“I always tell people, if you like it and you want it, you will find a place for it,” Waterman said, laughing.
The walls of her downtown Florence home are filled — and she's adamant about having more than one piece on a single wall — with unique pieces she and husband Daniel have gathered from their travels, from wooden carvings from east Africa to brass and bronze metalwork from India. The Waterman home is its own museum of treasures.
“It's pretty eclectic, I guess,” she said. “I think the main thing is that we really like very original art, something that's a little different and a little unique. I just always appreciate the work that goes into it and how people visualize things and tell sort of a story about their lives and what influences them.”
Purchasing art doesn't have to be intimidating. Building a collection means learning more about the art world and about what you like, and finding a theme — whether it's subject matter, medium, artists or style — that ties the works together. In Waterman's case, the theme is there is no theme, and that can work for a collection, too.
Collecting is “more methodic than just starting out there with no guidance,” said Catherine Evans, curator of photography at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Ohio. There needs to be “some narrowing or defining of what resonates with you.”
A good place to start is by consulting with gallery owners, museum curators and artists, who often are eager to share their knowledge. Beth Batton, curator of the collection at the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson, encourages people to visit museums and galleries and figure out what medium they like. Then seek out good examples.
“Educate your eye,” she said. “If you find you really like photography, try to understand the techniques.”
Waterman frequents arts festivals in the Shoals, from First Fridays every Friday in downtown Florence to the annual Arts Alive festival in Florence each May to the recent Helen Keller Festival. The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts in Florence and the Tennessee Valley Museum of Art in Tuscumbia also have numerous exhibits throughout the year, many with items available for purchase.
“When we moved to Alabama about 10 years ago, we were very interested in finding Alabama artists and Southern artists,” Waterman said. “We try to purchase one item every year from Arts Alive and have been able to pick up some really interesting things.”
She, like Route of Art gallery owner Jaime Weaver, is attracted to what is called outsider art — some of it funky, but all of it having a story to tell.
“A lot of it, you're not necessarily selling the piece, it's the person's story,” said Weaver in an interview in the fall shortly before she opened her gallery in downtown Florence.
A personal connection to a work always is important, but sometimes, said artist and collector Jean Schulman, you should go with your gut.
“I collect anything that I like,” said Schulman, of Florence, whose collection spans the globe, was built throughout the past 50 years and at one time was on display at the Kennedy-Douglass.
It contains watercolors, oil paintings, drawings, prints, pottery and photography. Some pieces come from her former students; she started the art program at Muscle Shoals High School and taught there for 20 years.
“I collected because I like the pieces, and I didn't want to leave them,” she said. “I was not thinking about, ‘Oh, I want to buy this because it's really good and it's going to be worth something.' I don't think I've parted with a single piece I've ever bought.”
As you shop around and are drawn to specific works, figure out why those pieces of art move you, said Aprile Gallant, curator of prints, drawings and photos for the Smith College Museum of Art in Northampton, Mass. The theme you choose can be broad, she said, and can focus on an activity, place or era.
Having a focus gives a collection coherence and personality and also can help art buyers choose more wisely, Batton said.
“It keeps you from spending money on an impulse purchase,” she said.
“You don't have to have a huge income to be able to start an art collection.”
And any type of art, at any price, can make for a great gift, Waterman said. One of Schulman's students once purchased a painting of hers to give to his mother for Mother's Day. He paid in $5 monthly increments.
“It starts somebody's collection,” Waterman said. “You can start small, and it will just continue to grow.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sarah Carlson can be reached at 256-740-5722 or sarah.carlson@TimesDaily.com.
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My Brother Joe, the Woodcarver: A Collection of Musings, Revealing the Thoughts and the Philosophy of Joe Barta (1904-1972) (Paperback)
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