Shipping artwork internationally - how to send art to overseas exhibitions and clients

Many artists sell art across borders to other countries these days - but there's not a lot of help out there in terms of:

• what you have to do to move art through Customs
• what's the best way to pack and label art and ship it internationally

a new resource for artists - all about how to master customs tariffs, documentation
and services to get artwork from your studio to its final destination in another country

My very first serious exhibition 20 years ago was in the USA. I had to learn pretty fast about how to pack art so it arrives safe and sound and which service works best for getting the artwork there by the due date - and the customs documentation and tariff codes required and how to display it so that the package actually got out of Customs and arrived at the Gallery!

Everything went fine - but it was a long wait until I got the confirmation everything had arrived safely!

Since that date I've heard of numerous artists who have messed up on sending their artwork to other countries. It's hugely disappointing to the artists who have invariably made their best efforts - but just didn't get everything right because they'd never ever done it before.

• The artwork often remains in Customs while the exhibition goes ahead without them!  
• Or the artwork arrives damaged because allowances were not made to what can happen to artwork moving overseas. 
• Or it just disappears......

Which is how come I've remained interested in the topic and developed a site to share the information with those for whom sending art overseas is a new and mysterious challenge!

I've now transferred that information to my art business website.

Guide to how to send art to other countries

This is my new page about How to ship art internationally on my Art Business Info. for Artists website

Information is divided into two sections.

The paperwork for Customs

• How to produce an export invoice
• UK Trade Tariff - export commodity codes
• HOW TO: Complete Customs documentation in the UK
• ​HOW TO: Complete Customs documentation in the USA
• The ATA Carnet​

What else you need to know

• Size, Weight and Content Restrictions and Prohibitions (International)
• ​HOW TO: write an international address correctly​

The page is part of a major section on my website which is all about....

How to pack, post and ship art

This is what my section on How to pack, post and ship art covers:

Packing your art

• How to pack, post and ship art (Section HOME Page) including 10 Top Tips for Packaging and Shipping Artwork
• How to pack artwork for shipping Overview: Generic advice about packing and shipping
• Tips from artists, photographers, galleries, curators, museums, conservators, art societies, art collectors, shippers and more
• How to create an internal package which protect and cushions artwork
• How to create an external package for artwork which survives transit.
• How to pack framed works
• How to pack fine art prints and works on paper
• How to pack pastel paintings​​
• Packaging Materials for shipping artwork
• The pros and cons of different types of packaging for the external and internal packages
• ​warnings about how packaging can damage your art
• how to be sustainable and reuse materials when shipping​

Special Shipping Challenges for Art

CN 23 Customs Declaration form for artwork valued in excess of £270

• How to ship art to exhibitions Exhibitions bring a particular challenge when artwork needs to be submitted minus packaging!
• How to ship internationally​ Information about all the documentation required for international shipping
• How to produce an export invoice
• All about export commodity codes
• How to complete customs documentation 
• How to write an international address correctly

Postal, Parcel, Courier and Shipping Services for Art

Royal Mail Services

• How to post art - Post and Parcel Services in the UK and USA
• ​List of UK Art Shippers, Movers and Couriers​ national and regional + websites and contact details including carriers listed by art competition organisers​
• List of USA Art Shippers, Movers and Couriers recommendations welcome

Feedback please

I'd love to get any feedback

• either in terms of practices or services you have found helpful 
• or about queries you have which are not answered by this page or this section on moving art from studio to exhibition, gallery or art collector

Thanks in anticipation....

Compilation - Van Gogh's Sunflowers on Facebook Live

This is a catch-up for those who missed the Facebook Live event when five Van Gogh sunflower paintings were reunited from five museums around the world yesterday.
(see my earlier post for what this event was about Five Van Gogh Sunflower paintings on Amazon Live on 14th August 2017)

Below are links to the videos on Facebook. Each post is also embedded. The links go to the Facebook Pages and relevant posts of each of the participating museums

Enjoy the FIVE VIDEOS BELOW - and take a look at my comments at the end.

