Careers in Art
By gladeswim3
Careers in Art
By: Elizabeth Merin
Hi I’m Elizabeth Merin, a sixth grader at Hunters Woods Elementary School and for take your child to work day, I went to my mom’s office, or rather studio. My mom is an artist and she works at Artworks, a little and eclectic art studio set in an industrial complex, off of Sunset Hills Road. She paints with a group of 14 personable, hardworking co-workers at Art Works. Though the shop may look like utter chaos, if you step inside you’ll be blown away by the pieces in here, most have nothing to do with each other, but they look great together.
I decided to interview people in the complex to get a feel for it. I started with Jill A., who is one of the artists my mom works with.
Interview with Jill (Member of Art Works)
Me: What made you decide to work here?
Jill: The idea of getting my art shown to many people inspired me to work here. I wanted to paint so people could come see, and buy my work.
Me: What is your favorite medium?
Jill: My work is done in acrylics in a style called abstract impressionism. For me abstract impressionism means painting about the inner emotions without realistic references.
Me: What do your prices range from, and what about the whole Artworks studio’s prices?
Jill: For my work, I usually charge $600 to $1,000, depending on the work. The other artists charge between $250 and $3,000.
Me: Who are your favorite artists?
Jill: Jackson Pollock, Georgia O’Keefe, and Gustav Klimt. Pollack inspired me 10 years ago to paint and I have been painting ever since.
Me: Anything you would like to tell buyers?
Jill: I want to tell them that I hope they get inspired to buy and that they have a good place in their home where they can hang and enjoy my work.
Then I decided to interview the other business owners in the complex. First I went two stores down the row to Gallery Brigitte, and spoke with Brigitte Le, the owner. Ms. Le’s store features Vietnamese contempary fine art and home furnishings.
Interview with Brigitte Le (Owner of GB)
Me: What inspired you to sell art?
Ms. Le: Six years ago, I went home to Vietnam for a visit and became inspired by all the wonderful artwork being done at their art schools.
Me: Do you have a favorite piece?
Ms. Le: No, because I hand picked everything for my gallery!
Me: What do the prices range from?
Ms. Le: The prices range anywhere from $5.00 to $10,000.
Me: What are your customer’s favorite things to buy?
Ms. Le: They like my pottery, my paintings, and my flowers.
Me: Do you buy most of your things or do you make them?
Ms. Le: I buy all the items. I have people in Vietnam who hand-make the products for me, and I buy the products and import them to my store.
Me: When are your hours?
Ms. Le: Wednesday through Saturday.
Me: Is there anything you would like to tell customers?
Ms. Le: I love to tell my customers to come visit my shop because there is no other shop like this in the US. When they come to visit my shop they will get a taste of what Vietnam is all about!
Ms. Le was so nice to talk to! So I think I will head down to Atlantis Gallery and talk with them. Here I meet Dorian Mead, who is the owner of Atlantis Gallery that represents the Brazilian artist Silva Maranhao.
Interview with Dorian Mead (Owner of Atlantis Gallery )
Me: Why the name “Atlantis”?
Mr. Mead: Because one of Mr. Maranhao’s major projects is called “The Atlantis of Plato”. He was the Greek philosopher who first wrote about Atlantis. The artist did a total of 50 works on that subject.
Me: When you run out of paintings about Atlantis will you rename your place?
Mr. Mead: (Laughs) No, I won’t, because I can also sell prints of the originals, those are basically copies.
Me: What do the prices range from?
Mr. Mead: $3,000. to $25,000.
Me: (looking around at the art) Is this all one artist?
Mr. Mead: It is mostly Silva’s work, though I do have one local artist’s work. Silva Maranhao is from Brazil and is really famous there. I am trying to make a name for him here in America.
Me: So have you sold anything yet? (12 yr old reporters can ask anything!)
Mr. Mead: I’m brand new here and not many people have come in here yet, so no.
Me: Do you expect this will be the next big thing?
Mr. Mead: Oh yeah, absolutely. I think once people aware, they are going to want to have one of his works in their collection. I’m mainly aiming for the New York Market – that’s a hard market to get. This is a great home base because I’m 10 minutes from the Dulles airport. I think this area is great!
The day isn’t over and I’m not done either. I have one more brand new store to hit. I introduce myself to Sean the owner of the brand new Aquarium Company, which specializes in salt water fish, and live coral. While this isn’t exactly art these fish sure are beautiful!
Interview with Sean (Owner of the Aquarium Company )
Me; What made you decide to come to this street?
Sean: Great location!
Me: I know it’s not fair to play favorites, but do you have a favorite fish?
Sean: Clown fish are my favorite!
Me: Is it hard to take care of fish?
Sean: It’s challenging, it takes a lot of care and attention.
Me: Where do you get all the fish and coral from?
Sean: We get them from L.A. from people who raise fish and coral.
Me: How many fish per tank?
Sean: It’s not how many you can put in a tank. Its compatibility, it takes smart stocking. In a business like this you deal with a lot of compatibility issues.
Me: How long can coral live out of water or can it not at all?
Sean: Some can live out of water for a while, but it’s not good to do it. Some fish can do it also, but you don’t want to subject them to those extremes.
Me: What is your biggest fish?
Sean: A boxed faced rabbit fish, its 6 inches now but he gets to 2 feet.
Me: Do you sell Starfish?
Sean: Yes we sell starfish and hermit crabs and snails, all kind of things. We get a lot of shipments of fish to.
Me: How do you ship a fish?
Sean: With lots of water and oxygen!
Me: Do a lot of people come especially to buy fish?
Sean: Absolutely, that’s our goal, to have people come especially to us. Our product speaks for it’s self, we have a very nice variety and very nice prices. This Saturday, April 26, will be our grand opening celebration.
Me: Thanks, it’s been really interesting learning about selling fish.
Well time to wander back to my mom’s studio. Here I see Jill and Mary Ellen hard at work creating Jackson-Pollack-style paintings. They are using Pepto-Bismol pink. I decide to have a go at it. I get out a piece of paper and head outside onto the grass with them. It is really fun to fling paint around, it’s a good thing I’m wearing an apron. Some paint just got on my shirt……. and in my hair, now I look like a 5yr. old tired to dye my hair hot pink! Now I’ve washed my hair twice and the paint still isn’t completely out! Not to mention…. SHOUT says “…may not take dried paint out...” At least my mom knows that art is messy. All the rest of Art Works will be showing their own creative messes off to the public on Saturday the 26 from 3-5PM. They hope to see you there.
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