Ferrin Contemporary works with private collectors, artists, estates, and archives to offer secondary market works for exhibition, sale, and gift to public collections.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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 Donât 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 âthe kids donât want itâ or are considering âlightening their loadâ 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.
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 PDFÂ
CREATING A LIVING LEGACY (CALL) | THE JOAN MITCHELL FOUNDATION
FEATURED EXHIBITIONS FROM PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Ferrin Contemporary works with collectors and estates to organize and curate exhibition opportunities from the data and artworks documented through the collections services process. Contact us to learn more about how we can help realize this opportunity.
ARE WE THERE YET? is a celebration of Ferrin Contemporaryâs 40+ years as leaders in the field of modern and contemporary ceramics. As part of the exhibition, selected classic works will be presented directly from the artistsâ archives or offered by private collectors, illustrating career highlights both in the gallery and online. The exhibition asks us, the artists, and the collectors to reflect on the road weâve taken and invites the public to join the dialog while we speculate about the future.
Long before her untimely death, Schonfeld began donating works by artists she admired to museums across the United States, including the Everson Museum of Art. It is with the deepest gratitude that the Everson accepts key works from the Schonfeld collection that will endure as a tribute to her generosity and lasting network of friendships. Mutual Affection marks the debut of the Victoria Schonfeld Collection at the Everson, fleshed out by additional works loaned by her family. Each object in this exhibition stands on its own merit, but also represents a node in Schonfeldâs vast network of reciprocal relationships.
From the Ferrin Contemporary Historical Collection | OUR AMERICA/WHOSE AMERICA?
Works from Ferrin Contemporaryâs Resources and Collections are lent to museum exhibitions that feature works by contemporary artists represented by the gallery. The collection began decades ago with souvenir plates and developed further when sourcing material for Paul Scott to use in his New American Scenery series. At Ferrin Contemporary, the exhibition Our America/Whose America? invited artists to respond to this collection with newly created and recent works that directly questioned the presumptions conveyed by the historic material. The collection includes souvenir objects and plates, designed and produced in England in the 19th and early 20th century, Made in Occupied Japan, and later produced in America. The series produced by Vernon Kilns designed by Rockwell Kent and Gale Turnbull âOur Americaâ is featured in the two exhibitions on view in 2022.
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 lâoeil ceramic sculptures of decaying industrial landscapes. Elozuaâs 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 Elozuaâs intellectual landscape through the inclusion of a series of collections and research projects that are inextricably linked to his artistic output.
- September 10âDecember 31, 2022 at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, NY â curated by Garth Johnson
- Catalog features essays by Johnson, Maria Porges, and Thyrza Nichols Goodeve, 2022
- Published on Dec 27, 2022
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
Malcolm Wright: Moving Beyond Tradition Catalog
Publication Date: October 2018
50 pages
Selected works presented in this catalog feature the sculptural capstones from Malcolmâs 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.