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just got an email from a gallery i was excited about, they want me to ship insured, but when i asked what value they want me to declare, they said "whatever you think is appropriate." like that's not how insurance works?? i'm pretty sure i already know the answer here but i'd love to be wrong, is this normal? did i just dodge a bullet or am i being paranoid? for context my last gallery experience was the one that strung me along for six months and then ghosted, so my radar could be off.

Got approached by a gallery last year that wanted me to cover shipping there and back, plus insurance, before they'd even put my piece in a group show. No guarantee of sale. Just my cost to get it in the door. I told them no. They acted like I was the unreasonable one. I've heard worse since. What's the most ridiculous thing a gallery has asked you to swallow the cost on?

so I'm shipping a painting to a buyer, right, my first sale in like two months that's actually a decent chunk of change, and I've spent 45 minutes bubble-wrapping this thing like it's a hostage situation. I get to the UPS store and the guy behind the counter watches me put it on the scale and goes "you know, you really should be using a rigid mailer, not a box, the box is gonna shift around in transit." and I'm like oh okay thanks but it's already packed pretty tight, I've got foam corners, it's fine. and he just WOULD NOT let it go. he's like "I ship art all the time, you're gonna get a claim" and starts telling me about the proper way to do it while I'm standing there with my debit card out. like sir I did not ask. I did not come here for a consultation. I came here to pay you $18 to put a sticker on my box. I know he was probably trying to be helpful but I was this close to being like "okay and how many watercolor paintings have YOU shipped that were still wet this morning and you stayed up too late stressing about the corners", I didn't say it because I'm a coward but I wanted to. anyway it arrived fine. no claim. I'm gonna frame that delivery confirmation and put it on my wall.

Had someone message me about a commission back in February. Wanted a small piece, maybe 40x40cm, in mostly smalti. We went back and forth for two weeks, she wanted a discount, wanted free shipping, wanted me to throw in a smaller piece "as a gesture." I held my ground, said the price is the price, and eventually she went quiet. I figured she'd moved on. Three weeks later the full amount shows up in my bank account with a one-line email: "Same dimensions as discussed, please proceed." No apology, no explanation. Just the money. I made the piece, shipped it, never heard from her again. Not even a photo of it on a wall. I still don't know what to make of that interaction. Part of me thinks she tested me and I passed. Part of me thinks she just got tired of negotiating and decided to pay. Either way, the lesson I keep landing on is: if you're confident the work is worth what you're asking, the haggling either resolves itself or it doesn't, and either outcome is fine. You don't have to win every conversation. Just don't be the one who folds first.

So a gallery I was talking to, small, not huge, but seemed legit, wanted me to ship them a bunch of pieces on consignment, cover the shipping myself, no guarantee anything would sell. I asked about the split and they sent me their "artist agreement." 70/30 their way. For a solo show. And I'd be paying for the opening night drinks out of my 30%. I laughed and said no obviously. But I'm still thinking about it, what IS normal these days? Like what's an actual fair split for a small gallery that's actually doing the work? I've heard 50/50, I've heard 60/40 artist-favoring, I've heard some places do 70/30 the artist's way if the artist is bringing the collectors. What are y'all actually seeing out there? What's walking-around real vs what's them trying it?

I sold a piece last year through a gallery in Berlin. Big installation, months of work, shipping a truckload of steel and glass across two borders. The collector paid 18,000 euros. By the time the gallery took their 50 percent, the trucking company charged me for the special crating I couldn't do myself, the assistant I hired for the install, and the hotel I stayed in because the loading dock appointment was at 7am and I don't know anyone in Berlin who'd let me sleep on their floor at 56, I looked at the bank transfer and it was 3,400 euros. The framer who built the crate made more than I did. I know because I asked him what he charged. He told me. Nice guy. He earned it. I'm not telling this as a sob story. I agreed to the terms. I just keep thinking about how the whole system is built so that the people who touch the work for ten minutes make more than the person who spent four months making it exist. And we all nod and say that's how it works. But it's funny, no. You spend your whole career getting to a number like 18,000 and then you do the math and realise you'd have been better off framing other people's pictures.

I'll go first. Early in my career, a gallery in Vienna offered me a show. Nice space. Nice people. They just needed me to pay for shipping both ways, the opening catering, and their "promotional materials", which turned out to be a photocopied A5 flyer. I said yes because I was young and wanted the line on my CV. The show happened. Nothing sold. They asked me to cover the "storage fee" for the work that hadn't moved. I paid that too. What's the red flag you saw early, told yourself it was fine, and then it absolutely was not fine?

A gallery contacted me last year, really interested, came to the studio, said all the right things about the work. Then the email: "Would you consider working in acrylic instead of oil? It would ship easier and sell better." I said no. Maybe that was stupid. But oil is what I do, the way it moves, the drying time, the glazing, it's not a preference, it's the whole practice. I don't know how to say what I want to say in acrylic. Has a gallery ever asked you to change your materials or your style to fit them? Did you bend or did you walk? I'm curious where the line is for other people.

Got approached by a gallery last year that wanted me to cover the cost of shipping both ways, the opening catering, and a "marketing fee" before they'd hang my work. Told them I'd pass. Never sat right with me. What's the worst "you pay us" pitch you've gotten? I'm trying to figure out where the line is between normal and predatory.

I finally got my first gallery interest last year. Small space, local, nothing fancy. They were excited about my pastels, I was terrified and thrilled. Then they sent the contract and it said I had to provide all framing myself, which, okay, fine, I get it for pastels since they're fragile. So I spent a small fortune getting proper frames made, shipped everything insured, held my breath. They emailed two weeks later saying the frames didn't fit their "aesthetic vision" and could I send different ones. I couldn't. I'd spent everything on the first set. So the whole thing fell apart. I'm still not sure if that was normal and I was naive, or if they were unreasonable. What's the weirdest thing a gallery has asked you to do that made you go... wait, what?

