About Us
Who are we?
All of us are involved in ‘Art Mine and Design’. That’s because we all either make art, or we buy art, or both!
Art Mine and Design, the service, is just the connection point between local buyers and sellers.
Connecting Local Art with Local People
Art Mine and Design is a professional service that connects local art with local people. AMD represents a collection of artists all of whom care about their art practice and would like to connect with more local people.
With AMD there is now an easy way to connect with local artists. There is no longer a good reason to purchase mass produced images, ceramics, sculpture and other designed objects. You can individualise the spaces that surround you at home and at work with thoughtfully and carefully produced unique pieces made by local artists and artisans.
Great News!!
If you have been buying mass produced pieces, you will find there are so many equally affordable original art pieces in our gallery that will give you far more enjoyment!
About Brenda
I’ve been an artist all my life and I have received formal art training at various times. My most intensive study was at the University of Guelph near Toronto, Ontario where I studied mainly drawing and printmaking. My main mentors and instructors at Guelph were Gene Chu, Walter Bachinski, Margaret Priest and Tony Scherman. I also studied art at the University of Southampton, England and at the University of Alberta, Canada. I learned how to paint with watercolours in England and with Harry Savage in Edmonton, Alberta. An important guide in my development was Doug Jamha, a figurative artist based in Edmonton. My main art practice now is drawing and printmaking, which I do at Megalo. (Please see links page for contacts.)
What made me think about the challenge of connecting artists with people who want art?
Well, I’m an odd duck, I guess, because I have seriously studied and practiced art making and I am also a resource and environmental economist. One branch of my economics research has been about understanding how and why people change their preferences when they learn more about things. Basically I have studied how people’s preferences change, and then how their behaviour changes, when they gain more information. Much of my research has been on how people respond to health messages about red wine being healthier than white wine but I’ve also worked on environmental issues in Canada and Australia. So, if you know red gums are dying in the Murray-Darling Basin, do you care more about saving more of them? Are you willing to fund efforts to help the Basin provide more water to red gums and less to irrigation? Those are some of the questions I have asked in my research since moving to Australia in 2002.
Art, information and selling art
So it has been a natural, if somewhat roundabout, progression to wonder why it is that virtually all artists find it hard to sell enough works to support themselves while at the same time, people want art around themselves at home and at work. Is it just a failure of information about what art is available? I think that’s part of the problem…
I have come to believe that the real problem is a missing marketplace. I think an on-line gallery combined with a mobile gallery service can provide this missing marketplace. It can’t be a run-of-the-mill push-button gallery with on-line sales… It has to be a very hands-on gallery with a wide collection of high quality art and great service that responds to artists’ needs and buyers’ needs.
I’m passionate about the value of art in our lives and the power of Art Mine and Design to make the necessary connections.
I’m sure enough about this to have taken on the risk of this venture and to lead it. Time will tell if this ‘experimental economics’ project is a goer!