The art broker

Tulsa Artist’s Services connects local talent with buyers

They’re painters and photographers, but they’re also bartenders and schoolteachers and law enforcement officers. It’s a standard conundrum for aspiring artists—the push and pull of making art versus making money.

Enter Bill Hader Sr. The Tulsa businessman moved downtown two years ago and has become a benefactor for local artists. He recently launched Tulsa Artist’s Services (TAS), an organization he hopes will better assist struggling local creatives in gaining exposure and turning their work into a paycheck. 

The idea first occurred to him during a conversation with Katie Cealka, who teaches art at Rosa Parks Elementary. 

“She does a phenomenal job, but she’s got a Master’s in art from Syracuse, and she’s got bills out her ears,” Hader said. “I said, ‘You need to start promoting yourself and using your art to make money,’ and she’s like, ‘I don’t have time.’ And that’s when it dawned on me.”

Hader spoke with other artists and quickly noticed a trend.

“Nobody has time,” he said. “They’re so busy doing what they do to make money and pay off their bills, they just don’t have the time.”

“My bartender, Western (Doughty), is a phenomenal photographer,” Hader continued. “I met Morgan (Wolff, whom Hader hired to run TAS); she was working at an oil company. She’s a phenomenal painter. (Visual artist) Anna Film is working for a sign company. Her stuff is amazing. (Photographer) Brooke Golightly is a bailiff down at the courthouse.”

Hader conceived Tulsa Artist’s Services as part artist collective, part brokerage service, anchored by business savvy that sets it apart from similar co-ops. 

Wolff said working with TAS allowed her to start painting again. 

“People have talents that they have to bury because they don’t think they can make money with them,” she said. “This is a good opportunity to actually make money doing something that you really love.” 

The TAS website gives potential clients a centralized browsing location. 

“Artists are notorious for not being able to sell themselves,” Wolff said. “They don’t wanna say, ‘I’m so great, check out my work.’ So we have the opportunity to do that for them.” 

Hader and Wolff are aggressively courting larger clients like law firms and restaurants and hope to position TAS as the go-to source for any patron, organization or business in need of local art. When we met, they were hosting a meet-and-greet at Mainline—complete with hors d’oeuvres and an open bar—for local interior designers. 

“Most interior designers, restaurant planners, people buying corporate art, they … have to go through the racks and find what they want,” Hader said. “Now they can come to us, they can see something on the website or they can commission a piece.”

Participating artists must be willing and ready to execute commissioned pieces and make their work available for temporary lease. TAS takes 35 percent of each sale, but the artist controls the price and retains ownership of the work. 

“I own two other businesses, so the money’s not for me,” Hader stressed. “If we make money, I’ll get Morgan some associates to work under her.”

The newly-launched Tulartservices.com already features 14 artists including Cealka, Doughty, Wolff, Film and Golightly. Future plans for TAS include a large office and studio space downtown where artists can work, teach classes and collaborate.

“What we’re doing is taking these Tulsa artists that people maybe wouldn’t know otherwise, and we’re bringing them to the forefront,” Hader said. “We’re taking them to the top.”

For more from Joshua Kline, check out his recent interview with Bobby Lorton and Ziva Branstetter about their new media enterprise, The Frontier.