Sculpture Source

You’ve browsed the Internet, visited several gallery websites and have located a piece of sculpture that you absolutely love. Problem is…you know nothing about the gallery selling the piece.

By asking yourself some questions to help gauge the overall quality and professionalism of the gallery, you’ll be more likely to enjoy a positive overall art-buying experience. Following are a few questions a potential online sculpture buyer may want to ponder:

Quality website
Is the gallery’s website well-organized and easy to navigate? Do pages load quickly, without errors? Is the content timely, without typos and out-of-date information? Are works displayed professionally with well-shot, high-quality images, multiple image views, dimensions, descriptive text, and pricing?

These are all signs of a professional gallery that takes its online business seriously. The gallery devotes staff time and resources into making the online experience easy and informative for the buyer.

Staff professionalism
Do gallery staff respond promptly, efficiently, and cheerfully to your emails and calls? This demonstrates the efficiency and organization of the gallery, and is a good indicator of whether the purchasing and shipping or delivery process will be smooth and worry-free.

Helpfulness and hard work
Do gallery staff provide detailed, complete answers to your questions? Are additional photos and information about the piece you’re interested in enthusiastically provided? Are staff willing to contact the artist directly to get clarification or more detailed information for you?

Extensive follow-up and personal assistance indicate a desire to ensure you have all the data required to make a thoughtful, educated purchase instead of an impulse buy that may be regretted later.

Mutual understanding and trust
Can gallery staff clearly articulate your needs and constraints, including your price range, time frame, desired style, and any concerns you have about art placement? Are other options in different price ranges presented for your consideration? Are staff knowledgeable about art, and genuinely enthusiastic about your inquiry? Do staff suggest sculpture offered by other venues which might also be of interest?

These are signs that the gallery is listening to what is important to you, and that your best interests and long-term satisfaction are being taken to heart.

To make a purchase you will be happy with over the long term when buying sight-unseen, you need to trust the gallery’s art knowledge, ability to understand and respond to your needs and finesse at “matching” the best piece of art with those needs.

Visit A New Leaf Gallery and Sculpturesite Gallery’s websites, or call and let us know how we can assist you in acquiring the perfect sculpture.

Here at A New Leaf Gallery, we find ourselves fortunate to be located at Cornerstone Sonoma. Chosen as one of the 100 Gardens to See Before You Die, Cornerstone features 22 installations created by renowned landscape designers. The gardens and the sculptures within them demonstrate the seamless integration of art and nature. Both owe their beauty to the elements and in some cases, to the wind in particular.

One especially intriguing garden is the work of San Francisco designer John Greenlee. Mediterranean Meadow consists entirely of undulating hills and valleys blanketed in tall grasses, native wildflowers and perennials. John conceptualized the garden as a nod to Sonoma’s traditional grasslands. Where grapevines now march acre upon acre across the rolling hills, cattle and sheep used to graze by the thousands.

Stepping into the meadow, a path paved with low grass winds in and out, up and down through waving stems of green and gray. The visitor’s pace slows as the whisper of grasses, a blinding blue sky, and tiny explosions of wildflower color mesmerize the senses. Birdsong pierces poignantly through the wind’s constant whistle and time slows to a crawl.

Suddenly, a glimpse of a dancing kinetic sculpture beckons. Around a bend in the path, Moto Ohtake’s Stellar Motion glints and spins above bobbing seed heads. Continuing down a dell and parting magenta stems alive with movement like ocean waves, Troy Pillow’s colorful Orion wind sculpture sails into view, planted firmly in the ground like the grasses surrounding it.

Voyaging further, the masts of Jeffery Laudenslager’s magnificent Hokusai (named in homage to Hiroshige’s wave woodblock print) rise and fall in a meditative spiral to complete the journey.

As the wind sculpts the hills and shapes the undulating movement of the meadow, it also works its magic on the kinetic sculptures punctuating the landscape in a delightful interplay of man-made and natural elements.