Visiting an Artist Studio - Artist & Client Expectations

Managing a sale of art versus art-seeing expectations. There are two viewpoints that are at contretemps when it comes to visiting an artists studio/gallery. The artists and the clients. Unfortunately both camps have to get over their pre-conceived notations of what is to go on. That does not mean that you can't have those thoughts - just that the thoughts have to be tempered with reality.

For the artist the client visit will be objective and to the point. The artist thoughts are that all visits are going to lead to quick sales. In addition, the client is, or no win non fee accident be, focusing solely on the art in the room or wants to discuss a commission today and give the artist a down payment to get the process started. The thing to be avoided is the client speculating or doing "blue sky thinking". This burns up the artist's creative time. Unfortunately for the artist, he has been surrounded by the art for a while and knows it cold. He is familiar with all the nuances and details. The artist just knows, from his point of view, what the best piece is and that the client should be happy with the artists decision and buy the artwork.

From the client point of view, all of the above could not be further from the truth. The client is coming to see the art - yes, but and this is a big but, not necessarily to buy. Above all the client wants to browse the art, discuss the motivation behind the making of it, engage in some small talk, almost anything to get away from a quick commitment/buy. The client does not want to be rushed into a quick decision, particularly if this is the first visit to the artist's studio/gallery. Occasionally, there is also the expectation that the artist's work that the client saw elsewhere has now taken a radically different course either in design, subject matter, color, etc. So there is bound to be some conflict here.

The key is to understand that each side - the artist and the client - both have valid points of view and that their mutual destination is the same. Eventually the client/artist situation will work itself out - though from personal experience - never in the artist's time frame. The artist always wants it quicker.

Visiting an artists studio for better pricing. Some Clients visit artists studios to, in their mind, receive better pricing. Some clients, and to be honest some artists, buy into the notion that the artist can sell art cheaper through their studio/gallery than through their gallery representation. Some clients actually befriend artists to get their "artist friend" to make them a piece of art. There is a reason artists sell through galleries - that is so that they do not have to invest in the time and money to meet and greet clients on their turf. This frees up the artist to produce work to supply his/her gallery network. This can also be seen as profit for the artist. All businesses like profit.

Most times the client well understands that they are taking advantage of the artist. The client also does not care that the artist, by selling his work at a wholesale price, is undermining his galleries. To the client, this is a one time transaction and a good deal. The artist though, has driven a stake in the gallery/artist trusting relationship that is so necessary to sell art. No wonder galleries are so leery of artists selling their work independent of the gallery.

When artists have their own stand-alone gallery, the artwork prices should also be exactly what their galleries sell work for. Clients in this instance think that since the artists gallery is not on prime real estate that they should pay less. To turn the tables a little bit, if the client was in the artists position, should they lower their price? Just because the overhead component is less than a typical gallery, do you use bargain basement pricing for a limited edition product? Not in conventional economics and not in a real world scenario.

Carl Wright is a full time abstract stone sclulptor who lives and works in the DC metropolitan area. He carves sculptures from table top size up to corporate lobby size. His work can be seen at: href="wsggallery.com">wsggallery.com He is represented by 4 galleries and also has in-stock sculpture as well as taking custom orders.

Overview of ISCSI Technology

iSCSI (Internet SCSI) is the standard protocol for encapsulating SCSI command into TCP/IP packets and enabling I/O block data transport over IP networks. iSCSI can be used to build IP-based Storage Area Networks (SANs). The simple, yet powerful technology can help provide a high-speed, low-cost, long-distance storage solution for Web sites, service providers, enterprises and other organizations.

The iSCSI target resides on a host where StarWind has been installed. StarWind is a software iSCSI target solution, which supports various kinds of physical devices and virtualization.

The iSCSI client is called initiator. With an iSCSI initiator, it is possible to access different iSCSI target devices. There are a lot of iSCSI initiator implementations for different operation systems. The communication between an iSCSI target and an iSCSI initiator is done over a TCP/IP-based network (a local network or the Internet).

The use of the iSCSI protocol is a revolution in storage applications. With an iSCSI initiator a remote device appears as it was a local one - there is no difference for applications. The effect is to provide geographical independence to the person using the initiator. There are far-reaching consequences of this: The use of familiar network technology and management reduces training and staff costs, and increases stability and reliability of an organization's infrastructure.

- iSCSI is scalable over long distance or in a Local Area Network (LAN), enabling remote data replication and disaster recovery.
- A user can access the same desktop wherever in the world they are -- the age of the thin client is here.
- Standard firewall and security measures can be used to protect an organization's data.
- There is no need to have large trunks of dark fibre or other communications infrastructure no win no fee compensation with accompanying contract and SLA management.
- An organization could place all of its disk space in purpose-built co-located premises, rather than in expensive office space.
- Centralized backup of all the storage within an organization is now a reality.
- An organization's security need not be compromised by the theft of a laptop, for example, since no confidential data need be stored on the thin client.
- Existing SAN installations can be incorporated in new iSCSI networks by utilizing gateway technology to bring iSCSI and Fibre Channel (FC) devices into the same network.
- iSCSI greatly reduces the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) - existing networking and storage resources can be used.
- iSCSI storage needs can be outsourced to storage brokers, for such advantages as co-located storage for disaster recovery and storage on-demand provision.
- iSCSI latency is based on that of TCP/IP, so standard data compression techniques and traffic-shaping techniques will optimize throughput.

StarWind Software Inc. is a provider of href="starwindsoftware.com/">iSCSI SAN Software