Find out how easy and economical it can be to have original artwork in your home or office.

•  All gallery visitors are welcome to browse or buy.
•  Take advantage of the Art Rental Program    by becoming a member of the Flint Institute of    Arts. (Membership is available for as little as $30    per year.)
•  Proceeds support museum programs. 30% of    rent or purchase is tax deductible.
•  Click here for examples of the many paintings    in our gallery.

Of the different types of prints shown in the Art Sales & Rental Gallery, silk-screen prints are the most common. Silk-screen printing, also called "serigraphy," is performed by forcing paint through stencils consisting of fine silk cloth stretched over a wooden frame, onto the paper beneath. Nylon or polyester stencils are sometimes used.

The silk cloth is first coated with a thin layer of wax. The artist then creates an image on the cloth by scraping or dissolving away areas of the wax. A sheet of paper is inserted under the screen and special paint is poured along the edge of the frame. A squeegee is then pulled across the screen, forcing the paint through the wax-free areas to produce a direct transfer of the image from the silk screen to the paper. Each such imprinting is called a "pull."

The artist creates a separate image on a separate stencil for each color in the serigraph. Each color is applied (pulled) individually in the above manner. While a typical silk-screen print may contain ten or fewer individual colors, there is no limit to the number of colors that can be applied.

In addition to the artistic talent required in creating the image, the print maker must also be a skilled craftsman. It's a very laborious process. Upon completing the edition, the artist signs and numbers each print, in pencil, in the margin outside the image. The number refers to the size of the print edition or the total number of prints the artist made of that image.

The Art Sales & Rental Gallery is operated by the Founders Society to allow FIA visitors to view, purchase or rent artwork by local artists. It has served art lovers and artists for almost 50 years. The exhibited artwork is juried for acceptance by the FIA curator and Gallery volunteers. The artists set their own prices, and receive 70% of any sales or rental receipts. The Gallery receives the remaining 30%, with all profits going to the Founders Society to support the FIA. Our inventory of artwork is continually changing as current artists bring in new pieces, and new artists are added. Besides paintings and photographs, we also exhibit ceramic, glass, wood art, original stationery, and a host of other small works.

In the fall of 1959, the Founders Society, a group of women committed to raising funds for the Flint Institute of Arts, borrowed $500.00 from the Board of Trustees to purchase 23 framed reproductions. One of these was given to the member who recruited the most new members during that year's membership drive. The other 22 were the first pieces of art in the new Art Sales & Rental Gallery, a gallery designed to provide, for rent or sale, artwork to the members of the museum. In the beginning, the artwork rented for $1.50 per month and was mainly rented to members of the Founders Society. The gallery was located in the front entryway of the FIA.

It wasn't until the late 1970s that it was decided to take in artwork by local artists on consignment. This provided the members of the FIA with a much larger variety of subject matter, media, and price range from which to choose, and provided local artists with an outlet for display and exposure.

The artists leave their artwork on consignment and receive 70% of all sales and rental income while the gallery earns 30%. All income over and above expenses, goes to supporting the programs at the Flint Institute of Arts. At any given time, the gallery has 400 – 500 pieces in inventory and approximately 100 – 150 of those are rented out to members of the FIA. The gallery is staffed by volunteers, many of whom are, or have been, members of the Founders Society, which now includes men.

Over the years, the gallery has moved several times. In 1992, a generous donation was given to enclose the gallery and to add more display walls. A bookkeeper was also hired. On February 1, 2004, the gallery temporarily moved to 503 East St., while the FIA underwent major renovations. In September of 2005, the gallery moved back into the Flint Institute of Arts building. The Founders Society is grateful for the support the FIA staff and members have given the gallery over the past 50 years.

Gallery visitors often ask, "What is the difference between a print and a reproduction?"

Traditionally, print is a term for art created by classical printmaking techniques, such as screen printing, block printing, etching, lithography, etc., in which each copy is a hand-made original print. Printmakers produce a limited number of prints, which they sign and number.

A reproduction is a copy made by photographing or digitally scanning an original painting or drawing. Since identical copies are easily produced, reproductions are typically not numbered, although some artists will limit the number of copies and may sign and number their reproductions in the same manner as printmakers.

Many artists are now making reproductions and mislabeling them as prints. To the average art buyer, it is of little concern whether it is a print or a reproduction. Serious art collectors or investors, however, prefer prints over reproductions since a hand-crafted original print is more likely to appreciate in value.

The widely accepted term Giclee Print often appears on artwork. These are not truly prints in the classical sense, but are copies of original paintings which were digitally scanned on high resolution scanners and printed on high-quality digital printers using archival inks and papers. They are actually high-quality reproductions.