The sustainability issue for Artists Run Initiative

Shock!!

One day, in the middle of September, one artist, who is also the member of our ceramic shops, pop in and took off all her works from our ARI. She was not only taking her ceramic works, but also her daughter’s painting and jewelry. Another artist, who did her voluntary work on that day, and I was shocked. That artist told us she has told the director that she will take off her works in this week. It was still surprised that we did not get any information from the director before she pop in.

Obviously, the atmosphere there was weird and we could not do anything for that because she had decided what the best is for her. She did a lot of good ceramic works, but the prices of her works are a bit expensive to compare that with other artists. I think the reason to set out the high price of her artworks is that our ARI still took 20% commission for rent. She does not want to sell her works with a cheap price, but she cannot really sell them with the high prices in this area. Thus, she has to decide that she want to stay and decrease the price of her work a little bit or bring it to the commercial gallery with a even higher price. Apparently, she decided to go forward the latter and gave up all the contribution that she did for this organisation.

It was always hard for ARI to stay in sustainability. The situation of artists is variation: If they are emerging artists, they are not “popular” enough to survive from selling their works. Due to the fact that they can hardly sell their work, they might lose their initiative passion and then eventually leave ARI. If Artists are very “talent” at making a sale to support their living, it may eventually come to leave ARI as well. They would like to exhibit their works in big gallery to increase the price of their artworks.

Then the question mark comes out.

How could ARI be sustainable for their customers?

On that day just before the artist took off her works, I was still selling her works in the morning. I told my customer that she could buy one ginger-grinding plate to try first. After she tried and then she is happy for that, she can come back to get another one for her friend as a gift later on. If the customer never come back, it is fine. However, if customer come back to get another one, they might be disappointed about finding out the artist is no longer selling their works in our shop.

I understand the art world is always hard for all artists, so artist will definitely go with best option for their sale. In terms of moral issue, I am just wondering should those popular artists stay with the place which grew their career for appreciation. Or they could just walk away for their own benefit. In my opinion, you can go for your benefit, but never forgot to come back and help the organisation when you become a popular artist. If there is no environment for you to showcase your works, you will never become famous. If you can come back and help other emerging artist like you, the ARI would not be collapsed and it might actually grow more people to help ARI become more sustainable in the future.