gallery attitudes

[Leslie Ihde]

Part 1
I have a question about a gallery. I initially spoke to the owner, a nice woman, made an appt, she looked at my stuff and then agreed to sell some on consignment basis from the gallery. I liked her attitude toward art, and her professional manner. So far so good. (I didn't want to do consignement, but this is my first gallery, so I thought I would just be very cooperative.)

Part 2.
The gallery has been turned over to another person, which I was told was to happen, and she hasn't been so nice. I went in to see her, and she was brisk, non conversational and hadn't put any of my pieces on display yet. (It had been about 2 weeks since I dropped the pieces off- 9 pieces.) Her attitude made me uncomfortable-I tried to engage her in friendly conversation, but she was non communicative. She didn't even look at the two large pieces I had brought (as agreed with the first woman) and directed me to put them on the counter.

My question: I will be near the gallery again (one week after part 2). I thought I would stop by, try to be friendly again and see if my work was on display. If not, I thought of taking everything. Am I being silly? I was so happy to be accepted into the gallery- it is nice in a nice area.

Any advice gratefully received.

Leslie

[Amy Schleif-Mohr]

Is there a contract?

If there is there should be a section saying how much notice you have to give before removing work.

If not, well, that's not a good thing. IMO

Amy

[Barbara Muth]

Maybe after seeing if the pieces aren't up, make an appointment to talk with the new owner. Could be that she was overwhelmed with all that taking over the gallery entailed. Could be that she doesn't "understand " your work and will feel more comfortable with it once she has had a chance to. Could be that she just doesn't like it/see it fitting in. In which case, better to have a conversation with her and then move on.

barbara

[Kitty]

good business relationships are friendly relationships. you're not being silly. in my experience, the stores that you have good relationships with are the ones which sell the most, too.

plus, every once in awhile something bad happens, and it's the people whom you have a good history with who opt for the fair resolution of the problem. i'm talking about broken merchandise, lost invoices, lost shipments, problems where there is money at stake and people remember the situation differently. happy friendly people like to be fair.

i've got customers who are chatty and chummy, and others who are quite impersonal, but both types are equally courteous, pay on time, and behave in a businesslike manner. if i sense that somebody doesn't like me, or there's some kind of dialog problem, i generally hedge away and look elsewhere for a new account. life is short. live happily. my two cents. kitty.

[DonMcClennen]

Leslie......If they were my pieces I would remove them as soon as possible. They will not sell sitting in storage. You could have these pieces elsewhere where you are appreciated and feel more comfortable.
Don

[Dani]

[quote="Leslie Ihde"]
Part 2.
The gallery has been turned over to another person, which I was told was to happen, and she hasn't been so nice.

What does this mean? New owner? Or manager for the owner with whom you dealt? There would be different ways to handle the situation in either case.....

[Leslie Ihde]

Re Dani's question. The new woman is the daughter of the original owner. I don't know if she now owns or just manages the gallery, but she has none of the grace of the mother. The mother loved my work (of course, that makes me tend to like her) but more than that, she had an appreciative and loving attitude toward all the pieces in her gallery, and clearly enjoyed art. The daughter seems like more of a business woman who I wasn't sure liked art at all, or at least mine. Perhaps she was just touchy in trying to fill her obviously very sucessful mother's foot steps. On Thursday, I will stop by and try and talk to her. I think if I see my work displayed, I will feel more comfortableif not, I will just have to ask her if she is uncomfortable with my work for any reason and move on.
Leslie

[Dani]

I think your approach is a good one.... if the work isn't on display, you have a legitimate concern and you could tactfully approach the issue by saying something like, "your mother was crazy about my work, but I realize not everyone has the same taste. If you don't care for it, I'll be glad to take it away. I have some other galleries that would like to exhibit the work." She might appreciate being let off the hook... and, who knows, there could be tons of "stuff" going on there behind the scenes between mother and daughter. You don't want to know about it, right? You just want to sell your work someplace great. And this situation just changed and it's time to find someplace better. Or not. Maybe the new owner/manager will feel better on Thursday. You'll keep us posted? We're rooting for you!

[Leslie Ihde]

I wanted to update those who responded to my inquiry. I stopped by the gallery again today, and although my pieces were not yet on display, the woman was nicer, and said to feel free to stop by next week. She said she was rearranging things and planned to set up an area with just my pieces rather than just put them out anywhere throught out the store. She said there was no problem with my art work. I felt better, and if they are indeed on display next week, I will feel even better. In anycase, I tried to connect a bit more with her and it went better.
Leslie
(potter gone glass happy)

[Barbara Muth]

Yeah! That's good news Leslie. Sounds like you first caught her on a bad day, and it's great that she wants to showcase you!

Good fortune on you!
Barbara

[Kitty]

thanks for the update leslie ... i was hoping you'd report back. looks like this is going to work out for you after all! good news! kitty.

[bodger]

Leslie,
No matter how cordial a gallery owner is you should have a written agreement acknowledging that the objects are yours and DETAILING the terms of the consignment. Who is responsible for loss or damage should be considered.

Way too many artist/gallery horror stories even with friendly peopel. :cry:

Stop by as often as you can just to see if work displayed and if selling. Don't worry too much if they don't have time or interest in chatting.

Carl
(a glass newbe, old business guy)

[Leslie Ihde]

Carl and others,
Most recently I stopped by and my work was indeed on display. I do have a written agreement, although the issue of damage is not addressed. As time goes on, I will bring it up, but I need a break from the for me rather emotional process of getting into my first gallery. Dumb, I know, and I will try to become more professional, but between balencing my own lack of confidence and feeling awkard, this is fine for now. Once my pieces start selling, I will feel even better, and plan to continue to develop gallery ties. I have another one where I am in the meet the owner phase after having met and shown my work to the manager.
Thanks for all help..
Leslie

[Barbara Muth]

Leslie, I am so pleased for you that you took this step. Your work is beautiful! Looking forward to seeing sosme images...

Barbara

[bodger]

Leslie,
Not Dumb at all. Sounds like you are on top of things.
Congrats on taking the risk to approach a gallery
AND
enjoy the fact that YOUR work was accepted.
Carl

[Kitty]

doesnt sound dumb to me at all. it most certainly is a challenge to show work and try to get accepted, and i agree that stepping back for awhile and taking a little breather is good. happy sales!

[JRJ]

I have placed some of my pieces on consignment with someone I know quite well. I did not think of have a contract, but after reading these postings, I realize that was foolish. Can someone give me some guidence about finding a "boiler plate" contract to look at and use. Or are there other suggestions?
Thanks