If I weren't an artist, I'd never speak to one again.

If I weren't an artist, I'd never speak to one again. It was a long time ago that I said that. I was the president of a huge art gallery in Scottsdale AZ, the art director and the art installer. ( I finally did get an intern to help with the installations)

Almost everyday artists would contact me to look at their work and I reviewed portfolios every other Wednesday.

One afternoon, while I was mounting an exhibition for a upcoming show, a person came into the gallery and asked me to come out to his car to look at his art. Obviously he was not a professional. He could see that I was busy. I suggested that he leave his portfolio and I would take a look at it. He said, "Oh, I don't have a portfolio, just come out to the car." Needles to say, I didn't.

Other artists would stall at giving me their statements, and I would spend too many hours helping them and explaining that art is a business like almost any other. Most of this fell on deaf ears and the usual answer was, " I am an artist, I can't spend time on the business end."

That was when I became frustrated with the spoiled brat attitude I felt all around me, and started saying, If I weren't an artist, I'd never to speak to one again.

I went on to establish a non-profit organization in Arizona to teach artists the business of art, and taught Art Marketing at Southern Oregon University when I moved to Oregon.  It still was difficult to get the artists to attend the meetings, but the ones that put in the time saw results.

Things are different now. Art marketing has changed drastically because of the Internet. All the things I taught are out-dated, and now I am studying online marketing; because I know that being a professional artist requires marketing knowledge.

While still part of the Arizona gallery, I also was a professional art installer in model homes, restaurants and businesses. It paid well, and I loved doing it.

Here are some suggestions for placing art in a home.

Styles of art do not have to be the same. Remember darker colors have more visual weight. Everything around the art should be considered in the placement, as if you were creating a still life.

Art on a table with other collected treasures

Styles do not have to match. Shapes are important

In a fireplace

Painting and sculpture mated

Over a stove. This is an encaustic painting and can be wiped off. We don't fry foods.

combine photos and a painting in a bedroom

paintings in box frames on a bathroom sink. Water splashes won't hurt encaustic

A quiet spot in a bedroom

china cabinet, with art