As the Byting Willows Exhibit will open its doors for one more evening on April 17th, I am wandering through 1Spot Gallery, admiring all these extraordinary pieces that have been created. Some of which have already found a new home in a collection. But what about others that are still waiting to be appreciated – true masterpieces some of them worthy to be in museums collections.

So let’s assume, you have fallen in love with one of the pieces visiting the Byting Willows exhibit and am still thinking about it…….what could possibly hold you back from taking it home and marveling at it every day?

As an art collector myself I know that there are many factors involved when I make the decision to purchase a piece of art:  How strong is my emotional attachment to the piece? Do I have space to display it? Does it fit into my collection? Do I have the budget? to name just a few.

Easy enough questions to answer don’t you think? But usually there is at least one of these questions that I have to answer with “no”. And yet that doesn’t discourage me to still see if I can make it work and turn the “no” into a “yes”.

Except if the emotional attachment is not strong enough – I never talk myself into buying something that I am not getting attached to.

If I don’t have the space then how about rotating some of my older pieces – tastes change slightly overtime and it might be time to “retire” one or the other pieces for a while in storage. If you collect, you know exactly what I am talking about – you most likely have a storage somewhere filled with pieces not on display.

If it doesn’t fit into your collection because you have never collected that medium before, then let it spark a new interest.

If budget is your concern, then you could try to do what I do.

I will ask the gallery staff if they would work with me and if there is room for negotiations. Usually galleries do have some wriggle room, for instance omitting taxes and shipping costs or they might even contact the artist for you to see if he or she is willing to work with you.

A lot of the artists that I collect are very interested that their pieces end up with collectors that don’t necessarily buy them as investment opportunity but that are attached to the artwork which they truly appreciate and thus become repeat collectors overtime.

The other way that galleries can work with you are layaway policies. This is very common these days.

I fell in love with one of the pieces the moment I unpacked it but unfortunately the price was way out of my budget. Yet every time I was in the gallery I could not take my eyes off it. One of my three favorite designs out of all the 1550 designs,the medium, everything was so appealing. I called the artist and told him that I absolutely loved his piece but couldn’t afford it and if he would be willing to make me a smaller one for less money. He pondered that for a while and then got back to me. He said that the pieces in this exhibit were very special and should not be replicated. But he also said that sometimes a piece should be with the right person and wanted me to have this particular piece of art for what I could afford to pay, because he felt I was the right person to own it! I was flabbergasted. I didn’t know how to thank him enough and got so emotional that I almost started crying. How generous!

Now I can’t wait for the exhibit to close and bring it back home…..

So what is holding you back from approaching the staff at 1Spot Gallery and see if you can take your favorite piece from the Byting Willows exhibit home?

The one you can’t live without?

See you on April 17th from 6-10pm at 1Spot Gallery in Phoenix! And if you can’t make it there is always the website: 1spotgallery.com