Artworks are regularly sold at auctions around the world for record sums of money, but today’s guest believes that auctions serve a greater purpose than just growing the highest bidder’s collection. Every object is an invitation to consider our personal and collective histories through the unique and often fascinating story it has to tell. Today, you'll hear from a local auctioneer, Southern fine art specialist, and Senior Vice President of Brunk Auctions, Lauren Brunk. Brunk is a private auction house specializing in the sale of fine art, jewelry, antique furniture, coins, and countless other areas of collecting ranging from contemporary art to antiquities. In this episode, Lauren offers some insight into the world of auctions, the types of people that make up the buyers and sellers, how auctions retell the stories of the items they sell, and so much more. For a comprehensible guide to the secondary art market, be sure to tune in today!

Key Points From This Episode:

• Defining the secondary art market and how it differs from the primary art market.
• How virtual art sales have evolved since the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The wide variety of people who make up Brunk’s buyer and seller communities.
• Ways that auctions retell the story of the items they sell.
• Insight into the relationship between auction houses and museums.
• Lauren’s relationship with the Black Potter, Jim McDowell.
• How Brunk supports the next generation of art storytellers through community outreach.
• What the objects at art auctions can teach us about value.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Brunk Auctions — https://brunkauctions.com/

Brunk Auctions on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/brunkauctions/

Email Brunk Auctions — info@brunkauctions.com

Lauren Brunk on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-brunk-291ab51/

Lauren Brunk on Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/laurenb1969/

Jim McDowell — https://blackpotter.com/

‘Jim McDowell: The Need to Look Back in Order to Move Forward’ (Episode 13) — https://www.artsvilleusa.com/jim-mcdowell/

Nasher Museum of Art — https://nasher.duke.edu/

Ogden Museum of Southern Art — https://ogdenmuseum.org/

A Question of Value: Stories from the Life of an Auctioneer — https://www.amazon.com/dp/1469678098

Artsville — https://www.artsvilleusa.com/

Scott “Sourdough” Power — https://www.notarealartist.com/

Louise Glickman — https://www.louiseglickman.com/

Daryl Slaton — http://www.tailsofwhimsy.com/

Crewest Studio — https://creweststudio.com/

Sand Hill Artists Collective (SHAC) — https://sandhillartists.com/