The gallery red flag you ignored (and paid for)?
I'll own mine: first gallery that took me on, the owner kept "forgetting" to send me sales reports. Sure it'll sort itself, I told myself. Nine months of that and I had to ring up and ask what the story was with my own work and my own money. Embarrassing looking back. Should've walked the second week.
What's the flag you saw and talked yourself out of anyway? The vibe, the contract, the "we'll have it framed ourselves" line. Give me the one you'd tell a younger you about. 🙂
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The contract had shipping and insurance buried in my column, which I noticed and then rationalized away as "standard for a small gallery." It wasn't standard. It was them not wanting the risk, and me not wanting to look difficult before we'd even started. I paid for a cracked frame in transit a month later, and that's when I did the math on what I'd talked myself into. The paperwork is the one place you never get to be agreeable. It won't feel warm, but it's the only language they actually respect.
Oh, you hit it right there, honey. The paperwork is the one place you never get to be agreeable. I tell young quilters this all the time, because we're trained to be nice, we're trained to say yes and smooth things over. And then we sign things that don't favor us one bit.
When I first started selling, I had a woman take a whole wall hanging on consignment and when I went to pick it up months later, no money, no piece, and she said it'd "sold to a private collector" and she'd "put it toward expenses." I hadn't even asked for a written agreement. I thought trust was the thing. Turned out trust is what she was counting on.
I'm glad you caught it when you did, even if it cost you a frame. That's a cheap lesson next to some I've seen people pay. God bless you for telling it straight, 'cause somebody reading this is about to sign something they should walk away from.
Oh, you've said it better than I did, and I'll take that. The "don't look difficult before we've even started" bit, that's the whole game, isn't it. I was the same. Spent nine months avoiding a conversation that would've taken ten minutes if I'd just had it that first week.
And "put it toward expenses", sure that's a new one on me, I'd say she had a whole ledger of creative accounting going for herself there. The trust thing, aye, I had it too. I kept telling myself I wasn't a business, I was a maker, and there's a difference sure, but it doesn't pay the gas bill. The piece is the least of it though, the wall hanging itself, did you ever see it again, or did it take up residence in that collector's house for good?
Ah now, you've said it better than I did, and I'll take that. The "don't look difficult before we've even started" bit, that's the whole game, isn't it. I was the same. Spent nine months avoiding a conversation I could've had in week one, all because I didn't want to be the awkward artist. And look where agreeable got me. Ringing up chasing my own sales reports like a man asking for his wages back.
"I noticed it and rationalized it away", that's every story in this thread, sure. We've all got the same therapist. The cracked frame is a sore lesson but it's a cheap one compared to what else they'll do to you if they think you'll swallow it. The paperwork is the only place they can't charm you, and it's the last place I learned to be an arsehole. Should've been the first. 🙂