The COVID-19 pandemic – and the sudden shutdown of many craft shows, art festivals and the like – could have meant the end of Jessica and Jason Brown’s woodworking business.
Instead, it led to the start of a new venture: the Ohio Artisan Collective in Aurora.
The store, which opened in June 2020 as an alternative to the events the pandemic halted, provides physical retail space to more than 80 artists, artisans and makers, all with one important thing in common: they’re all small, Ohio-based businesses.
“It’s a store, but it’s also a community,” Jessica Brown said.
Northeast Ohio is home to a variety of such commercial retail spaces, from more traditional, art-focused galleries to broader gift shops for makers and artisans of all kinds.
It’s not the case everywhere, but in Northeast Ohio, some of the traditional arts marketing strategies – like “hand-to-hand marketing” – still work well, said Anderson Turner, director of exhibitions and collections for the School of Art at Kent State University. Turner also teaches professional practices as part of Kent State’s art entrepreneurship minor, and he’s a working ceramics artist himself.
The region is very neighborhood driven, he said, and people tend to want to support each other. And there are still a good number of for- and non-profit retail spaces where artists, especially those just starting out, can sell their paintings or jewelry or other wares. Those local spaces give them the experience they need to branch out and sell beyond the region, Turner said, which is necessary if they want to make a living as an artist or artisan.
“I think what social media has proved to us is that it’s not really as social as people think it is,” Turner said. “If you want relationships, if you want networking, nothing is better than actually physically doing that in person.”
Amber Kempthorn, assistant professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art, said she thinks there’s a “growing desire” for the in-person experience, being able to touch and see things, especially post-pandemic, despite the ease of online shopping.
Kempthorn teaches the professional practice class at the Cleveland Institute of Art and also serves as the co-leader of the institute’s Creativity Works self-designed internship program. The program, which is for students in visual or craft and design majors, helps them find ways to fund experiences like showing in an exhibit or doing public art.
“When you’re an artist, you’re effectively a small business owner,” she said.
Unfortunately, Turner said he has seen art-focused retail spaces declining in recent years. Nonprofits are all going after the same shrinking grant pool, and he’s heard that, in the for-profit world, sales are still happening, but slowly.
“All of us are struggling,” he said.
Diane Seskes, owner and manager of River Light Gallery in Peninsula, has noticed a similar decline. When she travels, she seeks out spaces designed to showcase local art; there are “fewer and fewer,” she said. Rents have been rising and people have been retiring.
But it’s important for artists to be visible and be able to have a “constant presence,” said Lisa Kane, a glass artist who shows her work at River Light. That “stability” is critical for both artists and customers, she said.
Commercial storefronts can be “less intimidating” to the public than a more traditional gallery, said Lane Cooper, professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. And for emerging artists, it can be tough to walk into a museum and see how it works as a career, but a storefront can be more tangible as a job.
“So I think it’s really important in that it’s a bridge between a public that maybe isn’t so familiar with the art world and with artists,” she said.
Commercial spaces can also offer artists a financial boost, Cooper said, but even if the bottom line isn’t huge, selling a piece can be encouraging emotionally. Kempthorn agreed, saying such spaces help emerging artists, in particular, imagine “what a life looks like for a practicing artist.”
The physical experience is an important part of River Light Gallery. The gallery doesn’t offer online sales or shipping, Seskes said; she wants people to come in, look at the art and “feel the space.”
“Brick-and-mortar spaces are still important,” Seskes said.
Permanent retail spaces offer somewhere customers can visit on a daily basis, instead of a weekly or monthly one, said Brown of the Ohio Artisan Collective. And they give customers a way to “feel,” “touch” and “smell” the products, instead of just having to guess at the quality of a product online.
It’s not the case everywhere, but in Northeast Ohio, some of the traditional arts marketing strategies – like “hand-to-hand marketing” – still work well.Anderson Turner, director of exhibitions and collections for the School of Art at Kent State University
At the Ohio Artisan Collective, there are candles and jewelry, drinkware and chocolates. One of its vendors is The Boozy Blonde, an artisan cocktail mix, seasoning and sauce manufacturer. Owner Jewel Kingsley used to write and do recipe development for a national food magazine, but decided to instead strike out and start developing recipes for her own business about eight years ago. She started by selling at markets and craft shows on the weekends, before moving into retail spaces. The Ohio Artisan Collective was the first permanent retail space where she showcased her work.
Today, Kingsley still shows her products at the Ohio Artisan Collective, but also owns two retail stores of her own: Bombshell Gifts in Green and Canton. She also sells her products wholesale across the globe.
Brown said Ohio Artisan Collective vets vendors for quality and works to ensure that each product on display is at least a little different from the others in the store. Her own companies – Wood Thingamajigs and Buckeye Gourmet, an olive oil and vinegar supplier – are also on display.
“What I always describe Ohio Artisan Collective as is like an Etsy shop in person,” she said.