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Embracing the bend in the Road
By Susan
After art school in the 70s, I took the road less anticipated.
Without jobs in the art education market in those years, I was thrust into the booming retail market of the early 80's selling - of all things - hifi equipment. Working my way up the corporate ladder I ended up as national sales manager for a Scottish hifi company traveling nationally and to the UK. There were many years of fantastic hands-on business experience, but little time for my original plan. After my first daughter was born, I took a little time to reshape my life. Heading back into the art field via clothing design, I designed and manufactured a line of handpainted/hand-screened children's clothing, which I marketed through wholesale shows at the Javits Center in NYC to over 200 stores nationwide. I had enough time between seasons to start a tiny, soon to be successful, private art school to teach children the way I originally wanted to. The clothing line had done very well but became a strain on the art school. I packed up the remaining stock and sent it to the World Relief Fund and saved the happy memories from those days. The school flourished and I found myself looking for a better home than our first, rented/shared art studio. Through a couple of unexpected twists in the road, it came quicker than I imagined.
The idea of forming our new company began in November of 2002 over lunch and two like-thinking friends. One was my husband, a successful media designer with 10 year experience in freelance design and teaching at a university in Germany. Mary Jo Monusky, now my other partner, had a business background in a wholesale jewelry and accessory sales in NYC. It was a perfect match and we found an antique building which needed just a little love to make it a perfect space for our venture.
The building we chose is 104 years old and sits on the river walk area of our city. Our business has three complementary businesses under one roof. artstream, LLC has a 2000 square foot gallery with our art school housed in a separate gallery area. We hold 20 classes a week in most media with a half a dozen instructors. Our main focus of our business is design, both graphic, web, and business interior design. As our small New Hampshire city is experiencing a renaissance, the idea of an art-based business is still a bit of a curiosity, but one who's time has arrived. This idea, which we have embraced and grown, with the community over the past four years. I look forward to sharing my journey, my small business perspectives and experiences with readers here at BizBox.
artstream design studios and gallery
Comments (0)March 5, 2007 4:51 PM
