I should’ve thought this through beforehand.
Last month, I had some work (an unimaginable amount of hours in hand embroidery) accepted for a group show a few hundred miles away. A very expensive train journey involving three changes, not possible to do in a singe day on the coach. After much deliberation, I decided not to take part.
Because money.
The price I put on the artwork was £675 (How much?).
The gallery takes 35% (not complaining), which leaves £438.75.
The submission cost was £15, leaving £423.75.
The framing was £145.04 (again, not complaining), leaving £278.71.
The fare to the framer’s was £15.20 (£3.80 x 4), leaving £263.51.
The fare to drop the work at the exhibition (and come home again) would be £140, leaving £123.51.
So, best case scenario, my work sells (the stats say it won’t) and I make £123.51 for a piece of work that was years in the making.
A more likely outcome is I make a loss of £280 in train fares, and valuable time, after collecting the piece when the exhibition finishes. The only upside is I would’ve met some new artists, who may have become friends, which is, of course, priceless.
The exhibition organisers were lovely and went out of their way to try and make this work for me, but in the end it just didn’t add up.