The art of persuasion: From NO to Really? to YES, and then $100

“Art is r(e)ad”... make art/make sense  by ALeR March 2026

ONE TRUE STORY TOLD IN THREE DIFFERENT VOICES  

Voice 1: “Just the facts” cool 

I collaged a tray. I donated it for a good cause. Someone bought it. 

Voice 2: Quiet and disbelieving

I wanted to see all the donated art pieces, to experience the fundraising event, and to bid on a piece or two myself. I couldn’t attend the opening on Friday evening or the first day of bidding on Saturday, so it wasn’t until Sunday that I got there. A bit late, but there. 

At about 3 pm, I climbed the steep stairs to the women’s arts organization hosting the fundraising event, and made my way into the main room that was jam packed with people, leaving barely enough space to thread my way through. As I moved slowly through the crowd, I took in the art on display all over the walls. So much art, such variety — some by professional artists, some by emerging artists. Each piece had a related sheet on which bidders marked their identifying number and the dollar amount they would pay. 

Wishing I had worn a lighter jacket, I (politely) elbowed my way through the crowd to the wall where I had been told my tray was on display. As I made my way to that spot, I repeated my silent mantra over and over: Manage your expectations. No one will want your tray. No bids will be marked on the card. It’s OK. Be cool. You can always take it home. 

So imagine my amazement when I saw that someone had bid on my tray! Wanting to shriek with joy, but also not wanting be a rank amateur, I simply, quietly noticed this astonishing fact and kept moving to view the rest of the art. I made several circles around the room to see if there was one piece to which I could not say no. I landed on a watercolour of an amaryllis, wrote in my bid, made one more round, and left. 

That was enough for me. Someone had bid on my tray! And I had bid on someone’s watercolour. Receiving and giving in good measure. 

I was called later in the week to confirm that, indeed, my tray had been bid on for $100 — two separate bids pushing it that high. Wow. How wonderful. What a feeling… Thank you, art-loving stranger.  

And my bid had won me the amaryllis. A lovely full circle creative experience. 

Voice 3: Wildly excited  

Mummy! Mummy!! Mummy!!! 

Someone bid on my tray! 

Two strangers in fact!! 

And one of them paid good money for a piece of art that I made. 

Mummy! 

This is amazing! 

Unexpected! 

Exciting! 

A first in my life as a collage artist. 

Mummy! Mummy!! Mummy!!!

I wish you were alive so I could tell you…

THREE LESSONS LEARNED — 

Lesson One: When your artist friend Karen suggests you might want to donate a piece of your collage art to Mentoring Artists for Women’s Art’s fundraising event, you’d best take the suggestion — and yourself as artist — seriously. You can say No, then Really? But, in the end, say, Yes. Thank you, Karen, for encouraging me. 

Lesson Two: Don’t get hung up on the fact that you are now finishing a piece that will be displayed in public, viewed by strangers, and possibly even purchased by someone. Just keep doing what you know and love: Collage art on a tray. Finish the piece. Donate it. See what happens. You just never know…

Lesson Three: Titles matter. In my (never humble opinion), too many pieces were displayed without a title, leaving me to grasp at interpretative straws to understand the piece and the artist’s motivation. Give your piece a title! I think almost any title is better than no title. Once I had committed to donating the red tray, I knew I wanted an interesting title to pull in the viewer. I’m pleased with the title I came up with, and I hope the stranger-buyer likes its multi-layered meaning: “Art is r(e)ad”, which plays on (and with) the words in the lower right of tray — make art / make sense.

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Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.