The value of art

As many of you may know, I was at a craft show this past weekend, trying my damndest to sell painted wine bottles through Broken Hand Wine Design.  While the weather was spotty all day and the location was horrendous, it was the people that made the experience excruciating.  I am not what is known as a "people person" to begin with, but being amongst the masses seemed like a necessary evil in order to sell crafts that I thought would make wonderful Christmas gifts.  Were they highly priced?  Sure, but no more so than they should have been (and honestly, if I was going to charge based upon the work that I put into them I could probably double the price).

Anyway, I think the main issue is that the patrons of this particular craft fair did not understand the value of art, an artist, or a one of a kind craft.  I had many, many people come by the table and they marveled at my "Grinch" bottle.  They said that it was the best interpretation of the Grinch at the whole Christmas in Mexico event.  Yet by the end of the show, it still sat on the end of the table.  At one point I wanted to yell out that this was not a gallery show and people could actually buy the pieces on display, but that seemed a little too "get off my lawn" for the moment (time and place, time and place).  Everyone that came by the table (and admittedly there were not many) looked at the bottles, some even stopping to pick one up that particularly caught their eye, be it one of the cartoon characters or sports logos, and yet they all put them back down.  Those people are fine in my book, they were there more to look than they were to buy something.  That's fine.  Though it would still irk me a bit when they would go to the next table over and purchase some re-purposed Dollar Store chincy crap after passing over something homemade.  I was warned that this was entirely possible, that the crowd I was playing to there may not be as accepting of what I was producing as in other places, and I rolled the dice anyway.

All of that is fine, but what is not fine is the individuals that came up to the table and said "oh, I should have (husband/wife/brother/etc) do this with their empty wine bottles".  Thanks lady, because I am not here to sell things, only to inspire you to nag your significant other.  Or the woman that came by the table, looked at one of my bottles (one of the sports logo ones) and say, and I quote "I can't even paint and I could do that".  Thank you so very much for marginalizing what I do.  I admit, the sports logo ones are not nearly as difficult as the faces or scenes, but they take time as well, time that many people aren't willing to put into a craft.

The whole point of paying for goods and services is because someone is willing and able to do something that you are neither willing or able to do.  Even if you could do that, it doesn't make much sense to go by the vendor offering that good or service, who may or may not have stayed up late the night before finishing pieces in anticipation of selling them the following day, and state how you can do what he does.  That's pretty bad form if you ask me.  Especially if you are going to go buy some marked up crap you can find down the road at a department store instead.

Here's a sincere question for those who are still not 100% on my side.  Would you pay $35 (what I charge for the regular-sized bottles) for an original painting, say 10"x14"?  Sounds like a pretty decent deal, right?  When that same painting is translated to a cylindrical shape, sometimes with embellishments (like the hats on the Grinch and Santa, or the turkey feathers) why does the value drop?  How are any of these any less in value than something painted on a board or canvas?  The answer is that they are not, and anyone that thinks otherwise probably belongs at a different table buying knick-knack garbage.

While I am using my experience this last weekend as the platform, this is a pretty common practice that needs to be fixed.  First of all, artists need to realize that you shouldn't have to bow to the public's view of your art.  Do you think your art is worth $50 per piece?  Then charge $50 per piece.  Don't let the masses undervalue your art.  Did you put four hours into a painting?  Shouldn't that original be worth more than the $10 most people are willing to pay for it?  Have some pride in yourself and your work and if we all stick together then we won't be undercut by people with no self-worth.

And to those prospective buyers out there: yes, there are individuals that are trying to gouge you in terms of the price they have placed on their work.  Is that the norm?  Not at all, and probably even less so than that purse you paid $80 for even though it cost about $3 to make.  And if you don't want a piece of art, original or otherwise, or a craft that someone is selling, then move along.  It's okay to look, it's even okay to compliment the artist and strike up a conversation (while they don't pay the bills, compliments are still nice to get) but when you marginalize something that some of us have spent upward of thirty years and tens of thousands of dollars cultivating with an "I can do that" it makes me want to shove one of my hand-painted, one of a kind bottles up your ass...large end first.