Canadian Art Prints is looking for new artists! In fact, according to Teesa Martin, Product Development Assistant with the international art publishing house, she and her colleagues are always happy to review portfolios. A recent visit to their offices and warehouse in Richmond made the point clearly. As we walked up to the front door, we encountered a woman who was unloading several canvases from the back of her car. Later in the boardroom, we saw her paintings leaning next to those of two other artists, all of them waiting to be screened by the Art Selection Committee. However, as Teesa points out, most of the time, the committee prefers to work with slides, transparencies, photos, or colour copies of the original images.

The offices of Canadian Art Prints are decorated with framed reproductions of their gallery selection. Walking through the work stations reinforced for us the wide range of artists that they represent. We saw delicate florals, bold abstracts, sepia-toned photographs and Tuscan landscapes in riotous colours. The pages of their catalogue are reflected on their walls, with prints arranged by colours, styles, or themes. Whenever we stopped to look more closely, Teesa was quick to tell us something about the artist whose work we were examining. Her interest in their biographies as well as their images underlined in a very real way what the company means when they say, "We don't just publish images? we publish artists!"

Although they were spacious, the offices were dwarfed by the warehouse, which was huge. Corridor after corridor of high shelves stretched the length of the building and on them were stacked boxes of prints, and sheaves of paper, all coded for easy access and distribution. Canadian Art Prints currently represent over two hundred artists, and most of them have a series of images featured in the catalogue. With initial print runs between 1500 and 3000 individual items, that adds up to a lot of paper being stored in one place.

We moved up and down the aisles, Teesa pulling out prints at random to let us have a closer look. As we walked we learned that the company prefers to keep the size of reproductions as close as possible to the original dimensions of the work. They use stock paper and a four-colour separation lithograph printing process, which provides faithful colour reproduction while keeping costs down. Although they have a small line of framed prints, the bulk of their collection is sold unframed.

Throughout our visit, Teesa talked about the artists that she represents. Most of them develop long-term relationships with Canadian Art Prints, working with them over years. About fifty percent rely on royalties from sales as a primary income source. In general, royalties are paid quarterly and represent about 10% of wholesale sales. Artists keep the original images and retain the copyright on all their work. Canadian Art Prints looks after distribution, sales and promotion. They advertise monthly in a variety of trade publications, not only in Canada and the US, but also in Europe. They attend every major trade show world-wide, and promote their artists on their website and in monthly mailings to their customers. As of January next year their catalogue will be updated on a quarterly basis and a new catalogue issued every three years.

Throughout our visit Teesa reiterated that Canadian Art Prints is always interested in receiving submissions. She was so encouraging that David's son, Justin, who was with me on the visit, was tempted to send some of his own photographs to the selection committee. She explained that after an initial review by the committee, negotiations with the artist may go on for several months. She emphasized that their decision to accept or reject artwork is based not only on artistic merit but also, more importantly, on what the company sees the marketplace looking for based on their active trends research and sales history. Their website www.canadianartprints.com includes information on trends which is updated regularly and provides guidelines regarding the colours, genres, and formats that they are currently most interested in.

As we were leaving the building at the end of our tour, we met another artist coming in. The friendly exchange that took place between him and the staff was an indication of the positive relationships which the company has with their artists, and which it prides itself on. What began forty years ago as an upstart publishing house selling artists' prints has grown to a company with an established reputation and marketplace which spans the globe. It is gratifying to note that despite their size, Canadian Art Prints seems to hold the interests of their individual artists at heart.

Aubin van Berckel
aubin@opusframing.com