First gallery I ever worked with sent me a list of shipping requirements longer than their contract. Specific box dimensions, exact void fill, white gloves for handling, photos of every step. I thought it was ridiculous until the first piece arrived cracked because I skimped on the packing. What's the most unreasonable delivery or install requirement a gallery ever gave you? And did they turn out to be right?

What's the most unprofessional thing a gallery has done to you, after they already took your work? I'll go first. A gallery in another city confirmed a solo show, dates locked, contract signed. Two months before, I emailed to check in about shipping logistics. Nothing. A week later, nothing. I finally got someone on the phone and they said, I swear, "oh, we decided to push you to next season." No call, no email, nothing. I found out because I called them. The show never happened. They just... stopped answering. I know we all have one. What's yours?

Went to this fine art fair over in Nashville back in the spring. Set up my booth, had my best quilts hung proper, the whole thing. Three days and I sold exactly one small wall hanging to a lady from Memphis who said it reminded her of her grandmother's kitchen. That was it. I was packing up feeling a little foolish for the booth fee when this woman from a gallery in London comes walking by. She'd been watching me from across the room for two days she said. Didn't want to bother me while I was working. She asked about my piecing technique and I showed her the back of a quilt where you can see all the stitching and she just stood there quiet for a long time. Now I'm getting ready to ship six pieces to England next month. First time my work crosses the ocean. The Lord moves in ways that don't make sense to us in the moment. That dry fair taught me something about who's really watching. It ain't the people handing you cash right then. Sometimes it's the one standing back taking notes while you're just doing your work.

I've been using Sennelier oil sticks for years. Usually reliable, a bit soft in warm weather but nothing you can't work around. The one I bought last week, a raw umber, came out of the tube with the consistency of toothpaste that's been left uncapped all night. Crumbly, dry, almost no oil feel at all. I had to break it up and mix it with stand oil just to get it to stick to the knife. I emailed the supplier. They said it's a known issue with a batch from the summer. No recall, but they'd replace it if I sent photos. Which I did, but I'm stuck on the fact that they knew and still shipped it. That's three tubes of paint I've had problems with this year across different brands and I'm starting to wonder if the supply chain issues everyone talked about in 2022 are still showing up now as rushed batches and bad checks. Anyway. The raw umber is fine now after the intervention. But I shouldn't have to doctor a Sennelier stick like it's cheap student grade. Anybody else hit a dud batch lately or is it just me.

Had a guy walk through the studio two years ago, spent 45 minutes looking at a welded steel piece, said he didn't like it and left. Eight months later he emails me asking if it's still available. I tell him it is. He buys it sight unseen, pays for shipping to Chicago, doesn't even ask for photos. I asked him later what changed. He said he kept thinking about it. Couldn't get it out of his head. That stuck with me more than any compliment ever did. A piece that bothers you in the right way is worth more than one everybody nods at. I don't think about likes anymore. I think about whether the thing sits in someone's mind like a splinter.

A decorator from Atlanta came through here a few months back, bought a big improvisational piece I'd done, maybe 72 by 90, all in these warm ochres and deep blues, took me the better part of a month on and off between everything else. I charged her $1,200. Felt fair at the time. She didn't haggle, wrote the check, had me ship it. My granddaughter showed me the decorator's website last week. That same quilt's listed at $7,200 in a client's home. "Custom artisan textile" or some such. Now I'm not mad about the free market, I understand how that world works. But I look at what I charged her and I think about my grandmother who would've gotten maybe fifty dollars for a quilt she put her whole self into, if anybody bought it at all. And I think about how I'm still pricing myself like I'm selling at the church bazaar. Somebody out there thinks this work is worth seven thousand dollars. Maybe I ought to start believing them.

I had a gallery once tell me my work was too heavy -- literally, too heavy. Wanted me to switch materials so shipping would be cheaper. I walked. Maybe that was stupid, but I wasn't going to make worse work so they could save on freight. What's the worst thing a gallery asked you to change about what you make? And did you do it?

Had a gallery reach out awhile back, wanted to show my quilts, big talk about how honored I'd be. Then the contract came and it was all "exposure" and them taking 60% and me covering shipping both ways. I told 'em my grandmother didn't teach me to sew so I could work for free. These days I ask straight out what the split is before I even look at slides. Saves everybody time. What's the worst offer a gallery ever thought was generous? I'll wait.

My daughter set me up on Instagram a while back. Fine. I post work photos, some process stuff. It's whatever. But last winter I decided I needed a proper website. Portfolio, about page, contact form, the whole thing. Spent 6 months on it. Every angle photographed right, every weld visible, the stone properly lit. Copy I rewrote 4 times. Pages about commission process, shipping, all of it. Launched it in March. Check the analytics last week. 47 visitors. Total. In 8 months. Pretty sure 15 of those were me. The Instagram post of me dropping a 200 pound chunk of limestone on my boot? 12,000 views. I don't know what the lesson is exactly. Maybe the thing you work hardest on isn't the thing that reaches people. Or maybe the website is for the 3 people who actually want to commission something and the rest just want to see something fall on my foot. Either way I should have just spent those 6 months in the studio.

opened a fresh tube of liquitex heavy body cadmium red this morning and the first squeeze was just... clear medium. had to massage it for a full minute before any pigment came out and even then it's grainy. never had this with them before. is this just a bad batch or has something changed over there? i know they got bought by that parent company a while back. genuinely pissed because this is the red i mix everything into and i'm supposed to be shipping these this week.