The walls in our house are covered with original art work and we like it. I can also say that almost every piece has been created by someone we know and love.
We have been fortunate that this house is big enough with loads of wall space and we are able to display them all.
Here’s the dilemma I’m wrestling with — the next house we get will not be this big. It will not have the wall space and I know we will have to cull our “collection.â€
This brings me to the huge challenge of what to do with the art we love, that will probably not make the cut.
Since all our art work was either given to us by the artist or we bought it from the artist, this is just awkward for me.
Say, we have an original Joe Blow painting. FYI, Joe Blow is a fake name. I’m using as I don’t have the courage to use the real name of the artist whose work we love but need to do something with as we cannot take it with us. Also, I think putting things in storage is just silly.
Okay, so we have a Joe Blow painting. Should we call Joe Blow and risk offending or hurting him and give back the painting? Perhaps he can sell it to someone else. Should we sell it to someone else? At what price? Should we gift it as a prize in a contest? The postage could set us back a bit, plus art work is personal and not everyone loves the same stuff we do.
If you have any suggestions about culling art work – I’m all ears. My great fear is offending a loved and talented friend whose work we really love to have in our home, but …. like I said… We won’t have this many walls where ever we go next.
I know, I know…. such problems, but what to do? What to do?
I would not worry one moment about offending the artist. The artist who gifts or sells their work lets it go. The recipient purchases or receives it. You, the recipient, are always free to do what you want with it.
Selling the work, donating pieces, re-gifting; all are choices. Have at it, Parkers!
I agree with Jenny- that artwork belongs to you now! Once an artist sets their work loose into the world, they give up their rights to it and it’s a wonderful feeling to know that the work takes on a new life with it’s new owner. Don’t feel bad about selling, donating, or scrapping it.
In terms of choosing what to save, I would suggest going through your pieces and putting them into piles based on why you love them. For example- “Received as a gift from friends/family”, “Has a happy memory associated with it”, “Bought it on a trip”, even “I just happen to like it!” and try to make sure you keep some from every category. Of course, the smaller the piece, the more you can keep!
For what it’s worth, I’m a big fan of putting up LOTS of stuff, even in places like my laundry room, bathrooms, and closet, so you might end up finding you have more wall space to work with than you think.
Thank you Kayleen and Jenny. This really does help. And oh dear Kayleen, our walls are truly covered! 🙂
I would pack it all up and take it (if you do like it) and wait and see what the next space wants. Also you could take a cue from my mom (shocking!) and not part with it but stack things against the wall somewhere it won’t get hurt and rotate what’s in front. Or just do that until the new house tells you what to hang.
Many grains of salt on this – we had bare walls and umpteen stored artworks here for at least 5 and maybe 10 years after we moved in.