FAQS
Guide to galleries and art
Welcome to our newcomer's guide to an art gallery.
(if you have been to galleries before most of this will be known to you, but we get a lot of newcomers through
who ask many similar questions as they begin to familiarise themselves with the art world.)
This guide is adapted from those provided at national galleries and is aimed at those people who have never been to an art gallery before. The info in plain font is mainly relating to public galleries but also has a bearing on all other types of galleries. The info in italics underlined relates to Port Art which is a commercial art facility including a gallery in Bay Street, Port Melbourne.
To help you get the most out of the experience, we have put together a series of questions and answers about art galleries and art that we hope will help make your art experience more enjoyable.(scroll down for answers)
1. What is art?
2. I've never been to a gallery before, what do you recommend?
3. Is art suitable for children?
4. If I'm new to art, how will I understand what's going on?
5. Is art for me?
6. Can I take photographs or use a video camera in a gallery?
7. Can I sketch?
8. Why do some galleries charge for entry to some exhibitions?
9. Why do galleries offer free admission to their permanent collections?
10. What's the difference between a commercial gallery, a rental gallery, an access gallery and a public gallery?
11. If I am invited to an opening, what should I wear? What ususally happens at an art opening?
12. How can I know what is good value if I want to purchase a piece of art?
1. What is art? Art ranges from the traditional to the contemporary. You will no doubt be familiar with paintings such as Monet's Water Lilies, or Van Gogh's Sunflowers or Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. And you'll probably have heard of more modern painters such as Andy Worhol and David Hockney. But art covers a huge range of specialities including photography; jewellery; sculpture (Henry Moore, Rodin's The Kiss; Michelangelo's David etc); and the newer mediums of media and digital art, and installation art . You may not even consider all of these art, but art, like everything else around us, is changing. No longer is art confined to dark rooms of old paintings by artists you've never heard of, art can be flowers growing in a garden, a heap of junk or an iron man standing rising up out of the pavement.
2. I've never been to a gallery before, what do you recommend? Each form of art means different things to different people. If you're conservative in taste you might prefer a more traditional public art gallery with portraits and landscapes by well-known painters from centuries ago, and classical sculptures. The less conservative may prefer a contemporary gallery where modern pictures sit side by side by installation art and even live art - with real people! Sometimes you don't even have to go to a gallery to see art. Keep your eyes open as you travel around and you'll see all kinds of public art, there to provoke, inspire, entertain or just for you to enjoy.
3. Is art suitable for children? Many public art galleries run introductory days to introduce younger visitors to their collections, and there are usually special fun events over the holidays, aimed at getting kids involved in art themselves. Many public galleries also provide a children's guide to the gallery to help children make the most out of their visit. Contact the public galleries for more information. Some private galleries do not make children especially welcome but others do. It is a difficult subject and not often broached but unless you ask you'll never know. Port Art Gallery has studios at the rear which offer classes and workshops for children and adults and family days are promoted amongst mailing list members so children can come to a new exhibition at a special time with their parents and engage with art from a very young age.Birthdays with an art workshop activity can be booked as well.
-
4.If I'm new to art, how will I understand what it means? You can normally buy a guidebook in a public gallery that explains what the artist was trying to achieve when creating a particular piece. With biographies of the artists and colour reproductions, these guides are an invaluable way of finding your way around the collection. There are normally flyers or mini-guides available for visiting / temporary exhibitions, and the shops stock a huge range of books if you want to find out more about a particular artist e.g. Van Gogh or type of art e.g. impressionism. In commercial galleries, the curator is often happy to answer your questions about the art or the artists. At Port Art Gallery , the curator is also artist in residence and will happliy answer any questions you may have about the artists represented at the gallery or about art in general.
-
5.Is art for me? You probably won't know unless you try it. Access to the majority of public collections is free, so you have nothing to lose by going along and having a look round. Entry to commercial and access galleries is also free and if you join the emailing list you can receive updates on the artists and gallery events, plus new works arriving.
-
6.Can I take photographs or use a video camera in a gallery? Photography or the use of video cameras is not usually permitted anywhere in a gallery. If you are interested in obtaining photographs or digital reproductions of specific paintings, most public galleries have shops which sell postcards, posters, slides and videos relating to the collections. If you wish to ask for permission to take photographs for professional purposes please contact the galleries in advance. Private galleries and access galleries usually cant allow this also for copyright reasons.
