Welcome to the art advisor’s blog. My friends and business associates have been telling me for months now that I need to start blogging on a regular basis. I do love a good art adventure. And because I have been an appraiser and art advisor since 1987, I have developed a certain insight into the art world that might help you navigate it or answer a burning question that you have. This blog is written for corporate and private enthusiasts and collectors—both brand new and seasoned. If you have wanted to start collecting art or your company is moving its offices and you need to know where to begin, I hope to walk you through the process of collecting art and answer some questions. If you know that you need an appraisal but do not really understand the process or the terminology, I hope to have some articles that can answer some of those questions for you. If you have been wondering about the value of that painting you inherited from your rich uncle Joe, I can offer some guidance in future articles to help you determine whether you need an appraisal.
Occasionally, this blog will take the form of a teaching forum. Over the years, the same questions keep cropping up with clients. I will cover some of those questions. Also, there is some terminology that is unique to the art world or has very specific meaning to connoisseurs and dealers of art. These might be words that are used to categorize or describe a piece of art or they might be terminology used in auction cataloging. As a bit of a “word geek,” I appreciate the importance of understandable communication. I will help define art-speak terminology in a way that I hope makes the meanings clear to all.
Sometimes, I will write about appraisals on which I am working (absolutely no client names or any hints at identity—don’t even ask!) or art collections that are being assembled. I might introduce a new artist from time to time, but this will not be an art review forum. Since my intended target audience for this blog is the collector of art and not art world professional dealer or art reviewer, all articles will be written at a level that I believe will help introduce concepts to the average collector. I will not wax eloquent in describing a piece of art in esoteric language that is sometimes the darling of professional art writers but leaves the average collector scratching his head and exhaling an audible “huh?” as he re-reads a review and digs through the flowery language to get the kernel of information that is of interest.
Although my personal life is not and will not ever be the focus of this blog, a brief introduction might be in order here. My name is Brenda Simonson-Mohle. I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area with my husband of 29 years. Our two adult children are now launched into the world and we are very proud of the engaging, ethical, lovely adults they have become. Like any proud mother, I could go on at length about their various accomplishments. But, I will spare them the public embarrassment. My husband runs his own advertising agency specializing in corporate branding, graphic design, collateral materials and website design. In 1987, I started Signet Art, an art advisory business.. My focus in consulting is corporate, although I do help a number of serious collectors with their individual collections. From the very beginning, clients would ask where they could get a good appraisal. I am a bit of a research hound and began looking into the process of learning the skills to become an appraiser. I joined the International Society of Appraisers in 1987 and began seriously pursuing accreditation. I became an accredited member in 1990 and a certified member, the highest level of accreditation, in 2000. I have been very active with ISA, both locally and nationally, along the way meeting and making great friends of appraisers from across the country and in lots of fields of expertise. If you wish to view a copy of my current CV, it can be found on my website at http://www.signetart.com .