For love, not money

How to build your own personal art walk

Half of Gina Bradford’s belongings are still in cardboard boxes, but not the art. About a dozen pieces of original work were propped on chairs and the mantel the day I visited her Maple Ridge home, which she’s trading for a residence a short walk away.

I could see more art in a back room waiting to be wrapped and readied for a new wall, not to be covered and carried off until the last moment. She told me about her six-foot watercolor of the Mayo Hotel, a piece created by Tommy Ball inspired by the place where she once resided, about how it hasn’t been on display. “I am hoping when we move we will have a place for it,” she said. Bradford is trading up, exchanging her address for more wall space.

Think beyond wall space, the perfect location and the color palette when choosing art work. Even in the tiniest of dwellings, a singular wall can be dedicated to a personal gallery—perfect for a new collector buying smaller works. Also, if a painting urges you to pull out the pocketbook, speak with the artist. Ask about the culmination of the work. They can provide you with interesting details for added value, such as a share-worthy story, or you may find a connection with the artist and form a new friendship.Bradford, an award-winning entrepreneur, spends her days running the Tulsa-based firm Bradford Marketing. At home, she surrounds herself with the art of local painters and photographers. “Some people talk about eating local, buying local things,” Bradford said. “When I moved from the ’burbs to downtown, everybody said ‘support local museums, support local art.’ So I made a promise to myself that I was only going to buy local art.”

“Each of these people I have a relationship with and have fallen in love with. I would never part with any of this stuff,” said Bradford. She doesn’t consider her art as an investment in the financial sense, but rather in the community. She plans to pass the works down to her daughter. She has a large painting of Woody Guthrie by John Hammer. “He just got commissioned at AHHA,” Bradford said. “When I knew him, he was just a guy hanging out at Guthrie Green selling art.” When she went to buy it, Hammer told her he donated it to the Woody Guthrie Center. She was disappointed until, on her birthday, her partner surprised her with the coveted painting. “It is my right-now favorite,” she said.

A massive Pantoja sat where her TV once stood before it was moved. It was a gift from the painter, Bradford told me. “I did his website, and I went over there one day and he said, ‘I have something for you Gina.’” It glowed with reds and oranges, a reference to the suffering in Cuba where the artist, now in Tulsa, was born. She gleamed over it. “I just love Jose,” she said with a smile.

START YOUR OWN COLLECTION
Look for art in the $250-500 range, advises artist and collector R.C. Morrison. “There are lots of places that have art in that range. Go to Peoria and walk up and down the street.” For those with smaller pocketbooks, there’s the TAC Gallery with its annual 5x5 fundraiser, where original work sells for $55. “You don’t have to have an art history background,” he said.

Never buy on the basis of, Oh, I hear this person is gonna be huge. “If you do that, you’re doing it for all the wrong reasons,” said Daniel Guilick, owner of Colour Gallery. “Always follow your gut. You buy a hamburger from your favorite place because you love it. You should love the art you’re buying.”

Think beyond wall space, the perfect location and the color palette when choosing art work. Even in the tiniest of dwellings, a singular wall can be dedicated to a personal gallery—perfect for a new collector buying smaller works. Also, if a painting urges you to pull out the pocketbook, speak with the artist. Ask about the culmination of the work. They can provide you with interesting details for added value, such as a share-worthy story, or you may find a connection with the artist and form a new friendship.