After living in my house for almost eight months, I finally got around to putting up one (yes, only one) piece of artwork on the wall. Of all places, it is located in the powder room on the main floor. While this may not be the best place to showcase artwork, given its unique size (long and narrow), it seems to be in the right place. It just also happens to match the colours of the powder room.
Photo via Flickr – Dingler1109
I had purchased the artwork from the One of a Kind Show, an arts and craft show held bi-annually, featuring handmade things from local artisans. One of their shows is held in December, just in time for holiday shopping. It’s a great place to find unique gifts for those hard to shop for people on your list. Everything is beautiful and of high quality.
Everything is also quite expensive.
I understand that quality, especially the type that is handmade, handcrafted, etc. comes with a price. In this day and age, where almost everything is manufactured, people are often impressed by things that are handmade. Before the Industrial Revolution, everything took more time because everything was built by hand. People knew how to work with their hands to create masterpieces. These skills were passed on from generation to generation. Somewhere between then and now, many of these skills became lost. Our grandparents and many baby boomers seem to still have these techniques, but it doesn’t seem that many of the Generation XY group or Millennials can carry out these techniques, such as woodworking or knitting. None of my close friends or immediate family can.
We would rather pay to have it done for us than do it ourselves.
Is it because we don’t have the patience to learn? Or maybe it’s because we don’t have the desire?
Our desk in our office is actually a door from a high-end luxury home. It is long enough to be a desk for two people working side by side. We got this for free from my partner’s brother who does custom carpentry. It is held up by two desk supports, (one with drawers and one that is cabinet style) from Ikea. I have yet to see this anywhere else. I suppose you could say it’s “one of a kind”.
Regarding my unique artwork, I can’t quite remember off the top of my head how much the purchase was, but I do remember it being somewhere from $150-$200. I consider that quite expensive for art, but I know bigger pieces can run into the thousands. I probably could recreate the masterpiece if I really wanted to for less, but I definitely wouldn’t make the effort. When analyzing the cost of the artwork, one would have to take into consideration the cost of the materials used to make the artwork, the size of the artwork and the time and effort it took. This can vary, based on the artist and their experience.
I most likely will never pay that same amount again for artwork. My frugal instincts keep telling me to find a way to display my postcards from my worldly travels or print off some vacation pictures and put them in different sized frames.
In doing so, I’d be creating my own personal masterpiece.
Do you own any expensive art? How much would you be willing to pay for art?
Nothing. Art really doesn’t do it for me. Photography on the other hand … but again not something I’d really want to pay for, aside from maybe framing some of my own shots.
Then again, I am not into decor AT ALL. I take no notice of what’s around me at home and bare walls are fine by me.
I thought once I had my own place, I would be more into decor, but when I moved into my apartment I had three frames hanging on the walls. The rest of the walls were bare. Now, in my house, where there are even more walls, they are even more bare. Perhaps when we paint the walls a nicer colour, I’ll be more inclined to decorate.
I really am pained at how it’s almost impossible to find a public wood shop to pursue woodworking on the side. My only real option is to buy the equipment myself which isn’t feasible because of the price and the fact that I live in an apartment. I think we need to try and re-establish hand made crafts across the board to help reverse situations like this. Okay, that probably sounds easier than it would be.
I’m sure places like Home Depot and Lowes would have wood working equipment available for rental. I think they also have courses on wood working. Regarding lack of space, it would definitely be hard to do in an apartment. A house with a garage definitely comes in handy.
It would be nice if hand made things made a comeback. Perhaps there needs to be more trade shows and shops to create more awareness.
I love art, I can appreciate the time and effort that goes into creating things. Especially seeing as though I’m so bad at making things myself. Even my stick men dont look like stick men.
The classic art and even the abstract and surrealism I can appreciate. However, the art that is very modern, say a painting of one or two stripes, I don’t really know if I can appreciate that. It seems as if very little effort was done to create those two stripes and that anyone could have easily done that.
I own mostly photographs (which I am just now getting to putting up in my house after 4 years…yikes lol) but if I ever found a painting that I truly fell in love with I could definitely see purchasing it. Paintings take a lot of time, and effort, skill, and money to sell…hence the big price tag on them. Its definitely not uncommon to drops hundreds or thousands on a beautiful painting or piece of artwork.
I have yet to find a painting that I am truly in love with. I’m not sure I would drop that kind of money on artwork though. My frugal nature would probably tell me to try and find a print version of it instead.
I don’t think that’s too bad to spend on art! Since I still live in an apt, I don’t really invest in art because it’s too temporary, and I also like hanging photos I’ve taken that are part of my memories. Maybe somewhere down the line I’ll get more interested in that, but for now…
You’re right. It’s definitely on the lower end in terms of price. I guess since it’s the only real piece of artwork I’ve ever purchased in my life, I found it to be expensive. I should look into estate sales if I want to get more artwork.
I love buying artwork when I travel. I can generally get it cheaply and it makes a great memento that serves as practical decoration instead of a tchochkie I don’t know what to do with.
I should look into doing that too next time I travel. It would have to be of a size that I could fit into my suitcase though. I wouldn’t want to pay the extra cost to have it shipped home.
I’m a big art fan and history nerd, so I really do enjoy having one-of-a-kind pieces. I haven’t bought anything recently, but I’d rather have original work than a reproduction or print.
I also love buying art when I travel. At least it’s meaningful. But I always make sure to support a local artist and not buy reproduction art.