For Art Collectors, and Skeptics.

For those collectors reading this blog, ACE has an informative paper outlining the strategies one should take upon realizing their hobby has become a full-time investment.  It discusses not only the tribulations of damaged artwork and strategies for protecting your investments, situations we at The Conservation Center handle daily, but additionally artwork valuation, the schematics of investing and the problems of verifying a piece's authenticity.  While just a brief introduction to any of these weighty matters, it remains a solid reference for the uninitiated, and a point from which the curious can uncover further information.

From Passion to Investment: Asset Protection Strategies for Collectors  (pdf)

For those of you who read the previous paragraph with skepticism and dismay, telling yourself that surely you could never be one of them, an "Art Collector", well, we have an article for you too. Diasporal Rhythms is an art collecting group from the South Side of Chicago, and one of their messages to you is that you shouldn't sell yourself short!  As Lisa Gaines McDonald says, "We are reluctant to identify ourselves as collectors because we have been ingrained to think of traditional mainstream collectors with these huge collections, and to believe that you have to have certain marquee name artists, as opposed to what you like."  
The Center met the group because they attended a tour of our conservation facility, but we want to share them with you because they have some very astute words to say about collecting art, living with art, why art matters, and why you--yes, you--can be a collector too.

A Second Skin: A Conversation with Diasporal Rhythms