The Joys and Realities of Running a Gallery

Without a doubt, the biggest joy of being a gallery owner was meeting and getting to know the artists I represented. Knowing my artists and their stories made selling their work effortless. I adored spending my days surrounded by the creative energy of my artists.

I can still feel the excitement when my favorite painter would bring new work, or when my lamp maker arrived with a new piece, smiling and laughing as he explained what upcycled items he had used to create his newest lamp. I also relished seeing my hard work pay off, like the crowds of visitors who filled the gallery during events I had spent weeks planning and preparing for.

Another joy of being a gallery owner was being the boss. I liked making the decisions: who to represent, what to display, and how to run things. I made the rules, and I decided when to break them. What happened under my roof was completely up to me. Doesn’t that sound great?

Most of the time it was great. A lot of the time it was downright fun. But not always.

I represented a few high-maintenance artists who commanded more time and energy than I could give. I made some poor choices about where to spend advertising dollars. I never quite mastered the balance between consignment and wholesale. I learned on the fly and didn’t know where to turn for advice. And for years, I worked too many hours and didn’t give myself enough downtime to recharge. Still, I held myself accountable for the mistakes I made. Afterall, I was the boss; there was no one else to blame.

Owning a gallery and running one are two very different things. Ownership came with pride, independence, and creative freedom - the joy of shaping a space that reflected my vision. But running a gallery, day after day, was another story. That’s where the realities of bookkeeping, staffing, and maintenance lived. I learned quickly that being a gallery owner and business owner also meant being a manager, and that came with plenty of decidedly unglamorous jobs. I filed taxes, managed payroll, ordered supplies, and made sure there was heating oil for the furnace. I interviewed, hired, and sometimes fired employees. I cleaned toilets, balanced the books, and built the staff schedule, all part of keeping the lights on and the doors open. It wasn’t always pretty, but it was mine.

In my gallery, I was both the responsible CEO and the joyful janitor, happy to have built a business that was rich, meaningful, and entirely my own, a place where my hard work and my heart came together every single day.