PHILADELPHIA -- If there's an art to collecting art, Susan Guill just might be considered an old master.\nFor about 15 years, she has been attending the annual student exhibition at the esteemed Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Nearly every wall in her Bala Cynwyd home is adorned with the work of an academy student; she purchased five student paintings at this year's show alone.\nBut in recent years, the crowds have become larger, and the art gets snapped up even faster.\n"It has caught on so much in terms of the crowd it attracts that those of us who've been going for years get a little disgruntled," she said with a laugh, adding that the increased popularity is good because it means a bigger financial gain for the school and the students.\nThis year, the Pennsylvania Academy's 105th annual student show broke all previous sales records, raising $313,000 in its three-week run -- a 9 percent increase from the year before. About 350 works of art were sold, some priced as high as $15,000.\nAlthough most schools say they don't track sales or attendance trends, it is clear that the market for works by young artists, some who have not yet even graduated from school, is growing in many cities. Prices are often substantially lower than at commercial galleries, making fine art affordable for people unable to pay five or six figures for original works.\nAt the Pennsylvania Academy show this past spring, 12 of the 13 paintings or monotypes by graduate student Judith Thomas were bought almost instantly.\n"I spent most of my evening in shock," said Thomas, who did not expect to sell anything.\n"It was a very bizarre experience; I never anticipated that there would be such a frenzy -- seeing so many people clamoring at the door and positively determined to buy," she said. "I was exhausted when I got home, but it was a very positive and energizing experience."\nArtists like Thomas say that the experience forges valuable contacts with private collectors and commercial galleries and creates opportunities for feedback and fresh ideas. Collectors also say that they enjoy forming and developing relationships with young artists, and the bond deepens their enjoyment of the art itself.\n"I kind of joke that we have an art problem, and we need to go into a 12-step program," said Jamie O'Neill, who has been attending the annual Pennsylvania Academy show with his partner, David Rubin, for about five years. Their art collection, numbering about 100 pieces including paintings and prints, is largely by Pennsylvania Academy students.\nAt this year's annual student exhibition at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, students sold 528 pieces from the show for a total of about $145,000, up from 420 pieces and about $131,000 last year. The majority of the works were sold on opening night, when patrons pay up to $300 a ticket to get first dibs on what's up for sale, spokesman Tony Scotta said.\nThe Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore has also noticed the demand, and the school is looking at ways to ramp up its promotion of student exhibitions in response to increasing public inquiries about how to see and buy student work, spokeswoman Cheryl Knauer said.\nSome art school professors worry that early success could inappropriately influence students still defining their voice and their style to play it safe and commercial, so their works can easily sell.\n"The danger is where you have critics coming into (students') studios looking for new talent; that's when it can be very disruptive," said Carol Becker, dean of faculty for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. "You want students finding themselves, not trying to find what the market wants."\nColumbia University recently decided to exclude first-year graduate students in its open-studios event, when the public is invited to view student works in progress, to alleviate some of the pressure from those just entering the program.\n"The market is overheated, and everyone out there thinks it's a good time to buy artwork," said Sid Sachs, a teacher and exhibitions director at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. "People are thinking they're going to get their hands on the next Frank Stella, and it's not going to happen."\nThough collectors such as Guill, O'Neill and Rubin buy for the love of the art, not for a possible windfall. Fine art typically does increase in value -- although not at the margins enjoyed by investments like stocks and real estate.\nArt speculators, however, are increasingly becoming fixtures at the student shows.\n"I don't want to sound terrible, but it does appear the nature of the crowd has changed: men in pinstripe suits and Hermes ties, women in Chanel suits and high heels," Guill said.\n"I go there in my comfortable shoes and clothes," she said. "I don't understand how you can hold a plate of food and drink a glass of wine and buy art."\nThe Jack Tilton Gallery in New York City has successfully brought the work of art students to its commercial gallery. Gallery director Janine Cirincione told The New Yorker that a show this year called "School Days" featuring art by 19 graduate students from Hunter College, Columbia and Yale University was 70 percent sold before the opening. Prices ranged from $2,000 to $16,000.\nNeither dealer Jack Tilton nor Cirincione responded to telephone and e-mail requests for comment.\nDespite the potential of students being spoiled by success, some art teachers point out that demand for student art also has its benefits: The notoriously arduous task of establishing a foothold in the art world is not quite as daunting for emerging artists when collectors and dealers are more open-minded, said Lawrence Rinder, dean of California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
\n"To look at it in a more positive way, students can actually have a livelihood shortly after graduating," he said. "That people are paying attention to their work before they are even 30 or 40 years old brings a greater atmosphere of liveliness and excitement."\nThose who collect art for reasons not related to status or return on investment say that no matter how the trend turns, they will continue to buy student work until they're priced out.\n"Life can be tough, so its nice coming home and looking at a painting and remembering where you got it," Guill said. "That's really what it's all about"
