In a service business, any service business, it’s a good thing to say yes to your customers. Yes, we can help you with that. Yes we can meet your deadline. Yes, we’d be pleased to handle this or that detail for you. Yes, we provide all the services you need. Yes, we’re friendly and helpful and, to particularize to our business, if this is your first time shipping art we will guide you though the process easel to install.

But sometimes the best thing we can say is no, or don’t.

Some examples:

An artist or gallery wants to ship a cardboard soft-packed painting overseas via air freight, as it is, without the protection of a wooden crate. In that case, we respectfully advise against it. If they insist, we politely insist back, and perhaps send them a few photos of the crates we routinely receive with footprints all over them. Or mention the percentage of crates returned to us with the shock watches triggered, suggesting the crate has been dropped or roughly handled.

Or, a potential client who is shipping a very valuable work overseas wants to declare a significantly lower value for customs purposes, sometimes far lower than the insurance coverage they have purchased on the piece. While shying away from using a hot button term like “fraud” we simply advise against it, as the undervaluation, if detected by customs, could result in seizure of the work or other unpleasantness involving financial penalties.

A favorite of our “please don’t” examples comes at holiday time. During peak travel times many airlines which normally carry packages and freight actually “bump” those cargoes in favor of carrying additional passengers. The result is often a glut of freight which can turn 2 day freight for example into 3 or 4 day freight, or worse. And “next day” becomes the next day they have room. We counsel callers during this time to add contingency days to their shipping schedule, especially where they have exhibition or other critical dates to meet. Where the time frame can’t be adjusted, we work with them to place the shipment with a specialty cargo shipper where a firm booking can be obtained in advance. Sometimes this costs more, but “costs more” is a lot better than “still sitting at the airport on the day show opened.”

Professional art handling companies like ours use their experience to guide clients to packing solutions and best carriers under a given set of circumstances. We’ve made quite a few client friends over the years by understanding when to say no and suggest an alternative. Sometimes our advice isn’t taken, and the soft-packed box shipped on December 23^rd arrives intact and on time the next day and breezes through customs without the valuation fudge being noticed. Could happen. Undoubtedly has happened, but the probabilities aren’t robust. When the object or objects are irreplaceable, we want the shipping gods and odds on our side.

So if there’s anything we can don’t for you, we’re listening.

Betsy Dorfman

OK, so you probably know this one… the lines are in fact of equal length. Different cultures, it turns out, react to the puzzle differently. Among westernized nations or where populations encounter right angles with regularity, the illusion holds. Viewers in these “carpentered” cultures are susceptible to the lie. However in more primitive cultures, the lines are more frequently correctly perceived as equal. The how and why specifics of this are of interest, and widely debated in various books and internet citations. I haven’t seen a discussion of this however through the eyes of an artist or sculptor, which thought was the genesis of this entry.

What if the figures above were sculptures rather than line drawings? If we assume that the elements of each are equal in size and weight, then there could be an expectation of parity in the shipping costs. Ah, but unfortunately we have now run afoul of the BSI – Budget Shipper’s Illusion. In fact the two sculptures are identical in shipping terms only if the right angle pieces on the ends of each main member are removable. If they are not removable, then the sculpture at the top would be more expensive to ship. It is longer overall in length, as the “feet” of the arrow or right angle portion extend past the length of the center line. Its volume is thus greater than that of the figure below, and hence it will be more expensive to ship in most cases. In fact it is relatively easy to see that the bottom figure in fact fits readily within the “footprint” of the top figure.

There is nothing in the scientific literature regarding the performance of the hunter gatherers relative to the BSI.  But since, dearth of right angles not withstanding, they had to hunt and then gather, as in lug around, a lot of things, they presumably knew to charge more for a bigger thing than a small one. Unless the big thing was light and the small thing was heavy. But that’s another corollary of the BSI for another day.

Betsy Dorfman

Crates come in all sizes.

This one is from our “extra bedroom” series.

Looks like we might need that handy expand- a-truck tool…

Just another day at the office.

Our sympathies, guys.

Betsy Dorfman

Ian Patrick, crating manager

Ian Patrick, Crating Manager

Oct 22, 2010

FINE ART SHIPPING welcomes a granddaughter!!  

