HGA painter Lolette Guthrie Finds Inspiration at Ocracoke

Located at the southernmost tip of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, surrounded by water and filled with warmth, the tiny island of Ocracoke, NC is a special place. It is bounded on one side by the Pamlico Sound with its beautiful and vitally important marshes and on the other, the Atlantic Ocean, 13 miles of pristine beaches and all the magic of the ever-changing sea. It is a place to heal, to relax and to find one’s center. Paradoxically, it is also where I go to get re-energized, where I feel most alive and where I find inspiration or my work.

To quote Rachel Carson, “To stand at the edge of the sea, to sense the ebb and flow of the tides, to feel the breath of a mist moving over a great salt marsh, to watch the flight of the shore birds that have swept up and down the surf lines of the continents for thousands of years, to see the running of the old eels and the young shad to the sea, is to have knowledge of things that are as nearly eternal as any earthly life can be.”

Art: What's in a Price?

How do artists price their work? Different artists use different formulas that take into account the cost of raw materials, a percentage of the cost of tools and equipment or framing, and an hourly wage. But it’s often difficult for the art consumer to understand how artists arrive at the prices on their work.

When starting out, artists look at other artists working in the same media and with work in similar venues (galleries, shows, shops). By factoring in such variables as how long the artist has been working, reputation, and quality of work, he or she can set a base price relative to the size of the work and then add in the cost of framing (in the case of two-dimensional work). Many artists increase the price of their work by a set percentage each year.

Artists such as jewelers may use a formula based more on materials cost plus an hourly wage for the time needed to create the work. Raw materials, especially the price of precious metals, can fluctuate wildly, and pieces of similar size may differ in complexity and the time needed to create and fabricate them.

Artists strive to keep their pricing consistent from venue to venue. This helps the work retain its value for both the artist and the collector.

The art buyer sometimes assumes that if he or she purchases directly from an artist, the price should be lower than that of work in a gallery, where the artist may pay as much as a 50 percent commission. What the buyer doesn’t understand is that the artist is doing all the things that he or she would pay the gallery to do via the commission: marketing, display, transportation, sales, bookkeeping, and the like.

Maintaining consistency in pricing is also the main reason artists are reluctant to discount sales. Artists survive and thrive by cultivating collectors and maintaining relationships. A collector would be displeased to find that someone else purchased a similar work for a discounted price.

Quality work will retain its value over time. If you’re concerned about value, look at prices that are consistent and in line with similar work in the area. Above all, purchase work because you like it. That value will never change.