From Pnina Granirer: I quoted Pnina in the January 2004 editorial about sales and, in particular, the commissions that galleries take. "Although I stand by everything you wrote, I would like to soften the hard edge which comes through," she wrote to me.

"The 25% commission I used to give to a gallery 15 years ago refers only to studio sales, otherwise the usual 40, and later, 50% was fine with me. I personally feel that ethical behaviour is of utmost importance when dealing with a gallery. I actually sympathize with gallery owners who find out that artists sell works from the studio for a lower price, thus undermining the credibility of the gallery. It surely is also not ethical towards the buyer who bought a painting from the gallery for a certain price, only to find out that a friend who went directly to the studio, got a better deal".

What worries me is what seems to be a harsher, "product" oriented direction, when the gallery tells the artist to use certain colours because they sell, or create paintings similar to works that sold well. Where are the dealers such as Kahnhweiler, Michel and Louise Leiris and Ambroise Vollard? These were the people who loved art, understood its importance and did their best to nurture it and help artists like Picasso, Matisse, Braque and others reach their potential. I know that they, too, had their harsh side and selling was important. But the art itself always came first.

"I can't say that my experiences were all bad, I also met dealers who were wonderful and supportive, and-paid promptly."

From Henry: "I greatly enjoyed reading your editorial in the January edition of the Opus Visual Arts Newsletter, as I did the previous editorial on pricing. As an amateur visual artist for the past 20 or so years (I have a regular day job) I have encountered problems with vendors who demanded their 'pound of flesh.' One gallery (in another Atlantic province) which sold quite a few of my pieces, took a 40% commission. After they informed me it was increasing to 45%, my reaction was, to my regret, to bypass them and sell directly to the customer. The result was the customer told the vendor who dropped me and refused to show my work anymore. I still deal with another vendor in that province with a 40% commission.

"I re-located to Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) in 2001 and the difficulty here is that there are almost no vendors. The Cape Breton Artists Association (of which I'm a member) has it's own gallery and charges a 10% commission. The local chapter of the "Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire" have an annual art show that charges a 20% commission, and a community based, not-for-profit gallery just opened with a 30% commission.

"I'm sure my experience is similar to many other artists across the country and it would be interesting to see more on the issue of "vendors/dealers".

From Louise Pagé: "I have taken the liberty of sending you a copy of the Western Living magazine article that featured the Eastside Culture Crawl and its history," Louise wrote to me.

This newsletter has often feted Pnina Granirer, whose letter opens this editorial, for "inventing" Artists in Our Midst for the artists of the westside of Vancouver. Artists in Our Midst was often a point of reference for me in this newsletter as an example of artists undertaking a creative, collective show/sale initiative on their own in order to meet their customers and to avoid vendor commissions. The Eastside Culture Crawl, a similar event for the artists of the Eastside of Vancouver, has often been supported in this newsletter but we have never celebrated its founders. Here is the definitive paragraph on the Crawl's history from the Western Living article of November 1998.

"Louise Pagé started the Culture Crawl from her Parker Street studio in 1995. Her paintings weren't being seen and she decided 'If I can't get my art out into the world, I'm going to bring the world to my art.' She slid notes under the doors of other artists in the building to see if anyone else was interested and twenty-five (artists) joined her. By the fall of '96, two other buildings in the neighbourhood came aboard and last fall (1997), three more. The event has featured a different roster of artists each time. It has also experienced several name changes. "The first one was Show and Sell," laughs Pagé. "Everybody puked on that one."

We are very happy to finally give credit where credit is due on this great event. In this newsletter, we like to celebrate achievement that benefits artists, and as the Eastside Culture Crawl grows, more and more artists are reaping the benefits of this initiative. Artists in Our Midst and the Crawl are excellent initiatives that address many of the issues of concern addressed in past editorials on sales. The Crawl and Artists both provide artists with a chance to meet their buyers, collect their names in order to advertise future shows and sales and to avoid commissions.

If you are practicing a truly unique sales strategy or have experiences or thoughts worthy of sharing in this newsletter, please do not hesitate to write to me.