How to Start an Art Collection: A Beginner’s Guide
Starting an art collection is both exciting and intimidating with so many styles, mediums, and artists to choose from, it’s easy to have a sense of overwhelm and wonder where do I start? However, building your own collection is an incredibly rewarding experience and the bonus is you can support local artists and also use your travels to seek out artists. We hope this guide helps you navigate the process and give some clarity around how to set budgets, researching artists and styles, finding mediums that suit your aesthetic and how to find galleries. Come and talk to us at the Georgetown studio or at Charlestown Square because we love helping you find what you want and we love collaborating.
Featured Artists: left - Louise Faulkner. Right Angie Parkes
First up - Follow Your Passion
The most important rule when starting an art collection is to collect pieces that you love and something that speaks to you. Art should resonate with you on a personal level—whether it’s a painting, sculpture, or a textile piece. Your collection is a reflection of your personality, so don’t feel pressure to follow trends or to find the perfect piece to match your lounge or rug. When you fall in love with a piece, you want it to bring joy and preferably not match your décor.
Tip: Spend time exploring different galleries - visit galleries, local art fairs, and artist studios. The more art you see, the better you’ll understand what speaks to you. Yes! While we want you to support the artists in our collective, we highly recommend seeking out galleries across Newcastle and the Hunter.
Featured artists: left - Mitra Namayandeh. Right - Melissa Murry
Set a Budget
You really don’t need to be wealthy to start an art collection, seek out emerging artists and attend end of year art shows of Fine art degree students as it's an excellent way to find emerging artists. Starting small can build a beautiful collection over time, and can become a collection that you truly love.
Tip: Consider starting with prints of original works (not from Ikea or Freedom), smaller original works, or pieces from emerging artists.
Research Artists and Styles
Keep an eye out for studio sales or studio open days as this is where Artists can lower their prices as they don’t need to consider commissions to galleries.
Tip: Lake Mac Council runs open studio art trail weekends once a year. Newcastle Art Space, Creator Incubator and Onwards Gallery (artists studios and artist run galleries) have open studio days at least once a year. Yes yes we are telling you to look at other artists and collectives not just ours, but Newcastle and the Hunter is chock full of Artists and galleries.
Featured artists: Left - Eira Chidgey in her studio. Right - Gemma Kirschner in her studio.
Mix and Match Mediums
Don’t limit yourself to just one type of art. A great collection often includes a variety of mediums—paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, ceramics, textiles, and sculptures. You don’t want art works to match however you want each piece to play off each other so when you go to install, you can play with aesthetics and what sort of energy each piece brings to a space.
Tip: Think about how the pieces will interact with one another in your home or office.
Featured artists: left - Gemma Kirschner, right - Anna from What Knot Macrame
Start Small and Build Gradually
You don’t need to purchase everything at once. Part of the joy of collecting is the journey itself going to those art exhibition openings and getting to know your local artists, and allowing your collection to evolve over time.
Tip: Display your collection thoughtfully, consider hiring a professional installer to help you curate and install your art collection. We would be happy to put you in touch with local installers.
Featured artists: left - Kylie Evans, Right - Fleur MacDonald
Think Long-Term and build those relationships
When investing in art, consider pieces that you can live with for the long term and ditch what is on trend and start to build relationships with artists and galleries so you get to know the people behind the work
Tip: Attend gallery openings, come into our shop at Charlestown Square and studio at Georgetown and meet the artists to learn more about their process and how they develop their artworks.
Featured artist: Diana Boyd from Seeyasista
Enjoy the Process of purchasing new work
Art collecting isn’t just about filling walls and decorating your home to some idealistic representation on a lifestyle television show, it is absolutely about curating a collection of works that you feel a true connection to.