with a gallery. But you said it best... it never hurts to ask! Thanks for the comment!

[Zeke]

Howdy!

One easy way to avoid having to send a potential client "back to their gallery to buy work if they have that type of relationship with a gallery" is for the artist, either in conjunction with their gallery, or on their own, to price things as if they were in a gallery.

This way the artist avoids undercutting their gallery, which could potentially sour the relationship, while at the same time making purchases as easy as possible.

Play ball!

[Bob Ragland]

I was reading your postings on art collecting. I have developed a method for new buyers to understand how to figure out if they can afford the works of art they are considering. I have them divide the price of the art by twelve months or sometimes to be very basic, I have them divide by fifty-two weeks. The latter may appear simplistic. But it does work. As a non-starving artist I can say that the 12-52 method has worked for me for years. I also offer time payments to some people. I figure that if a person spends ten to twenty dollars a week in one year they could by a work of art. Artists should always have entry level works of art to offer the beginning buyer.