Red Dot Project helps put 'sold' mark on art
December 18, 2006
BY: MARILYN H. KARFELD, Senior Staff Reporter
Cleveland Jewish News
Like its namesake, the red dot that traditionally marks a painting or drawing as sold, Red Dot Project is about selling art. The nonprofit art resource center represents an innovative way for Northeast Ohio artists to market their work.
Located in the historic Tower Press Building in Cleveland, Red Dot connects artists with potential buyers and business opportunities. With flat file drawers containing artwork and a searchable database providing "online portfolios" for about 100 artists, Red Dot makes it easy for individuals to choose from a large number of pieces. The client also can find artists to commission for site-specific artworks.
Director Joan Perch, who formerly owned Art Metro in downtown Cleveland, realized that even her large gallery could not begin to show all the artwork she wanted to carry.
Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y., gave her a better idea. The artist who ran the small gallery would pull his flat file drawers from a back room and allow artists to use them to show work that wouldn't fit on the walls. People started coming to the gallery to purchase art from the files. According to Perch, Pierogi became part of a resurgence of an old Polish neighborhood.
"It seemed to me Cleveland needed something like this," says Perch. "There were such limited opportunities to show and sell art here."
With a $30,000 grant from the Civic Innovation Lab, a new program of the Cleveland Foundation to support ideas with civic and economic impact, and $20,000 from the Gund Foundation, Perch hired a full-time project manager and opened Red Dot's doors. The Council for Small Enterprises (COSE) has since signed on as a partner.
Perch or a colleague will take a laptop computer to a client interested in buying art, and together they will peruse Red Dot's database. Gallery directors and curators looking for new artists to represent also can look through Red Dot files.
Artists who want to join Red Dot pay to have their work reviewed by a board of fellow artists. If they are accepted into the project (only 10% of those who apply have thus far been rejected), artists pay an annual fee of $75, which gives them a file drawer and online portfolio.
Artists receive 60% of each sale and Red Dot keeps 40%, which is lower than a typical gallery's percentage, Perch says. Individuals, businesses and other nonprofits wanting to provide support can also become Red Dot members, with fees ranging from $50 to $2,000. New members receive a piece of art commensurate with the fee paid; for instance, someone who buys a $50 membership gets an artwork valued at $35.
Red Dot augments its income with referral fees, corporate sponsorships, fundraising efforts and other small grants. The organization hopes to grow its website, making it interactive, perhaps with an online store; they also want to use Web marketing to reach out into the community.
Red Dot does not see itself as competition for galleries. In fact, several galleries, including the venerable Bonfoey Gallery downtown, are members. If Red Dot sells the work of an artist represented by Bonfoey or another dealer, the gallery gets a percentage of the sale as well.
"We're looking to create new markets for artwork," notes Perch, who receives a "very part-time" salary. "We're looking for people who do not (currently) buy art anywhere."
Red Dot has formed partnerships with businesses looking to help their clients add art to their interiors. One such partner is Business Interiors and Environments (BIE), a downtown firm that sells office furnishing and accessories and provides space planning.
BIE displays Red Dot artists' sculptures, paintings, photographs and drawings, integrating them into office vignettes. "This gives clients a chance to see how the office environment and work are enhanced by art," says Perch.
BIE has been pleased with the partnership. "With Red Dot exclusively carrying Northeast Ohio artists, it's allowed us to support the local arts community," says Mike Dungan, BIE vice president. Prices for artwork range from $30 to several thousand dollars.
It's been an eye opener for clients, Dungan adds. "They may have thought about art before, but they didn't have a source or the time to go gallery shopping. As we talk about interiors, it's very easy to introduce local art when we're surrounded by it. It becomes part of our offering."
Other businesses have also become Red Dot partners. Design Within Reach (DWR), a modern furniture store in Woodmere, has held a small art auction in conjunction with Red Dot. Since August, DWR has offered its walls for art shows.
Red Dot installs the art work and creates postcards announcing the shows. DWR, which is not taking a percentage from the Red Dot shows, provides the space and invites furniture clients to a reception and to view the exhibit. It's a synergetic relationship, Perch notes, as the store and Red Dot benefit each other.
Starting this week, DWR will exhibit a one-woman show by Rita Montlack, a respected Shaker Heights artist and Red Dot member. She exhibited a multi-media presentation on "Recycling Cleveland" at the Ingenuity Festival last summer and was just accepted to participate again in 2007.
"Unfortunately, a lot of galleries in Cleveland are closing, which is sad," says Montlack, whose work is on display at the Cleveland Clinic and in the Cleveland office of McKinsey & Co., among other collections. "That's why Red Dot is really exciting. It's something we haven't had in Cleveland since NOVA (New Organization for the Visual Arts) folded."
At DWR, Montlack is showing 21 small, hand-painted photographs mounted on aluminum and 15 archival digital photographic prints. She uses a single bold color in each work, which feature Cleveland scenes. Two oversized works on display are composites of Life magazine covers from the 1940s and the 1950s.
In her larger digital images, Montlack mounts four prints of such Cleveland landmarks as the bridges over the Cuyahoga, the Lake Erie shoreline, or the downtown skyline, putting them together as mirror images of each other and upside down. The juxtaposition creates an arresting, almost surrealistic effect.
Red Dot hopes such innovative exhibits in unexpected places will spark new prospects for Montlack and other artists.
Artists typically know little about business, Perch notes, and that's how Red Dot can help them. The organization encourages artists to bring in more small works for the file drawers in the Tower Press building, located in an area which Perch describes as Cleveland's "burgeoning arts district." Red Dot would also like to arrange more retail events, such as holiday art shows in the Tower Press neighborhood where many artists live and work in spacious, light-filled lofts.
Red Dot will also hire photographers to document collections; it will frame and reinstall artworks, and pack and ship pieces for customers, Perch says. "If you have a need around art, we will figure out who can do it for you, or we will do it ourselves."
Over the years, Perch has found that people rarely buy art "right off the wall," even though restaurants and retail enterprises often display paintings for sale. "Buyers want more information," she says. "There's a dialogue involved with selling art."
Red Dot Project, Perch says, seeks to provide that dialogue, and in the process, create new business opportunities in the visual arts.
Red Dot is located at 1900 Superior Ave. A holiday art sale is ongoing through the end of the month. Open to the public on Fridays from 11-6 and by appointment. 216-664-9600.
mkarfeld@cjn.org
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