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Labels v catalogues
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Message
Posted
When I go shopping I like to see the goods clearly labelled with price and any other relevant details. I do not expect to be given a list of prices of the goods on display. The idea of having to thumb through a catalogue searching for a particular item would put me off (along with most other people I would suggest) and would surely have an adverse effect on sales.
With its annual exhibition looming I have been trying to convince the committee of one of the art groups to which I belong to adopt the practice of labelling each work on display with its own label declaring: artist, medium and price, but without success. They have always had a catalogue and the committee is somewhat stuck in its ways. One objection concerns the way labels are to be attached and despite my having demonstrated a simple method with the label attached from the back and displayed immediately below each picture they still can't seem to grasp the concept. I have also known the supply of catalogues to run out and there is the cost of producing them.
In previous exhibitions I have seen visitors not bothering to pick up a catalogue even when offered one and of those that do many don't even bother to refer to them. Like the retail analogy above I am sure the club loses out in sales. Similarly museums also label their exhibits individually.
The practice of issuing a catalogue is widely spread and I wonder if I am alone in this matter - I would welcome the views of others on the subject.
Posted
I agree with you Michael. In a very "prestigious" exhibition there are always catalogues - the prices are very high, thousands. Yet, I have also seen labels on paintings which are equally expensive. I think some think that it has a certain cachet to have catalogues.
Our club exhibitions have card labels, with the club logo, all attached in the same way and at the same point, exactly as you have described, attached to the back of the painting, at the mid point, hanging below the frame. We feel they look professional.
Personally, I find catalogues a little inconvenient, having to constantly glance down to find the info equating to the painting. However, we all know that people hang on to their opinions, sometimes you just can't win. It's something better discussed at a pre meeting, or, in our case, at the AGM, under " any other business".
Posted
Catalogues are so old hat, I so agree Michael.
Plus as you say the cost of producing them.
Over recent years we have used a nice neat label , mount board or something similar ....cut to size, all exactly the same .
Neat , printed labels from the P C , name , medium price.
All in some clear font. I blue tack them just underneath the painting , I like bottom right hand side . Looks professional and clean cut and easy to read.
Each pic can also have a number also on the label.
Also to please the old timers a sheet of A 4 paper with all details in columns and enumerated . These can just be printed at will, in fact we find that a dozen is about all we need.
The same sheet can also be used as the master copy for sales etc.
Another way, though not as neat are brown luggage labels on string , hand written details , hung , also with blue tack from the same place on each pic. Blue tack and string hidden at the back.
Posted
At least I'm not alone.
In other clubs we make neat labels (PC generated) which are attached underneath the bottom right hand corner of each painting by a strip of masking tape or similar attached to the rear of the painting and the rear of the label (ie sticky side facing outwards) - if that makes sense. That way there is no damage or marks to the frame, wall, or glass and no complaints from exhibitors or from the venue.
Posted
Computer generated labels take little, if any, extra effort to produce compared with a catalogue - the same information has to be entered regardless and you don't have to fund and marshal the distribution of catalogues - a big bonus.
Yes - red dot on the label - not on the glass.
Must agree that hand written labels would be a big NO and would look very amateurish which is not the impression you want to give.
Sales of brochures? Not a very visitor friendly approach when we are desperately seeking sales
Sponsors? Seeking them is another job for the hard pressed committee members and not one I would want to take on - horrible task!.
Posted
We use printed labels with the club logo etc. but the painting details filled in by the artist. Seems to work OK except problems with the dreaded Blue Tack because the oil in them brings off the finish on the display boards to which the paintings are attached. We have now moved to fixing the labels with framing tape.
We have discussed the idea of a catalogue on numerous occasions but one of the chief objections was that it requires submission of all the details of every entered painting much earlier than for labels to accommodate printing time. Not a popular proposal with out members!
Posted
I must admit I use a short biography for the solo exhibitions i have had . We have a thing here in n Wales called Helfa Gelf (art trail) its all over n wales every weekend in September, so Im sure someone will be here on their hols. Look for it if you are ........I digress.
It is a necessity to have a short bio for the studios in H G . But I must admit could look a wee bit OTT in a general exhibition, say with fifty or so artists. The bio in your pic Pat looks a bit wonky. that needs someone to straighten it. Phil is right, a label maker will do the job beautifully. Even so some poor soul will have to type them . Ive done it often enough but thats what belonging to a club/ society is all about.
Posted
MichaelEdwards (20/08/2016)Michael, Going back to your original statement I quite agree that labels have several advantages over catalogues. Now if you had an app for people´s mobiles where they could scan a bar code on the painting to read the details on their phone that would make people very happy. After all wherever you go you see them staring at these little gadgets.
When I go shopping I like to see the goods clearly labelled with price and any other relevant details. I do not expect to be given a list of prices of the goods on display. The idea of having to thumb through a catalogue searching for a particular item would put me off (along with most other people I would suggest) and would surely have an adverse effect on sales. ...
Posted
Most people who are familiar with computers are quite used to producing documents from MS Word using Mail Merge where there are blanks which may completed from a digital list or data source to give varying information for each printed sheet.
There are also very good desktop publishing programs which will do a similar operation, and this time producing sheets of labels by means of a mail merge facility getting the information from a file containing the data which will vary from label to label.
This is an easy task for the computer literate, with a little practice even I might be able to do it.
Hope this helps.
John
Edited
by johnk7
Posted
Well I seem to have killed this thread stone dead with my entry, sorry about that.
However to make up for that, it provokes my interest and I investigated the idea of producing a mail merged set of labels, it was a whole lot easier to do than I originally thought it would be.
So here's an offer to everyone on the forum, if you are running an exhibition and you want to try taking the card option, put the information you want on each card into an MS Excel database and send it to me, I'll send you back a PDF with all the necessary information to print out the labels on thin card. Then all you have to do is cut the sheets into separate labels and attach them to the paintings.
I've attached a picture to show how a large set of 6 labels would print on an A4 sheet, it needs a little tidying up and a lot more than 6 could be fitted on an A4 sheet.
If you're interested just contact me on: [email protected]
I'm retired, it will only take up my time so this offer is free, until such time when it is so popular I have time to do nothing else.
John
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