How to Commission a Portrait or Sculpture from Alan LeQuire

Alan LeQuire's site presents his practice as including portraits and commissions alongside public works and exhibitions, so a commission inquiry is a legitimate starting point rather than something you need to talk your way into. The site itself does not publish a commission process, pricing, or scheduling terms, so the practical answer is: prepare a clear brief, then contact the studio directly through the website to confirm whether your project fits and how it would proceed. Everything below is about making that first contact useful.

What the site tells you before you ask

The available material on alanlequire.com describes the work in these categories:

• Public works
• Portraits
• Commissions
• Exhibitions

That grouping matters for how you frame a request. A portrait commission and a large-scale public or institutional commission are different conversations — different scale, different approval chains, different timelines. If your project is a public or civic piece, expect the process to involve more than one decision-maker on your side.

The site also carries the artist's own description of the work:

"I love the moment when an inanimate material like clay seems to come alive. This is the central mystery and miracle of sculpture."

That is a statement about the making process, not about terms. Read it as context for the kind of work being offered, not as a promise about materials, delivery, or schedule.

What the site does not tell you

Be aware of the gaps, because they shape what you have to ask:

None of this means the answer is no. It means the answer has to come from the studio, and you should not assume any of these terms in advance.

Preparing your inquiry

A commission request that gets a useful reply is one where the artist can tell, in a few lines, whether the project is possible. Put these in your first message:

1. What the piece is Portrait bust, full figure, relief, maquette, or something else. If it is a portrait, say whether it is from life, from photographs, or both.

2. Scale and setting Approximate dimensions and where the piece will live — indoors, outdoors, a lobby, a park, a private home. Outdoor work raises questions about material, weather, and mounting that indoor work does not.

3. Subject and reference material Who or what is being depicted, and what reference exists. For a portrait, that usually means photographs from multiple angles, and possibly a sitting. Say what you already have.

4. Who is deciding Whether you are the sole decision-maker or part of a committee, board, or family group. This affects how many rounds of review the project will realistically need.

5. Budget range and target date Even a rough range helps. A commission with no stated budget and no deadline is hard to scope, and a studio may simply not be able to respond usefully.

6. Your contact details and time zone Straightforward, but easy to forget when writing a long brief.

How to make contact

The site is the entry point for inquiries. Use the contact channel published on alanlequire.com rather than a guessed email address or a social media message, and keep the first message short — a paragraph of introduction plus the six items above, with images attached or linked rather than embedded in the body if there are many.

If you do not hear back quickly, that is not necessarily a signal about interest. Studios working on large public and portrait commissions often batch administrative correspondence around project cycles.

Questions to ask once you are in contact

These are the items the site leaves open, so they are the ones worth confirming in writing:

• Is the studio taking on new commissions at this time?
• What is the typical sequence — concept, maquette, approval, fabrication, delivery?
• How many review points are included, and what happens if the design changes after approval?
• What is the deposit structure, and what are the payment stages?
• What is the realistic lead time from approval to delivery?
• Who handles crating, shipping, and installation, and is that included?
• What materials are appropriate for the intended location?
• Who holds copyright and reproduction rights after delivery?
• What maintenance does the finished piece require?

Get the answers in writing. For a public or institutional commission, your own procurement or legal review will likely need them anyway.

Common sticking points

Assuming a published price. There is none on the site. Do not build a budget presentation around a number you inferred.

Treating a portrait commission like ordering a product. Portrait work typically involves sittings or reference review and at least one approval stage on likeness. Plan for that time.

Leaving the site out of the brief. Location determines material and structural choices more than most clients expect. An outdoor bronze and an indoor clay-origin piece are not interchangeable.

Skipping the decision-maker question. If a committee has to approve the maquette, say so at the start. It changes the schedule, not just the paperwork.

Expecting a fast answer on scope. The site gives you the categories of work and the artist's own words about the process. It does not give you a quote, and no responsible studio would give one from a first email without knowing the site and scale.

The short version

Check the commissions and portraits sections of alanlequire.com, write a brief covering subject, scale, location, reference material, decision-makers, budget range, and target date, and send it through the site's contact channel. Treat pricing, timeline, materials, and revision terms as open questions to be confirmed directly with the studio — the website does not answer them, and guessing will only cost you a round of emails.