Most galleries have images of all art in stock that you can see online or show to another interested party.
7. Can I sketch? Sketching is usually allowed in public galleries using a small hand-held pad of paper and a pencil, graphite stick or felt-tipped pen at the discretion of security staff and subject to visitor numbers. Pastels, wax crayons, charcoal and fountain pens are not permitted. If you plan on sketching contact the gallery in advance for advice. Copyists who wish to use paint or other oil/water-based media should ask the gallery in advance.
8. Why do some galleries charge for entry to some exhibitions? In common with other museums and art galleries some do find it necessary to charge for major temporary exhibitions. Large temporary loan exhibitions cost an enormous amount to organise, including the cost of transporting paintings from abroad, research, publicity costs and producing supporting information. The small charge that applies on occasions goes some way to supporting these costs, whilst enabling exhibitions of major works to take place locally.
9. Why do galleries offer free admission to their permanent collections? Amongst the key aims of any gallery is to provide access to their collection for the education and enjoyment of the widest possible audience by maintaining free admission during the most convenient opening hours.
10. What's the difference between a commercial gallery, a rental gallery, an access gallery and a public gallery? Public Galleries are funded and administrated by governments. A commercial gallery is a business and the owner and/or curator has a stable of artists whom they promote. The artists pay a fee/percentage to the business which promotes their work and sometimes they also share the cost of printing, opening costs etc. They may have a range on their books from emerging through to well established artists. Access or rental galleries offer a rental space for exhibitions, sometimes a commission is charged depending on the extra services that the place may offer.
Both artists and curators may use these galleries for solo and/or group shows. Port Art is a commercial gallery with a stable of regular artists. It is also available at times as a rental gallery,where curators, groups and individual artists can propose to book an exhibition .
-
11.What to wear to an opening? Depending on what time of day and how strongly you like to meld into the crowd, an art opening usually brings out a range of attire from paint-splattered pants and work boots to high heels and after-five wear! The most important thing is that you enjoy your experience at whichever gallery you attend so choose from smart casual(daytime openings) through to evening wear if you are going for dinner after or basically whatever makes you feel relaxed. (most people don't want to compete with the art!!) Port Art gallery has removed the back to back exhibition program of the past to concentrate all curatorial energies on providing the ultimate online and onsite services to constantly facilitate the art browsing/buying experience for clients.There are still events occasionally and invitations are sent to elist members
-
12.What is good value? When buying a piece of art , firstly you need to decide what is good value for you.
The ‘value of art’ is a subject that can easily be debated to the nth degree, but the bottom line is that each viewer must accept a value themselves in order to buy, hence if a large number of viewers accept a certain value, it could be said in all fairness that this is ‘the value’ of the art work.(the trick is to research the artist and the gallery to ascertain for yourself if the value that the gallery has assigned the artist’s work is based on sustained achievement of this price range or is it what they would like the value to be? (Controversial as this suggestion may be, in reality there is no surefire way to be certain of the resale value of a live artist’s work unless they are regularly appearing on the secondary market.)
Port Art Gallery represents primarily early-mid career artists whose works mostly fit into the affordable range, not dissimilar to other retail items for sale.(you will find that the hourly rate for an early career fine artist who is selling regularly would not reach or exceed that of a tradesman.) Although some of our artists work has increased in value over the last 5 years, this is more to do with supply and demand . Most of our clients buy because they like it and they can afford it. The fact that the value may increase is a bonus, not a primary motivating factor in the original purchase.
Do you want the art as a decorative piece, or because it stirs up thoughts and feelings that are meaningful or is it really primarily an investment? Perhaps you are after a gift for someone else. After you have established your priorities, then you can spend some time trying to find an art work that meets your criteria and budget. (if you are after a gift, you could ask for a gift voucher because choosing for someone else is sometimes a little tricky unless they have already given you a wishlist!)
If you want your work of art to accrue value like other assets might, you need to study the market very carefully and seek out impartial advice( from people who have expertise in this area but have no vested interest in the outcome of your choice). You may also gain an insight by attending several art auctions. There are still no guarantees of a capital gain but you will learn more about making an educated choice. For long term enjoyment of your art, the prime motivating factor to buy should always be your enjoyment of the piece of art.
Your local library will no doubt have a large choice of reference books on old and modern masters and sometimes even books on appreciation of and understanding art.