"Am I the only Artist who desperately desires to be locked in a room for three months, being fed through a slot under the door by some beneficent patron and let out for air only when a roomful of Fine Art has been produced... then allowed to roam free for weeks enjoying sun and to return to find the room mysteriously emptied with a cheque neatly tacked to the blank wall?"

I wonder how many artists TB's letter represents? In her introduction, she praises this newsletter for all its practical advice including the marketing articles that I and Alice Rich have written, but she goes on to say that she does not have the personality required for the schmoozing and self-promotion that is such an important part of effective selling. So what can she do, is the question.

The first option would be to muster all her strength and in spite of her disinclinations, to find a gallery that will represent her. In TB's case, I suspect that this is not an option, and the likelihood of success for this plan changes from town to town. Whereas this might be a realistic option in Vancouver or Victoria, it might be a problem in Vernon or Williams Lake. There is no single solution to TB's problem that works in every town.

Another solution is your local Arts Council. The Arts Council network in BC is provincially funded on a per capita basis to support the "amateur" or recreational arts, and many of BC's Arts Councils have a stronger role in supporting the visual arts than the performing arts. Arts Councils often operate galleries or create annual or biannual exhibitions in local venues. They act as organizers and marketers for local artists. So one solution is to get involved with your local Arts Council to either take advantage of programs that already exist or to work with them and other local artists to organize a show/sale that involves you and your work. In the absence of such a coordinating agency, there exists the option to find other artists in one's area and do collectively what is so hard to do individually.

I once organized some slide nights for artists. These were evening gatherings of about ten artists who assembled at one of the artist's homes along with a slide projector and a few bottles of wine. One by one, each artist showed a limited number of slides and spoke about their work. After each artist spoke briefly, the other artists in the room offered their own positive insights about what they saw in the work or why they liked it. This gave each artist valuable material for their own promotion, but the point of mentioning these evenings is to say that often, the creating artists were less effective at "selling themselves" than they were at enthusing over the work of other artists.

Another point of mentioning the slide nights is to explain a valuable consideration for artists organizing their own group show and sale, and that is this: work to sell your fellow artists work as well as your own. Organizing your own show and sale in your community builds valuable relationships with your fellow artists, and that can be as meaningful as sales. Your group can become a self-help group and motivation builder and tremendous source of inspiration.

The bottom line: the fantasy of working exclusively on painting and then going out to smell the flowers, returning to find all works sold is just that, a fantasy. Sales come from work, otherwise TB should content herself with her painting and forget about sales, taking joy in the act of creating alone. If sales are required to finance the buying of supplies, or as an ego boost, then work is required.

LW has written to ask a question that she describes as "important for all artists who donate works to charities." This is a practical question I did not deal with the last time I wrote about charity auctions. In my last article I dealt extensively with the morality of auctions, aided and abetted by Inga Pulmann who was suffering from "extreme auction fatigue." To reference this article, please visit Artists and Auctions.

Inga and I looked at how much art was being sold in charity auctions in Vancouver, how many works were being sold at fair value, and what percentage of sales was being returned to artists.

"Has the deduction ruling with Revenue Canada changed?" writes LW. "I have volunteered to help work on an auction and the group I am helping has been told that the artist's donations can't be used for tax deductions." She writes fearing that if artists are not offered tax receipts, there will be no donations.

The good news, LW, is that the donation of artwork qualifies the artist for receiving a tax receipt. However, the agency issuing the tax receipt must have a federal charitable number, be compliant with the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) and have confidence in the valuation of the work which is outlined on the receipt.

Where I work (at a non-profit institution), when we receive a donation of artwork, the donor must pay for an independent appraisal of the work, by an appraiser our auditors recognize as professionally qualified. In some cases, I believe a CCRA registered charity would be legally able to offer a receipt to an artist for a donation of an artwork without an appraisal if the artist were able to show three recent sales of his or her work that reflected in size or pricing rationale the value ascribed to the donated piece. The charity issuing a receipt is legally obliged to prove that the value of all issued receipts reflects true market value.

And finally, a question from the dear_emily Listserv for visual artists and designers came from KO. She wrote, "I'd much rather ask a different question (mostly because I don't want to hear the answer), and I have been putting it off, but here goes: For some time now I have been having strangely stubborn and increasingly troubling health problems. As much as I do not want to believe it, I am beginning to suspect that they may have something to do with the oil paints I work with. I am usually very conscientious about studio safety I should add. Can anyone who has had to quit painting in oil give me some ideas on what that kind of allergy generally looks like?"

KO got lots of answers on the Listserv and many good ones that included the suggestion that she see her doctor. Many artists suggested that it was likely not the paint that was bothering her, but the solvents and thinners that she was using. My point in mentioning this subject, is not to get into a discussion about toxicity, but to mention the value of linking with others in your community. KO had seen her doctor and found her/him to be lacking in knowledge about the impact some art materials can have on one's health - hence her question to the Listserv. The discussion on the Listserv provoked by KO, was one of the more interesting ones on the service that I have seen since inaugurating it, and one of the best proofs of the value of Listservs in general, and artist-to-artist support systems. No doctor can be completely knowledgeable on the side effects of every profession, so self-help community systems like Listservs and professional organizations are invaluable. For more information on the dear_Emily Listserv, write to ctyrell@eciad.ca