barter gift guide #2: for bare walls

For our second installment, we thought we'd share some of our favorite affordable art sites. 

20x200

["Las Vegas, Nevada, November 2000" by Mike Sinclair, available here]

["Ideal Bookshelf 6, GW" by Jane Mount, available here]

Art-dealer/curator/innovator Jen Bekman founded 20x200 on the following formula: "(limited editions x low prices) + the internet = art for everyone." 20x200 releases two new works a week (one photo & one work on paper) and 200 prints (in the smallest size) are available for just $20 USD. We've found a number of great gifts on this site, and our own bare and budget-concious walls have benefited immensely, too. 

ETSY 

["Baby Porcupine" fine art print from Sharon Montrose's Etsy shop] 

["Everything is going to be OK" print from Jen Renninger's Please Be Still Etsy shop--She's having a 2-for-1 print sale through December 14!] 

["Yellow" 8x8 photo from Erin Tyner's Etsy shop]

If you have yet to spend an entire afternoon on Etsy, consider this your warning. The site can be overwhelming, and their gift guides are a good place to start (here's their "The Gift of Art" guide). We love that Etsy allows you to buy handmade goods directly from the artist; you can even shop local, and many of the sellers will ship internationally. 

PRINT SOCIETY 

["Doe Print" by Berkley Illustration, available here] 

[Untitled, 2008 by Elizabeth Weinberg, available here] 

We only recently learned about Print Society, and we like it already. Prints are available for every price range (the untitled photo above is listed at $4 USD) and artists can make submit their own work for purchase. La Muse may have to give listing some prints a try!  

500 PENCILS 

This last idea doesn't qualify as affordable, nor is it something you'd necessarily hang on your wall (though look how exquisite the full set looks when it is displayed this way!), but we couldn't resist linking to Social Designer's 500 Colored Pencils project. You subsribe for 20 months, and each month receive 25 new colors (grouped in color families & shipped in a spiffy box) with names like Lobster Bisque, Tragedy, and Dance Card. This would be quite the gift for the art-maker in your life.


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