The Arizona Artist Collective celebrated its first birthday this weekend by introducing a new partnership with {9} the Gallery on Grand Avenue.
Travis Fields, founder of Arizona Artist Collective, said the objective of the organization was to help artists with the business side of art.
“There were a lot of really talented artists here that didn’t understand the business side of things,” Fields said. “They didn’t really understand how to get into a gallery, how to represent themselves, manage themselves, public relations, marketing and all those types of things.”
{9} the Gallery and Arizona Artist Collective announced this weekend that there will be new meetings, classes, workshops and events at the gallery to guide local artists to represent themselves professionally. These include Sunday Sessions, where there will be demonstrations, conversations about art and speakers talking about business practices every Sunday from 12-4 p.m., Fields said.
There are also two upcoming juried shows for members of the collective, “Liberty and Justice for Art” opening in July and “In with the Old, Out with the New,” opening in January.
Fields said Arizona Artist Collective started out as a Facebook page and evolved into a whole community. The organization offers classes for youth and adults, provides workshops and has even organized protests for local artists, such as when the Herberger Theater Center Art Gallery canceled Robrt Pela’s show “Prime Example” in September.
Jayme Blue, a local artist and Arizona Artist Collective member, said she became involved with the organization when Fields added her to the Facebook page.
Blue said she’s motivated and excited for change with Arizona Artist Collective’s new partnership with {9} the Gallery because gallery owner Laura Dragon understands other artists, as she is one herself.
“We’ll be able to have two shows at {9}. Laura is very involved in the art rejuvenation in downtown Phoenix,” Blue said.
Before the partnership with {9} the Gallery, Arizona Artist Collective didn’t even have a main office to work out of, Fields said.
“{9} is the first gallery that we are co-oping with, and this is going to be our home base for the near future,” he said.
The idea of partnering with the collective came during a meeting last year, Dragon said.
“Travis was at that initial meeting, and he began speaking to other artists about how they might cooperate to understand better the business of selling art,” Dragon said. “So they kind of launched with that concept and have really grown.”
When Arizona Artist Collective needed a space to work and grow in, Dragon said she happily invited them in to help support the fine art scene downtown.
“Being a sole business owner, hours and manpower are kind of difficult for me at times,” Dragon added. “They’ve got the manpower. I’ve got space.”
While {9} the Gallery is small, it’s a great place to start once word of the business fully reaches the community, Blue said.
“Being at {9} is a small, new space. Eventually Laura will grow out of it,” Blue said. “But for right now, it’s great, and it’s very generous of her to let us use it.”
Dragon has been in business since 2012 and said she has a vision to help local artists grow.
“My whole idea when I opened {9} was that I was always inspired by Andy Warhol’s Factory and the amount of emerging artists that he was able to support and bring to the community,” she said. “I really wanted to create a melting pot of creative energy here and the potential for people to find a place where they can sit and talk about their craft and expand on their ideas and become more enthusiastic.”
At the moment, Arizona Artist Collective is still working to get associated with people in the business, but the organization has a bright future ahead of it, Blue said.
“Travis has big plans, and hopefully we can make his dreams come true,” Blue said.
Possible future steps for the organization are a framing shop and a studio for artists who don’t have their own spaces, Fields said.
“We want to continue to grow where we have a membership and start having actual fundraising so we can have our own facility,” Fields said. “We’re still planning on doing shows at other galleries around town as well. The idea is to be involved in the community as much as possible.”
Contact the reporter at jckemper@asu.edu
