frequently asked questions

Dazed & Confucius works with visual artists around the world helping them achieve their goals in the fine art industry or in their own practice. Artist consultants Pennylane Shen and David Ellingsen assist over 1000 artists a year through personalized one-on-one consultations alone. Outside of consultations, Dazed & Confucius offers seminars and workshops on navigating the fine art industry, and provide tools such as website building, art writing and professional documents tailored to the artist.

Consultations include but are not limited to: artwork critique, building an audience, focusing and strengthening skills, developing a unique concept and identity, gallery and industry outreach, online marketing and business practices.

No, while art consultants or agents may liaise between potential buyers and artists, the artist consultants at Dazed & Confucius work strictly with the artist to guide their business and art practice, through artwork critique, career planning and strategic marketing. Artist Consultants at Dazed & Confucius will also not negotiate deals with corporations or institutions, or offer individual client or gallery contact information for the artists to solicit.

While your consultation will be tailored specifically to you, you can generally expect that the session will begin by reviewing the information you’ve sent via the Pre-Consultation Form, the images/documents you may have sent via Dropbox and Google Docs, or those we can see on your website and/or social media. In your time together, your consultant will look at your work with you and offer a critique of what's working and what's not, discussing some goals to make a plan for the near future.

To make the most of your session, we suggest having high priority topics or questions ready for your consultant. Please consider taking notes during your meeting. If you’d like to record the session, please let the consultant know ahead of time. We ask that you please not share your recording publicly.

Both David and Pennylane ably consult in a wide range of areas—including each other’s specialties—and, having worked together for many years, are very much aligned in terms of aesthetics and client rapport. Artists new to Dazed & Confucius often begin by seeing David for an overview of business practices and then follow up with Pennylane to dig deep into the work itself.

Generally speaking, David focuses on branding and marketing in terms of clarity and aesthetics, and heads all of our marketing services. He brings practical ‘boots on the ground' experience as a working artist who has successfully navigated areas including audience building, direct sales, gallery representation, museum exhibition, and realizing a living income through his work. David speaks to a variety of methodologies, especially intention to conception. His background in photography brings particular expertise in photographic technologies and materials and its hybridization with other media. David also has a wealth of knowledge about the public gallery and museum scenes. He offers clear and actionable strategies, particularly on the nuts-and-bolts such as marketing, design, pricing, contracts.

Pennylane’s interest for her clientele is, simply put, improvement of the work itself. Her strengths are in seeing the weak points in a body of work and recognizing how it could reach a wider audience. This may involve technique, concept, ethos, commentary.

Pennylane’s background is in fine art, visual culture theory, contemporary curatorial trends, and the commercial and public gallery space. She possesses a thorough knowledge of materials and process, and can speak to art world discourses and ways to manifest these in the work (Are the materials being used the best ones? Who or what is the work inspired by? What research needs to be done?). Hers is a no-nonsense, holistic approach to address an artist’s practice such that it can more fully realize its potential. Ultimately, Pennylane guides artists toward a more secure and refined sense of the artistic identity upon which they will build their practice and career.

Regular 30 minute consultations are ideal for those who have focused questions, require immediate feedback, or have upcoming events and deadlines that need attention. We recommend preparing a list of topics ahead of time and including this in your pre-consult form to make the most of this 30-minute session.

An extended 60-minute consultation is ideal for those who require detailed assessment of their artwork or business, along with planning and identification of goals. This session is catered to the artists’ needs and topics may include developing a body of work, marketing, gallery approach, general critique and identifying an audience, among others.

Both formats function almost identically, with you and your consultant having a face-to-face conversation.

Prior to your meeting, your consultant will have reviewed your website, social platforms, and, if needed, any images you will have sent them via Dropbox or Google Drive (such as detail shots, images of your work in situ, works in progress, etc.). They will have those images at the ready during your consultation. 

In an online consultation, you’ll share a screen with your consultant so you’re both able to view the same sites and images at the same time. You can also hold works up to the screen to show them detail and share your work space should you be in your studio for the consult.

An in-person consultation is held at your consultant’s office and functions in the same way as an online meeting, with your consultant and yourself able to view sites and images on their computer screen. You are also welcome to bring small works to an in-person consultation.

90% of Dazed & Confucius consultations are conducted online with artists around the world and seeing your work in person is not required as Pennylane and David have a wealth of experience with every type of medium and technique imaginable. Between the images you will have shared via your website, social media, Dropbox or Google Drive (such as detail shots, images of your work in situ, works in progress, etc.) and asking you some deeper questions, they are able to assess where you're at and provide recommendations via an online meeting format.

Small Group Critiques are ideal for organizations, artist collectives or groups of 6 artists who individually may not be ready for a one-on-one consult but share similar needs in terms of professional and artistic advisement. Through a series of pointed questions, each artist receives personal and collective critique. A session is 2 hours.

During a Small Group Critique session, each artist brings a small selection of their work, Pennylane directs the group through a series of 3 set questions whereby each person answers individually. Pennylane addresses each person individually regarding their body of work, although this content is open to the group. The session ends with a collective question and answer period.

Please contact us through our Contact Form to book your consultation. In the message field, you may note the month when you’d ideally like to see your consultant and if there are any dates or days of the week that may not be a fit for you. Our Administrator generally replies within 3 business days with a date and time when your consultant is available to meet with you. 

