How I entered the art world through a swap meet and a wooden briefcase–
In 2021, artist Karen “Quincey” Grace–got back into the art world after retiring from teaching English, in 2019 and taking 4 hand-building ceramics classes.
Quincey is a self-taught artist who entered the art world through the wild furniture she painted in the early 1990’s.
Here’s how her artistic adventure began…
Fateful morning #1:
In 1991, she wanted to buy a crazily-decorated table in a jeweler’s stall at the Rose Bowl Swap, but the vendor told her it wasn’t for sale—it was what the vendor used to display her jewelry. However, the vendor gave a quick explanation of how to combine painting with decoupage, and recommended that Quincey go to the antiques section of the Swap Meet, buy a few chairs and tables, and try doing it herself.
Soon, Quincey furnished her apartment with her own brightly-painted wooden furniture.
Friends told her she should try selling her furniture and wildly-painted picture frames, so she held an “Art Sale” in her driveway in the Village of Claremont. When she sold 8 pieces before noon, a friend who worked at the Folk Music Center in Claremont, suggested she approach the owners of the Folk Music Center. Quincey took several pieces to show Dot and Charles Chase, and they booked her to do a window display the following month, which led to the next remarkable day.
Fateful afternoon #2:
One of her nightstand sets sold within the first week, but the buyer couldn’t pick it up for a week. During that week, a visiting NYC Broadway producer saw it and wanted to buy it. The producer walked over to Quincey’s nearby carriage house, where the two reached an agreement: Quincey would buy another thrift store nightstand set and paint it to mimic the sold set, and Susan West would pay her in money AND tickets to the Blue Man Group (original cast), and Gregory Hines’ tap dancing performance in Jelly‘s Last Jam. Qunicey’s trip to see those performances led to the next serendipitous event.
Fateful afternoon #3:
After a frustrating day of trying to sell her artistic furniture in various NYC SoHo galleries, she was standing on a street corner, with her vibrantly–painted, decoupaged, wooden briefcase in her hand, when a handsome customer stepped out of the coffee house and asked where he could buy one like it.
When she told him it was a one-of-a-kind she’d painted to act as her sales tool when visiting galleries, he offered to buy her a cup of coffee back in the coffee house behind them because the waiter there was an art student who would know the right galleries in NYC to show her work. The waiter recommended Frank J Miele Gallery on Madison Ave. So, the following morning, Quincey trudged through pouring rain up Madison Ave. but it was only 10 A.M. and the gallery wasn’t open yet, so she sought shelter in a furnishings store The Finished Room, a block away. The owner there took one look at the wooden briefcase and demanded to know where she could buy some for the store. Quincey showed the owner her portfolio and the woman ordered 9 items to be shipped C.O.D.!
As she returned to the Miele Gallery, Quincey heard a bicycle rider screaming, “I hope you’re waiting for me!” It was Frank,and he booked her to paint crazy picture frames for his gallery for the next 3 years.
Who was that man she’d met on the street corner? The Vice President of Sales for the Sprint Telephone Company. The two of them became a long-distance “item” for a year, and it was during one of their fascinating phone conversations he pointed out that “90% of making the sale is just showing up.”
When Quincey asked him what he meant by that, he told her the story of how he’d gotten the phone contract for an entire Arab country simply buy just showing up for an appointment. He said a government official had called his office in NYC and asked him to come to the country on such-and-such a day at such-and-such a time. He showed up. Not one of his competitors’ representatives showed up for their scheduled appointments. His company got the phone contract to for an entire country because he was the only one to just show up!
So, the fun in life starts when you are willing to SHOW UP