• the National Gallery (London) - Sunflowers 1888 - VIDEO

65 years of Royal Gifts exhibition at Buckingham Palace

As Prince Phillip retires and the Duke of Cambridge steps up to his new role of representing the Queen on a full-time basis, there's a certain sense of an imminent sea-change in the operation of the British Monarchy.

It's not at all surprising therefore to find that there is a retrospective exhibition at Buckingham Palace of a very tiny sample of the Royal Gifts that the Queen has received in the last 65 years - since she ascended to the throne on 6 February 1952.

Put simply there will never ever be another exhibition like this one - simply because it will be a very long time before any monarch reigns for more than 65 years...

Also - if you enjoy the British Museum and its ethnographic displays of people and their heritage then you will enjoy this exhibition - where you can see some of the very best of the very best examples of craftsmanship, skills and materials from around the world.

Royal Gifts exhibition 

A view of the Africa Exhibit in the State Dining Room gives you a sense of scale

The extremely popular Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace (until October 1st) has an exhibition every year.

It's not at all surprising that this year's exhibition looks back at one particular aspect of the very long reign of Queen Elizabeth - and also one which will be of much interest to people from all over the world.  Which during August is most of the people on the streets of central London! ;)

I visited the exhibition last week (for a special Bloggers Preview) and was able to see and admire the gifts on display. (PS I had intended this post for Friday but Blogger went on strike!)

All the gifts were presented to the Queen

• as part of official duties - such as state visits and audiences. 
•  during visits she makes in the UK for various events - such as a visit to a School (and it was very pleasing to see a number of gifts related to children)

The exhibition explores Her Majesty's role as Head of State, Head of the Commonwealth and Head of Nation through gifts presented by people from all walks of life and from over 100 countries and territories during State Visits, overseas tours and official engagements both at home and abroad.

The exhibition is an excellent example of ritual and decorative art and has been organised by Sally Goodsir, Assistant Curator of Decorative Arts. She told us that she  aimed to select one piece from all the countries visited and to make that selection representative of the country and in particular of particular materials or skills unique to that place.

I'm going to give you a sample of images of items below from the different continents.

Plus an insight into the nature of the Tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales which comes at the end of the exhibition - to mark the 20th anniversary of her death at the end of this month.

Display of Diana Princess of Wales personal possessions
within the context of her timeline

Five Van Gogh Sunflower paintings on Amazon Live on 14th August 2017

I'm trying to upload images to a blog post but Google's Blogger has decided it isnlt going to work today

Which is why I'm posting this information about a brand new initiative to unite artwork and art museums around the world today rather than tomorrow....

Today five 'Sunflowers' paintings are located in museums across the globe and have never been united. Until now that is. On 14 August 2017, in a world first, all those 'Sunflowers' will come together in a ‘virtual exhibition’ bringing the paintings together in a way the artist could never have imagined.

Which sunflowers and museums?

The sunflowers are those in the following museums around the world

• the National Gallery (London) - Sunflowers 1888
• Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam) - Sunflowers 1889
• Philadelphia Museum of Art - Sunflowers 1888 or 1889
• Neue Pinakothek (Munich) - Sunflowers 1888
• the Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art (Tokyo) - Sunflowers 1888

What's happening in the Amazon Live Event?

The museums are participating in a unique and unprecedented global collaboration to explore the 'Sunflowers' series, live on Facebook.

Over 95 minutes on 14th August 2017, there will be 

• a consecutive relay of five, 15-minute Facebook Live broadcasts from the five museums - starting with the National Gallery at 5.50pm UK time (12:50 p.m. Eastern time) in London. 
• Each will take place in front of a different 'Sunflowers' painting and all will celebrate and explore Vincent van Gogh’s life and work.
• It will conclude with a broadcast by the Tokyo curator (from the Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art), starting at 2:10 p.m. Eastern time (7.10 pm London time).

This is the first time ever there has been a live Facebook ‘relay’ of this type between different institutions worldwide. The five galleries have worked with Facebook to create a fully immersive digital exhibition, Sunflowers 360.

To further unite the paintings, and in such a way that would be totally impossible in the physical space of a gallery.....

