Helpful Tips for Buying Folk Art
originally published in the New Mexican’s Folk Art Market supplement May 22, 2006
- Buy what you like.
- Buy the best quality you can afford.
- Look to someone more knowledgeable than yourself for information, critiques, and sound advice.
- Look for unique patterns, textures, and materials, as well as original design motifs, care in craftsmanship, and unusual color or color combinations.
- Look for work that shows originality of form that is a good or exceptional example of its type.
- Consider how much time, work, and skill have gone into making the work.
- Is the piece unique or one of thousands? If it is a multiple, is it the best of the lot?
- How good are the materials: is the thread natural or a synthetic fiber? Handspun or machine spun? Hand-woven or factory-made? Natural dyes or chemical dyes? Are the borders of a textile straight and even? Does the textile lie flat? Is a wooden item machine tooled or hand-carved? Is the wood cracked? Machine-sanded or hand-sanded? Joined by mortise-and-tenon or nailed and/or glued together? Is the metal work well soldered with finished edges? Has the work been artificially aged? Does pottery have the right ring to it? Is it chipped, cracked? Is its glaze uniform?
- Ask yourself, “What does the piece tell me about who made it?”
- Edit your selection to make a statement.
From El Palacio Magazine, Vol. 110 #2, Summer 2005
By Carmella Padilla
