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Art Collector:  Lessons in Art History and Personal Finance

1/25/2017

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Willem DeKooning,  "Interchange"  1955
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Thomas Eakins, "The Gross Clinic"  1875
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Paul Gauguin  "When will you marry"  1892
Economics and Art History 
The recent influx of Economics and Personal Finance in public education has inspired me to invent an on-going lesson that teaches both Art History and the important concepts of economics. 

The big idea in this lesson is that students engage in live auctions to collect famous artwork, earn equity, and maintain a healthy bank account. 

​How It Works

Once a month throughout the school year, we will engage in a live fantasy art auction.  All students begin the year with a budget of 100 million dollars. As images are projected on the board, I will act as the auctioneer, identifying the work and explaining its significance in the history of art. After the work is identified, I will set the beginning bid price that is relative to the work's actual value in real life. The students then have the opportunity to bid on the work, keeping their available funds in mind.   At the end of each auction, I calculate how much they spent and how much equity they earned or lost based on the work's actual value. 

Required Research

Once a student purchases a work of art, he or she is responsible for creating a Google presentation that details the collection.  This presentation must include 3 slides per work of art owned. Below are the directions per slide that all art owners must complete in the time between auctions (about 1 month).  This Google presentation is a growing document that will stay with the student throughout his or her time in the DRHSART program. 

Slide One:  This is the title slide that includes a high resolution image of the work, the artist's name, the title of the work, the date it was created, the art historical movement with which it is associated, and the nationality of the artist. Additionally, you must include the auction code in which it was bought.  See the example below

example: 2017-2   This would be the code for a work of art purchased at the 2nd auction of 2017. 

Slide Two:  This is the research slide that includes a small image of the work, the identifying information from the first slide, as well as research information that is specific to the work of art.  Provide the context of the work in art history and stories associated with its creation or sale.  This research cannot be plagiarized, and should be written in the student's own words.


Slide Three:  This is the personal response slide that includes a small image of the work, the identifying information from the first slide, as well as a personal perspective of the work. Discuss why you collected it, your opinion of the work, and any interpretations you have of it. 

Template for Collection Presentation



How Do Collectors Make Money?
Collectors are not able to purchase a work of art and then immediately sell it at the next auction.  A work of art must be kept for at least one auction beyond the one in which it was purchased. The collector can put the work back up for bidding once the work has been owned for at least one auction period.  After the work is re-sold, the collector will lose the equity of the work, and the final sale price will be added to the collector's available funds. 

Research Is Highly Encouraged
One week prior to each auction, the students are informed about the names of the artists whose works will appear in the next auction.  Diligent students will do the research to find out the range of money spent on works by the artists in the list.  Doing thorough research will better inform the students before making a purchase. 
​


Fees and Financial Options
In addition to acting as the auctioneer, I will also act as both the auction house (Sotheby's) and the bank (Capital One).   

Commission Fees and Interest Loans
Collectors who purchase work at auction are required to pay the Sotheby's 10% of the hammer price. Those students who have equity, but low available funds, may take out a loan with Capital One in order to continue purchasing at the next auction. The interest rate of the loan is based on the amount of equity the student has.  Below is a chart that describes the loan rates. 

Loan Interest Rates:
5% loan for those with 300+ Million in equity. 
10% loan for those with 100-299 Million in equity. 
20% loan for those with 0-99 Million in equity.

30% loan for those with negative equity or negative available funds. 

Collectors with Debt

In addition to offering loans, the bank will also offer help to collectors who have made poor financial decisions.  Students who are "upside down" in equity, or have spent more than their available funds may sell assets to the bank for half of the appraisal value. This option will give the bank the opportunity to re-auction the work for profit.  This will also create another opportunity for the auction house to make additional commission fees on the work, and helps get the collector out of debt. 

The Bankrupted Collector
If the collector is both "upside down" in equity, and is carrying debt that is greater than 1/2 of the appraisal value of all assets, the bank will deem that collector "Bankrupt" and will seize all assets.  This option will reset the collector to zero, but he or she will not be allowed to participate in the next auction.  In addition to sitting out one auction, the collector will only qualify for a 50 million dollar loan with a 30% interest rate.   





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Art and Fear

1/13/2017

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A Book Every Artist Should Own

The Assignment

Take the time to read the following passages from the book Art and Fear. As you read make notes in your sketchbook about which of these short passages resonates with you the most.  After having read all of these, please choose ten important passages that mean the most to you and your work.  Write those ten passages in your visual journal and rank them in order of their importance. 



Lastly, choose the most profound statement out of your list of ten, and write a paragraph about why it was so meaningful to you and be prepared to discuss your work with the class the next time we meet. 

The Passages:
”The function of the overwhelming majority of your artwork is simply to teach you how to make the small fraction of your artwork that soars.” Art and Fear, page 5.
 
”To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you, and you alone, what matters is the process.” Art and Fear, page 5.
 
”You learn how to make your work by making your work … art you care about -- and lots of it!” Art and Fear, page 6.
 
”What separates artists from ex-artists is that those who challenge their fears continue; those who don’t, quit.” Art and Fear, page 14.
 
”Most artists don’t daydream about making great art --- they daydream about having made great art.” Art and Fear, page 17.
 
”The artist’s life is frustrating not because the passage is slow, but because he imagines it to be fast.” Art and Fear, page 17.
 
“To require perfection is to invite paralysis. The pattern is predictable: as you see error in what you have done, you steer your work toward what you imagine you can do perfectly. You cling ever more tightly to what you already know you can do - away from risk and exploration, and possibly further from the work of your heart. You find reasons to procrastinate, since to not work is to not make mistakes.”
 
“What you need to know about the next piece is contained in the last piece. The place to learn about your materials is in the last use of your materials. The place to learn about your execution is in your last execution.   Put simply, your work is your guide: a complete, comprehensive, limitless reference book on your work.”
 
“For most artists, making good art depends upon making lots of art and any device that carries the first brushstroke to the next blank canvas has tangible, practical value.”
 
“To the critic, art is a noun. To the artist, art is a verb.”

“The difference between art and craft lies not in the tools you hold in your hands, but in the mental set that guides them. For the artisan, craft is an end in itself. For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision. Craft is the visible edge of art.”
 
“Look at your work and it tells you how it is when you hold back or when you embrace. When you are lazy, your art is lazy; when you hold back, it holds back; when you hesitate, it stands there staring, hands in its pockets. But when you commit, it comes on like blazes.”
 
“All that you do will inevitably be flavored with uncertainty—uncertainty about what you have to say, about whether the materials are right, about whether the piece should be long or short, indeed about whether you’ll ever be satisfied with anything you make. Photographer Jerry Uelsmann once gave a slide lecture in which he showed every single image he had created in the span of one year, some hundred-odd pieces—all but about ten of which he judged insufficient and destroyed without ever exhibiting.” (page 19)
 
“If you think good work is somehow synonymous with perfect work, you are headed for big trouble.” (page 29)
 
“Nonetheless, the belief persists among some artists (and lots of ex-artists) that doing art means doing things flawlessly—ignoring the fact that this prerequisite would disqualify most existing works of art. Indeed, it seems vastly more plausible to advance the counter-principle, namely that imperfection is not only a common ingredient in art, but very likely an essential ingredient” (page 30).
 
“To demand perfection is to deny your ordinary (and universal) humanity, as though you would be better off without it. Yet this humanity is the ultimate source of your work; your perfectionism denies you the very thing you need to get your work done.” (page 30).


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