It is customary for artists new to Dazed & Confucius to book their first session via Zoom with David Ellingsen. He'll conduct a “state-of-the-nation” review of your current practice and artist presence, and make recommendations for next steps to help you move toward your goals. Afterward your initial consultation, you may choose to continue working with David for your future consultations or to book a consultation with Pennylane Shen, or both.

At Dazed & Confucius, we use Zoom for our online sessions. Please use a desktop or laptop computer to ensure you're able to clearly view the content we share.

To connect to your Zoom consultation with:

• David, visit https://zoom.us/j/8059987389 and enter the PASSCODE: fxfJa6

• Pennylane, visit https://zoom.us/j/3294927679 and enter the PASSCODE: 561402

If you’re new to Zoom, here are some quick videos that share how to configure your video and audio, and share your screen.

Ideally a week before your consultation, we ask that you complete our Pre-consultation Form, sharing links to your online presence, details about your practice and your goals, and any topics you’d like to discuss. If there are images that you'd like to have for review that may not be on your website or social media pages, such as works in progress, detail images, studio shots, etc., upload them to a Dropbox folder or Google Docs folder with permissions open. For an in-person consultation, we ask that you bring only a few small works for review.

Confidentiality is extremely important to us. We understand that discussions around your work, career, sales, finances, gallery relationships, and other professional matters can be sensitive. All conversations during consultations are private, and any information, artwork, or documents shared with us are treated as confidential. We will never share your materials or details of our conversations without your explicit permission.

Dazed and Confucius does not use AI tools to process or review an artist’s work or consultation materials without their knowledge and permission.

That’s up to you! The amount of time between sessions depends on how quickly you work. This is different for every artist but most leave 3-4 months between sessions. This allows time for you to consider and begin work on the recommendations you were given.

You don’t need to accomplish all the recommendations or complete a recommendation before you meet with your consultant again. It’s often beneficial to have a session when you’re part way through so you can discuss how things are evolving for you and make adjustments to your plans as needed.

Should you wish to meet more frequently, we typically recommend no sooner than 6 weeks between meetings. With this frequency, 30-min meetings are ideal.

It depends how quickly you’d like to see your consultant. Planning ahead is ideal as both Pennylane’s and David’s calendars often fill up quite far in advance. 

For a 60-min consultation, you can anticipate a 2-3 week wait to meet with David and an approximately 3-6 week wait to meet with Pennylane. We can often accommodate a 30-min consultation sooner than a 60-min meeting.

Please contact us through our Contact Form to book your consultation. In the message field, you may note the month when you’d ideally like to see your consultant and if there are any dates or days of the week that may not be a fit for you. Our Administrator typically replies within 3 business days with a date and time when your preferred consultant is available to meet with you. 

Yes! Pennylane has been the interviewed by several podcasts and publications, each offering insights and recommendations for artists at all stages of their careers. You may also sign up for the Dazed & Confucius Mailing List and follow us on Instagram.

Dazed & Confucius also offers a suite of services for artists, including websites, digital installation images, take-away Cards, professional documents, and writing. Please contact us to inquire about or to book any of these services.

Dazed & Confucius also offers a suite of services for artists, including:

• Websites geared specifically for the art industry

• Catalogues in both electronic and print PDF formats, offering the viewer an elegant way to engage with a body of work

• Digital Installation Images to show your work installed in a gallery or home environment

• Take-Away Card design services and printing options

• Professional Documents such as contracts, invoices, inventory, price-lists and delivery memos

• Writing Services editing for artist statements, CVs, grants, press releases, exhibition statements and proposals

Please contact us to inquire about or to book any of the above services.

Dazed & Confucius consultants are happy to provide reference letters in support of our clients for grants, competitions, and applications to higher education by request. Reference letters are $50.00 CAD. As it is important to us that our recommendations remain authentic, not all clients who request a reference will receive one. Approvals for references are made on a case by case basis. 

Invoices are sent from our payment processor, PayPal, to the email address with which you booked your consultation or service with the subject line: Invoice from Dazed & Confucius Consulting. To view, pay, download a PDF of, or print your invoice, select the “View and Pay Invoice” button in that email.

All payments are processed through PayPal. You do not need to register for a PayPal account to make a payment. You can use a Visa, MasterCard or American Express credit card to pay via PayPal’s payment processing system. You can also use a debit card that displays the Visa or MasterCard logo. If you have a PayPal account, you can also make a payment with it. Payment is due within one week of your appointment date.

Our abbreviated name on your banking / credit card statement will be DZCONFUCIUS.

Invoices are sent from our payment processor, PayPal, to the email address with which you booked your service with the subject line: Invoice from Dazed & Confucius Consulting. To view, pay, download a PDF of, or print your invoice, select the “View and Pay Invoice” button in that email.

For custom artist statements, a 50% non-refundable deposit is taken after the client approves the outline. The remainder of the balance is paid upon final approval. If the artist is not satisfied with the writing, they are not required to pay the remaining amount and copyright ownership of the writing remains with Dazed & Confucius.

Please contact us at info@dazedandconfucius.com at least a week prior to your scheduled appointment to let us know if you’d like to reschedule or cancel your consultation. Cancellations made 72 hours or more in advance of the appointed meeting time will receive a refund on payment minus a 5% processing fee. All consultation, service and seminar bookings are non-refundable within 72 hours of the scheduled meeting time, and payment for missed meetings is due in full.