Using a combination of VR technology and CGI to create an experience that will look and feel as if the five paintings were actually together in one room, viewers can interact with Sunflowers 360 on Gear VR or view as a 360 video on Facebook. Entering the gallery in VR, people can rotate around a 360 degree environment to view each of the paintings, or go on a guided tour of each painting. Willem van Gogh – the great-grandson of Van Gogh’s brother Theo – narrates the experience, sharing personal memories of the paintings. Sunflowers 360 is released today (10 August 2017) on the Facebook pages of each museum and through the Oculus store.

In terms of UK time, theVan Gogh 'Sunflowers' Facebook Live Running Order – 14 August 2017 is as follows

• National Gallery, London – 5.50 – 6.05pm, UK time 
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam – 6.10-6.25pm, UK time 
• Neue Pinakothek, Munich - 6.30–6.45pm, UK time 
• Philadelphia Museum of Art – 6.50-7.05pm, UK time 
• Seiji Togo Memorial Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Museum of Art, Tokyo – 7.10–7.25pm, UK time 
• a pre-recorded video will be released by the Van Gogh Museum

The Archibald Prize 2017 - Selected Artists and the winner

I love seeing the portraits for Australia's Archibald Prize - because they're so very different from the ones which get entered for art competitions in the UK.

Is it a hemisphere thing - or a cultural discontinuity about portraiture? Whatever - this post covers

• the winner and the controversy!
• selected artists

The prize (is) awarded, in the terms of the will of the late JF Archibald dated 15 March 1916, to

the best portrait ‘preferentially of some man or woman distinguished in art, letters, science or politics, painted by any artist resident in Australasia during the 12 months preceding the date fixed by the Trustees for sending in the pictures’.

This year, The 2017 Archibald Prize had

• 822 entries this year 
• 43 portraits selected for the exhibition.  (ie 5% success rate)
• 14 of the 43 finalists are women – a third.
• Of those selected almost half chose artists as sitters - 19 painted artists including a double portrait of an artist couple, James Drinkwater and Lottie Consalvo.

At the end of this post there's a review which compares the Archibald to the BP Portrait Prize - and it's a  recommended read!

Winner of the Archibald Prize 2017

"The Archibald Prize chronicles the changing face of Australia"
Michael Brand, Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales

Archibald Prize 2017 winner
Agatha Gothe-Snape by Mitch Cairns
© the artist

Mitch Cairns won with his Matisse-styled portrait of his artist-partner, Agatha Gothe-Snape.

• Bio: born 1984, Camden, Australia
• Education: BFA with Honours, National Art School, Sydney (2003-2006)
• Previous Archibald: 2013, 2014 amd 2015 - he was highly commended in 2014 and 2015

Every portrait is usually of a significant Australian and artists painting each other is almost an Archibald tradition . Gothe-Snape is a significant contemporary artist exhibiting widely both in Australia and overseas.  So the couple have achieved a major win - of  prize money and major marketing for both their artistic practices!

Below you can read about the controversy triggered by this choice.

The Winner of the Packing Room Prize 2017 is Peter Smeeth's painting of Lisa Wilkinson AM

Other finalists are listed below. You can see images of the all artwork in the exhibition on the website. These are made much more accessible due to a voiceover of the narrative of each painting. It's a pity we don't see these more on exhibition websites for those whose eyesight finds text difficult.

There seems to be rather less preference given to the eminent Australians this year compared to previous years - but that's just an impression, I've not been counting!

• Tony Albert - Self-portrait (ash on me)
• Jessica Ashton - Self-portrait as a clown
• Kate Beynon - With amulets and their shadows (Self-portrait)
• Andrew Bonneau - Portrait of Ayako Saito
• Boys of Sydney Grammar Edgecliff Preparatory School - Goodbye, Sir! (Portrait of Dr John Vallance)
• Keith Burt - Bare Tarragh (Portrait of Tarragh Cunningham)
• Jon Campbell - Two sunny boys (Peter Oxley and Jeremy Oxley) - I love the fact this is in media which is not conventional