Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I was raised in a little town in Oklahoma, only six people in my graduating class. First, I had a career in music, then I got into the art business. We brought Susan’s art here in 2021. I walked the road, saw a For Lease sign and we grabbed it. Our first choice was Canyon Road, this was where we wanted to be – so much history and visitors always come to check it out.
How do you go about finding your artists?
Our most recent show I got through my Uber driver! I was at Santa Fe Airport and I couldn’t get an Uber. I made one more try, right at 5:00, and I got a driver who picked me up and we started talking and I found out his wife was Sue Llewellyn! I had known her from back in the 90s. She’d done a lot of work for Vogue, The New Yorker, New York Times, Sesame Street magazine. I told her husband that I thought she had passed away. He said, No, she’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. He showed me her portfolio and signed the contract for a show. She’s just been amazing.
She also had work from the 80s and 90s that had never been shown to the public. They’re just stunning. We were able to curate those and show them. Such precision and beauty. She comes to our Fireside Chat Fridays, from 6:00 – 9:00 pm. She comes early, and talks about her work.
Where did you get the idea for Fireside Chats?
I’m a trumpet player and I thought, I could be at the house watching TV or keep the gallery open, just play some music. So I kept it open and people started coming in.
It became very organic, and after about six months, one night, I was hungry, so I started cooking up some street tacos. We’re about half locals, half tourists. Now, someone else has taken over the cooking and we sit out, talk and eat. It’s a backyard barbecue. We do it year round, we just burn a hotter fire in the winter and cover ourselves with blankets if we need to. It’s our way of giving back to the community. We do our own shipping and packing so we can do things like this.
Really, to see the art at night is amazing.
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