Where and how to buy art

[boiler717]

I need some artwork, and I’m unsure of how to buy. I’ve only ever purchased 2 pieces from a gallery; they were both ones I saw and just loved / had to have. Otherwise it’s all been mass-produced or made by us. Where and how do you buy art? I know I have some ideas of colors / types I would like but unsure of how to find, especially now.

[lust2hart]

Several of our friends are artists, and most of our artwork has come from them over the years. We've also bought a couple of bigger pieces from local farmers markets.

You could poke around Facebook for a local artists group; maybe you can commission something from someone local.

Of course etsy is another option.

[InBetweenDays]

Our art museum has a gallery where they profile local artists. You can either rent or buy through them - the rental program is nice because you can see how the piece looks in your house, and if you but the piece you can credit the rental price towards the purchase. We have three pieces we've found this way. Two we purchased through the gallery, and one we found the artist through the gallery but they didn't have a piece that we loved so we worked directly with him.

[InBetweenDays]

May 27, 2020 14:18:07 GMT -5 lust2hart said:

Several of our friends are artists, and most of our artwork has come from them over the years. We've also bought a couple of bigger pieces from local farmers markets.

You could poke around Facebook for a local artists group; maybe you can commission something from someone local.

Of course etsy is another option.

This is what we did with our last piece. We found the artist through our art museum but none of the existing pieces fit our space or were exactly what we were looking for. We worked with the artist and commissioned a piece through him. It was such a great process and we LOVE the piece.

[maddiepaddy]

In non-COVID times we mainly buy art either when we’re traveling or at art shows/fairs.

My husband also keeps an eye on eBay for specific artists that he likes.

[winecat]

Were they local galleries you purchased from? If they were, I'd contact them and see if they have any virtual tours you can take to see what they have for sale.

[rooster222]

I found an artist on Instagram that I really like and I've bought 6 pieces from her. Not sure what style you are looking for but her name is Stephanie Ryan and she does watercolor florals. Her art is very affordable and she's also a very sweet person.

[mrsukyankee]

A lot of our art has been through our travels or through Etsy. We're now finding some local artists and really like it so we'll be getting a few pieces that way too.

[aprilsails]

I go on local gallery websites every few months and scroll through their new artists and featured works pages. I don’t live close to the galleries so I can’t just pop in whenever I want. If I see something I like I may make a purposeful trip. If I just like the artist, I will follow them on Instagram to get updates and to see new work.

I follow a few artists I like on Facebook who sell cheaper prints on Etsy. I often buy those.

We also go into galleries when we travel and sometimes buy pieces.

[TBM]

May 27, 2020 16:07:51 GMT -5 maddiepaddy said:

In non-COVID times we mainly buy art either when we’re traveling or at art shows/fairs.

This.

We have found a few pieces at local stores that have a variety of local art and unusual decor ( mass produced and unique artisan crafted).

We have a few things that we found online. I think the last piece we bought was a limited edition canvas print that DH saw on FB.

Honestly, it doesn't matter as much to us where we find it as much as finding things that really speak to us ...for whatever reason.

I always say that art is not decor and should be bought because it means something to you, not to match something in your room, which I believe, but I have found that in over 40 years of collecting, I do have very strong color preferences that seem to naturally go with each other. There are some outliers, but I was surprised to see how many have similar colors, even with different styles represented.

The weird thing is that they are not colors that I have used much (at all?) in decor/paint in the past, but were the colors that I chose for this house after I finally saw this house in person when we moved here. It was all done before our belongings arrived a month or so later. When I started unpacking the art and trying to figure out a layout for the gallery wall was when I had the realization that I had inadvertantly made things coordinated.

[sandandsea]

I have a couple of inexpensive paintings from vendors while on vacations but I’m not that particular with art and just buy stuff I like from stores. We have a cool wood carving piece from Z Gallerie and some modern metal piece from Amazon that I really like. Also a larger size picture from a children’s book that we got on art.com.