CONSULTANCY & ADVISORY SERVICES

Ferrin Contemporary works with private collectors, artists, estates, and archives to offer secondary market works for exhibition, sale, and gift to public collections. 

Our collections specialists foster collaborations between collectors and museums by encouraging donations to museum acquisition budgets. This collaborative effort ensures that exceptional artworks find their place in public collections, preserving cultural heritage for future generations.

Want to work with us? Fill out this form to tell us more about your collection needs and we will contact you for a free consultation. 


OUR SERVICES


ARTIST COLLECTIONS

Ferrin Contemporary works with artist’s collections to digitally catalog their work for the purpose of potential exhibition, sale, estate preparation, insurance purposes, or institutional gifting. The scope of work depends on the artist/estate’s needs. We offer a free 1-hour consultation to identify the needs of the client and strategize a plan of action. 

PRIVATE ESTATE REPRESENTATION

Ferrin Contemporary works with institutions and collectors to ease the process of distributing and maintaining Private Estate Collections. Schedule a free 1-hour consultation to see if Ferrin Contemporary is a good fit to represent your Private Estate Collection. 


COLLECTIONS RESOURCES


COLLECTION SERVICES CAN INCLUDE

  • Documenting artwork details
  • Data entry
  • Basic or professional artwork photography for database records and printed or digital catalogs.
  • Corresponding with institutions and appraisers
  • Developing consignments with galleries, auction houses, and private sales
  • Arranging/preparing artwork for shipping or storage
  • Researching, suggesting, and agreeing on fair market values
  • Identifying and offering works for sale and gift
  • Preparing print/digital materials and negotiating offers of sale and gift to institutions, private and public collections, auction and gallery consignments
  • Providing digital and printed information to professionals for insurance, legal, or appraisal purposes.
  • Corresponding with institutions about tax-deductible donations.
  • Corresponding with auction houses or consignments for sales.

Leslie Ferrin: Auctions | What Happens When the Kids Don’t Want It?

by Leslie Ferrin, director, Ferrin Contemporary, specialist in ceramics from 1950 to the present.

For both artists and collectors who are afraid of what happens to their collections when “the kids don’t want it” or are considering “lightening their load” by de-accessioning artworks through public auction, the results from two estate auctions this spring indicate that to do so successfully, the auction houses need help. Two collections, passionately acquired and left to their families to disperse, ended up in two different auction houses in the last two months, with mixed results. While they did achieve the goal of getting the estates sold, these collections were subjected to a variety of avoidable and unfortunate outcomes. Besides generating funds from the sale for the estates and emptying the houses, new public records were established from prices realized during these sales.  These records will now be used to establish values for insurance, replacement, and estimates for future sales and have important implications for the artists and collectors who are still actively creating and buying.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Legacy Resources | Long-term collections estate planning goals

by the Artist Legacy Foundation

A list of resources to help you start to think about your collections management and legacy.

ESTABLISHING LEGACY GOALS DOWNLOADABLE PDF 

CREATING A LIVING LEGACY (CALL) | THE JOAN MITCHELL FOUNDATION


CATALOGS FROM COLLECTION EXHIBITIONS


Ferrin Contemporary specialists will help photograph artworks and exhibitions from private collections to create beautiful full color catalogs. Catalogs can include featured essays from curators, directors, or the artists themselves.

Structure/Dissonance celebrates nearly five decades of work by New York-based artist Raymon Elozua, who first came to prominence in the 1970s with detailed trompe l’oeil ceramic sculptures of decaying industrial landscapes. Elozua’s first major museum exhibition since his 2003 retrospective at the Mint Museum, Structure/Dissonance focuses on three conceptual bodies of work that explore the combined physical properties of three elemental materials: ceramic, glass, and steel. This exhibition contextualizes these vital sculptures within Elozua’s intellectual landscape through the inclusion of a series of collections and research projects that are inextricably linked to his artistic output.

  • September 10—December 31, 2022 at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY – curated by Garth Johnson
  • Catalog features essays by Johnson, Maria Porges, and Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, 2022
  • Published on Dec 27, 2022

SHOP THE CATALOG

Published in 2021 by Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI

Contents:

  • Collection Focus: Mara Superior at RAM by Lena Vigna
  • A Conversation with Mara Superior and Bruce W. Pepich
  • Works by Mara Superior in RAM’s Collection
  • 20-page, full-color exhibition catalog

SHOP THE CATALOG

Malcolm Wright: Moving Beyond Tradition Catalog

Publication Date: October 2018

50 pages

Selected works presented in this catalog feature the sculptural capstones from Malcolm’s over 55-year artistic career and studio, The Turnpike Road Pottery, with an eloquent essay written by Susan Strickler, former director of the Currier Museum.