I'm sure I'm doing the right thing, but...

[DitavonTeese]

...it's always good to get other opinions.

My sister died last year. We're currently clearing out her house. She was an artist and has left a legacy of artwork behind. We want to keep these in the family if possible.

I've decided to sell some of her stuff on ebay to help raise money to look after her artwork - if we have to keep some of it in storage this will cost a lot.

I think I'm being pragmatic, but does it sound, I don't know, maybe cold to be selling my dead sister's stuff? If the art weren't an issue I'd just give it all away. I thought about promote it as having belonged to a late artist to see if that might raise the price, but (a) she wasn't famous, and (b) I think it's a bit tasteless.

What do you think?

When you talk about 'stuff' you are selling, is this some of her artwork or other things?

why don't you take her artwork into town and set it up somewhere and give it away for free, you might not like it but it's in the eye of the beholder.

people who like it can take it and display it and it could even bring her rocognition she never got in life.

I would like to think my art was being enjoyed.

It's non-art stuff which we're selling. We are planning to exhibit her work at some point (though they're not paintings; they're installations, which take up rather a lot of space - the only place to get these shown is in galleries and I don't have the contacts or the time and energy to start hustling galleries at the moment).

I suppose the storage idea is a kind of contingency plan, in case we can't get her work on display.

Since it is non art work you are selling then it does not seem cold. If art was her first passion then she may have been pleased you were thinking in the same way she would have? Sorry for your loss.

I think that, if you have stuff you are going to give away and you have other stuff that you want to keep, but may not be able to cope with the finance aspect of that then the answer clear.

I am sure your sister would rather her art was kept by people who love it/her with a view to getting it displayed etc. than have you observe society rules and end up with her art being lost or somesuch.

I don't think yo uare wrong at all. If she were still alive she might well have decided to sell some of her stuff to fund ongoing work: now she's dead, her belongings are up to you to dispose of and if you want to sell them to fund the preservation of her artwork, that's not a bad thing.