Creating Opportunities for Artists by Turning the Walls of your Business into an Art Gallery

"Art is too important not to share." - Romero Brito

Prior to the pandemic, once a month, I loaded my car with brightly painted canvases, art supplies, and a festival tent, and set up shop at an outdoor arts and crafts festival in the center of my town. This wonderful community event allowed me to interact with potential customers, create art with kids, and sell my own art. Sadly, since March, all of my artwork was gathering dust in a storage area, until I was contacted by the office manager at Holman Family Dental in Chapel Hill.  A month later, my paintings were on display and available for sale on their walls.  

The dentists and staff came up with the idea of displaying the work of a rotating group of local artists even before Covid-19.  This is a solution that benefits both the artist, the employees who have to spend 8 hours a day looking at the walls in this space, and the patients who need a bit of visual entertainment to distract them.  

It’s a different story at the dental office I’ve been visiting for over twenty years.  While having my teeth cleaned, I have stared at the same art prints for every single one of those 40+ visits. The prints are very nice, but it would be nice to see something new.

Artists rely on community festivals, public events, and temporary art displays in public locations to sell their artwork.  With the cancellation of large events, they have lost an important source of income.  Do you have a wall in your business that could be transformed into a temporary art gallery?  By simply making display space available, not only will you directly assist artists in your community, but you will also create a more aesthetically pleasing environment for your customers/clients and employees.

It might seem like a lot of work to line up artists and arrange for then to come in the hang their work up to four times a year.  It’s not as hard as you’d think.  Once you contact one artist, chances are they can connect you to a number of other artists.  Once the nails are in the wall for the first showing, each consecutive artist just uses the same spots without adding more hardware.  Recently, I hung fifty paintings in less than an hour.  Small notecards are attached to the wall with two-sided tape (Scotch Wall-Safe Tape) listing the artist’s name, contact information, price of the painting, and title.  This way, anyone interested in buying the art can contact the artist directly.  

As an artist, it is very fulfilling and exciting to think that my artwork is being viewed by a variety of new eyes each day. I’ve sold quite a few as well.  The dental hygienists have told me they love seeing their workspace transformed with new artwork every quarter, and the dentists can feel proud of their support of artists in their community.  I, for one, am extremely grateful for the generosity during these times.