Emery Dorfman, born July 11 in Seattle WA

  As you can see, the packaging for this product has been designed with  great attention to safety, style, and utility for re-use. The most vulnerable points of the object are wrapped in suitably soft and archival material, then further bundled into an appropriate shape to  secure the item within the selected vehicle of conveyance. Where appropriate, additional measures have been taken to mitigate environmental exposures, particularly in the top or “head” region.

As is recommended, a minimum of  2″ of foam padding is employed  at the sides, top, and bottom of the enclosure to further protect the shipment in transit. Also included but not seen, certain moisture barrier strategies have been incorporated into the interior packaging where prudent, and based on long established guidelines for care of  such commodities.

Further updates will follow as the shipment is expected to increase in size and weight over time.

Betsy Dorfman

What has dozens of steel quills and makes a  surprisingly lovely sound as you walk toward it?   It’s an elegant steel sculpture by Italian artist and furniture designer Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), and it was my distinct pleasure as the new crating manager to pack it this week. As a recovering sculptor myself, I take particular delight in Bertoia’s lively, indeed musical, use of industrial materials and their properties.

This piece, an assortment of slender steel rods welded to a rectangular plate in a somewhat pitched “V” formation, was certainly handsome enough to look at, but the real surprise revealed itself as I stepped closer and heard the rustle of the steel rods, making a sound like brushes on a cymbal; sizzle, sizzle, sizzle… 

From a crating perspective, the fragility of the piece posed certain challenges.  The sculpture had come to us with an extant injury (one of the rods had fallen loose from the plate), and I wanted to ensure that the packing put only minimal stress on the welds.  This meant no compression – nothing on top to flex the rods.  Capturing the base was therefore the way to go, so I devised a system of padded yokes which fit together like a 3D puzzle, grasping the piece from its sturdiest point.  To keep the rods from trembling in transit, I gently bundled them together and grasped with a sliding foam collar.

Packing of complex sculpture has always been one of my favorite aspects of this job.  It offers the art enthusiast in me a chance to commune with works of sculpture in a very tactile way, and allows me to show of my own chops as a craftsman.  The little rustling Bertoia was my favorite kind of project… pretty good day at the office!

Ian Patrick for FINE ART SHIPPING

Artwork from the collection of David K. Pressman

Recent news reports have detailed the upcoming sale of artworks from the Michael Crichton collection, currently on display at Christie’s in London. The paintings to be sold include a seminal work from the Jasper Johns “Flag” series, as well as works by Picasso, Lichtenstein and Rauschenberg . Old friends all.

FINE ART SHIPPING has moved, installed, shipped and stored many of these works over the past decade-plus for the Crichton family. Packing and crating these recent few to send off for display in London was an exercise in nostalgia to be sure. We have softpacked the Johns for Mr. Crichton to carry on an airplane, installed it at residences in New York and Los Angeles, and each time we handled it was a thrill. The office emptied out, art handlers mysteriously appeared as the crate was about to be opened — there are artworks which claim their own audiences, and this is one.

On September 11, 2001 our Los Angeles based crew was packing art at the Crichton residence in upstate New York, some 90 miles from ground zero. We were immediately invited to stay in the home for several days, allowing us to give our hotel rooms to our NY based crew, who were unable in those early days and hours to return to the city. So this goes beyond a business relationship, to what has been a partnership of care and concern for this art over many years and circumstances.
Following the current exhibition at Christie’s the artworks go on sale in New York in May. To the new owners we can only say: may the vibes, all good, be with you.

Betsy Dorfman

FINE ART SHIPPING was recently privileged to provide packing and crating services for the ART in Embassies program, which exhibits works of American artists in the public rooms of embassy residences around the world. Yes, Virginia, a government program that actually and directly supports the arts, and has done so since its inception in 1964. Way to go, State Department!

Artworks are loaned by artists, corporations, museums and private collectors, and the AEIP pays the costs of packing and shipping to the destination city. Further information on the program is available at : http://aiep.state.gov/index.cfm

The site also supplies guidelines for artists interested in submitting art to their Registry. For students and other art hungry travelers, the website contains a listing of what works are currently on exhibit in which cities, together with artist statements and details of the pieces on view. This is a great way to support American artists and to beat the lines and entrance fees encountered at so many better known exhibition venues.

Betsy Dorfman