PROFESSIONAL GUIDELINES COMMITTEE Harriete Estel Berman Chair Artist San Mateo, Calif. Suzanne Baizerman Curator Oakland Museum of California Marilyn da Silva Professor of Art California College of Arts and Crafts Oakland, Calif. Tami Dean Jeweler Portland, Ore. Lloyd Herman Independent curator Bellingham, Wash. Cherry LeBrun Owner De Novo Gallery Palo Alto, Calif. Marc David Paisin Attorney at Law Oakland, Calif. Lynda Watson Artist Santa Cruz, Calif. Bruce Metcalf Artist Outgoing SNAG Board Liaison Kathleen Brown Artist Incoming SNAG Board Liaison Society of North American Goldsmiths Dana Singer, Executive Director

Harriete Estel Berman believes the lack of guidelines has made the path of every craft artist on the journey to artistic success and professional stature more difficult to navigate.

“I just got sick of trying to work through new solutions and better solutions for my professional practices,” Berman says. “Very often, there was no formula, no guidelines, no standard practices. Some people’s practices were very sloppy. There had to be a better way.”

In collaboration with a Professional Guidelines Committee, Berman initiated a project in 2000 to define and articulate professional guidelines for craft artists and gallery owners.

Sponsored by The Society of North American Goldsmiths (SNAG), the project titled “Professional Guidelines,” is applicable to all craft media. To date, the committee has completed the first set of guidelines with the expectation that additional sets will follow over the course of the 10 years of this in-depth project. The current guidelines are available on the Society’s Web site at www.snagmetalsmith.org.

Guidelines for being a pro

This first set of guidelines, formatted in chapter-like segments, includes: a guide to a model Consignment Contract; Discounts; Artist’s Checklist — Exhibitions; Juried Exhibitions; Artist’s Checklist — Claims for Damaged Work; and Useful Books for Legal and Professional Advice.

Much of the territory in these guidelines has been covered in other publications, but this package covers the terrain in more depth and with some unique insights and support materials. For example, in the first section, a sample consignment contract is provided and each item in the contract is reviewed and defined in detail.

The reviewed/defined element is the important part of these guidelines. The Accounting section of the contract highlights an issue that most craft artists tend to overlook. The artist is encouraged to keep careful records that permit an accurate provenance history of their work. In the crush of keeping careful records, this additional purpose is often ignored. The careful attention paid to clarity of definition in this document is what makes it so useful to the craft artist.

Insights on discounts

The chapter on Discounts covers some familiar turf, but also has insights not generally found or articulated elsewhere. As the guidelines state, “It is the job of both the artist and the gallery to establish the value of artists’ work (by virtue of its uniqueness, craftsmanship, reputation and quality), and remind people that this worth is reflected in its price. The price confirms this value.”

The artist and gallery are reminded that the art business is different from ordinary retail. Throughout this section and the document as a whole, the committee has injected this note of respect for the handcrafted object, a respect that has become more remote recently as the field has expanded.

Practical recommendations in this chapter deal with specific benefits and disadvantages of discounting practices and are directed at both the artist and the gallery owner. There is an immediacy to the presentation, with solutions to problems presented dispassionately. This issue is not generally dealt with in most discussions of making a living as a craftsperson and the examination here is thorough. An interesting and essential portion of the discussion on Discounts focuses on museums and the craft artist’s potential interactions with them. This is another topic generally not explored elsewhere and these guidelines bring information together in a usable format.

Pro-active participation in exhibitions

The chapter on Artist Checklist — Exhibitions lays out the recommended parameters of an exhibition suggesting that the artist be proactive in gathering information such as dates; exhibition space; insurance (and keeping with current advice on participating in exhibitions, recommending refusal to participate in uninsured exhibitions); contracts; and publicity. The committee also includes a thorough checklist for the artist to follow when participating in any exhibition.

Guiding sponsors/promoters to successful exhibitions

The chapter covering Juried Exhibitions is intended for sponsors/promoters of exhibitions and defines the responsibilities of sponsors and jurors when proposing and/or presenting juried exhibitions.

This is a subject rarely discussed, where it seems, at times, that promoters and sponsors are simply winging it rather than taking a respectful, measured look at the field and what it will support and value.

The contents of this discussion include, among other topics, sponsor responsibilities (prior to jurying), developing a prospectus, suggested timeline for a juried show and return of entries.

Dealing with damaged work

Artist’s Checklist — Claims for Damaged Work is another topic for which clear advice is given, guiding the artist to handling claims for damaged work in a logical manner. This is a most interesting section with information for dealing with insurance companies that are not generally noted for an understanding of the value of the handcrafted object.

Bibliography and research

The final chapter of this first set of guidelines is a bibliography divided into three sections: Books for Legal Advice; Books That Offer Practical Advice for the Artist or Craftsperson; and Art Law Reference. All of these books are referred to throughout the other chapters of the guidelines. Some are the old workhorses in the field, still filled with useful advice; some are newcomers with valuable information. In all, it is a comprehensive list, available and functional.

Future guidelines for the artist

Berman and her committee will follow this first set of Professional Guidelines with more on the following topics: Open Studios (for the artist and for the community to organize a successful program) and Auctions. Berman is also working on an explication of jury systems, in a document titled, “Mathematical Explanation of Jury Ranking Systems”.

“This was begun several months ago when I realized how mathematically incompetent many jury ranking systems were that are currently in use,” Berman states.

This document will also be made available in the Professional Guidelines on SNAG’s Web site.

According to Berman, one gallery in particular, Facere, indicated that they have already put information about the guidelines in their newsletter — a sure sign of the need for the research that Berman and her committee have done.

This initial package is valuable to all craft artists simply on it’s own. If the coverage of the proposed topics is equally rich in information, we in the field should be waiting with healthy anticipation for the coming additions.