recordkeeping

Kerry Thompson, Café Friends Nursery

15 Steps to Take After Completing Your Artwork

With regard to the importance of reliable systems in your art business, here’s a system framework inspired by a question from Kerry Thompson. Her question is this:

What do you do after you’ve finished an artwork?

Finish the Details on the Artwork Itself

The work shouldn’t be considered complete until you do the following with the physical piece.

  • Sign it!
 Sign your art wherever you can, and however you do it best.
  • Add the date on the front, back, or underneath – where and when it’s appropriate for your medium. 
Many artists don’t like to date their work on the front because it doesn’t look as fresh. That’s fine, but date it somewhere. Dating is a way that helps you claim credit for copyright and will be used by the curator that mounts a retrospective of your work in 30 years.
  • If appropriate for your medium, make an identification card for the back that includes the complete credit line: Name, title, media, dimensions, and price. 
This is enormously helpful for venues.

Document the Artwork

Don’t let the piece out of your hands until you have recorded it in your records. Take these 6 steps:

15 Steps to Take After Completing Your Artwork Read

The Art Biz ep. 15: Confronting Your Professional Legacy: David Paul Bayles

Last fall I received an email from David Paul Bayles, who was a member of my class at the time. The email read, in part:

Recently The Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley (third largest special collections library in the U.S.) created The David Paul Bayles Photographic Archive to create a home for my life’s work.

I am driving down to meet with them on Monday to place a large number of prints and oral history audio files into the Archive.

Whoa. How cool is that? A major institution deemed David’s work worthy of saving forever – all together under a single roof.

After peppering David with questions, I knew that his was a story that needed to be shared with you.

I have been concerned about artists’ legacies and what they are doing to prepare themselves and their loved ones for their passing. What happens to the work and the records after they’re gone?

In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, David tells us what his professional archives consist of, including his photos, writings, records, and audio files.

He also gives us insight into the process of negotiating with the Library – fascinating stuff. And, yes, it includes lawyers.

Of course, we also talked about his art and why he chose to focus on photographing trees throughout his career. A better way to frame the question is how the trees chose him.

And we ended with a discussion of David’s next big goals. What comes after finding a permanent home for your entire life’s work? For David, it’s an artist residency and a traveling exhibition.

As you listen, pay careful attention to all of the people David has connected with along the way. His story is one of finding and nurturing connections.

And it all started with a fire …

The Art Biz ep. 15: Confronting Your Professional Legacy: David Paul Bayles Read

Mary Susan Vaughn, Hope Road

5 Reasons to Title Your Art

Are the titles of your artworks working for you? Do they help people relate to your art? Do they at least cause viewers to stop and think, “Hmmm . . . I wonder what that means”? There are five very good reasons for spending time on your titles.

5 Reasons to Title Your Art Read

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