{"id":43909,"date":"2009-06-13T15:40:10","date_gmt":"2009-06-13T21:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=43909"},"modified":"2019-07-30T12:14:08","modified_gmt":"2019-07-30T18:14:08","slug":"anyone-can-collect-art-starting-a-collection-the-sl-art-centers-njapf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/anyone-can-collect-art-starting-a-collection-the-sl-art-centers-njapf\/","title":{"rendered":"Anyone Can Collect Art: Starting a Collection & the SL Art Center’s NJAPF"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Together by Meri DeCaria, commissioned by Michelle Wimber, 10″ x 10″<\/p><\/div>\n

by\u00a0Michelle Wimber<\/em><\/p>\n

With times as rough as they are few may be considering starting an art collection. Even when times are good one might think collecting art is only for the rich and well-connected. But there is hope for the average person.<\/p>\n

I love art, but being a young single professional in my first \u201cgrown-up\u201d job, I thought art was more than I could afford and didn\u2019t feel like I fit into the long line of art patrons like the Catholic Church and the Medicis. So when I noticed on their website that the\u00a0Salt Lake Art Center<\/a>\u00a0was holding a series of fundraising art salons, called\u00a0Not Just Another Pretty Face<\/em>, at which people were introduced to a variety of artists\u2019 work and invited to commission a piece, I was nervous that I wasn\u2019t rich enough or important enough to do so. But I was intrigued by the idea of commissioning my own artwork, and I figured I\u2019d go for the refreshments if nothing else.<\/p>\n

So I attended one of the salons at the Art Center and was pleased to find that the artworks cost anywhere from only one hundred dollars on up to a few thousand. I definitely could afford that. And the roster of artists \u2013 over sixty artists, from up and coming students to well-established artists working in a variety of styles and mediums — was as attractive as the prices. The premise of the salon was to allow people to connect with artists in the community, not only to support the local art scene but also to be a part of creating a piece of art uniquely tailored to the patron. Though the salon I attended was at the Art Center, the majority of them were held in the intimate setting of a private home. The title of the program,\u00a0Not Just Another Pretty Face<\/em>, refers to the fact that while a patron might choose to commission a portrait, the work they commissioned could really be anything. The salon organizers tried to help the prospective patrons understand how the process would work, pointing out that the extent to which the patron could dictate the final product would depend on the artist they worked with. You could express certain desires for your work and some artists would incorporate those wishes more directly and some would require more artistic license. In other words, if you wanted a portrait of yourself and you hired an abstract artist you wouldn\u2019t be getting something representational so you needed to be aware of that and work with the artist that best fit your desires.<\/p>\n