"As a child growing up in New York, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment. My sisters and I shared the bedroom and my parents slept on a pull-out couch, but they exposed us to so much art and culture. We went to museums, galleries, operas, theater, shows at Radio City Music Hall, everything. My parents subscribed to the Book of the Month club and to the Album of the Month club, so our apartment was filled with music and books: Chopin, Beethoven, Edgar Allen Poe, and many others. My father was a dental technician, which meant he did a lot of delicate crafting, and my mother was always drawing, so I grew up with art as a way of life and could never understand how people could live without it.
"My earliest memories are of making art, and I've been painting now for 50-plus years. I have a gallery in Midtown and also do consulting and curating for the corporate market and for individuals. Obviously, this is the way I make my living, but that's not why I do it. I don't think about selling. I think about building relationships. I think of myself as a creator of experiences, not primarily as a retailer. I believe in collaboration and inclusiveness; it's important to me to reach out to the community, and I offer my gallery is a place for people to gather. They're welcome just to come and sit and visit with each other there. I don't know too many other galleries that are set up that way. We have events in that space as well: poetry readings, theater, dance, musical performances, parties, even weddings.
"I also work with young artists who are trying to break into the art world, and often they are overly concerned with the details of how to market their work. That will come, but I always tell them, 'Work from your heart. Do what is uniquely yours, not just what you think will sell.' I want to be loving and considerate, to encourage and support them, to point out things that are working in what they do. I sometimes ask them, 'If you never sold a piece of art in your life, would you still do it?' It's important to be able to answer that."
"My earliest memories are of making art, and I've been painting now for 50-plus years. I have a gallery in Midtown and also do consulting and curating for the corporate market and for individuals. Obviously, this is the way I make my living, but that's not why I do it. I don't think about selling. I think about building relationships. I think of myself as a creator of experiences, not primarily as a retailer. I believe in collaboration and inclusiveness; it's important to me to reach out to the community, and I offer my gallery is a place for people to gather. They're welcome just to come and sit and visit with each other there. I don't know too many other galleries that are set up that way. We have events in that space as well: poetry readings, theater, dance, musical performances, parties, even weddings.
"I also work with young artists who are trying to break into the art world, and often they are overly concerned with the details of how to market their work. That will come, but I always tell them, 'Work from your heart. Do what is uniquely yours, not just what you think will sell.' I want to be loving and considerate, to encourage and support them, to point out things that are working in what they do. I sometimes ask them, 'If you never sold a piece of art in your life, would you still do it?' It's important to be able to answer that."
The Jay Etkin Gallery is located at 942 S. Cooper 38104
- Website: http://jayetkingallery.com
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/etkinart
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