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Scottsdale’s arts district in its prime – Galleries hang together.

Nearly 100 galleries pack two small streets in Scottsdale’s downtown arts district.

From Western to contemporary, even Russian impressionist, specialty art shops line Main Street and Marshall Way.

Dolores Tropiano
The Arizona Republic

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/1221galleries-gallery21.html

They are a signature part of the city, its cultural heart that draws hundreds of thousands of tourists and local residents each year.

Millions of dollars worth of art is sold annually, gracing the walls of homes throughout the Valley and the West.

Famous works, by artists living and dead, are sold on the streets, including pieces by pop artists Andy Warhol and Peter Max; Western artist Roy Andersen; and internationally known contemporary artist Bill Wegman, famous for his dressed-up Weimaraners.

What was once a dog-eat-dog business scene has in recent years evolved into a more cooperative business culture.

Still, dozens of galleries have come and gone over the years. Some last only one winter season.

Other galleries, like the Legacy, which has built a million-dollar business in 15 years, and the Bishop Gallery, which has been a staple in downtown Scottsdale for more than three decades, have survived and succeeded at peddling art.

What does it take to make it in the gallery business, selling what some see as fluff or, at the very least, a luxury item?

Why does one gallery succeed over another?

What is required to endure summers that sometimes make customers as rare as a Renoir?

Many factors contribute to the long-standing success and endurance of a gallery.

While diverse merchandise, location, good financial backing and patience are all part of the picture, good relationships are critical to the success of any shop.

Artistic relationships

"There is a misconception that you open your door, hang a bunch of art, and you are successful," said David Sherer, owner of the Taos Gallery and the McKae Gallery at 7177 E. Main St.

"In the fine-art business, it is about building relationships based on trust – not only with the artists you represent, but with clients," Sherer said.

Jinger Richardson, 43, has known that since she was a child. Her vacations were spent visiting Western artists from Arizona to Minnesota. Her parents opened the first gallery on Scottsdale’s Main Street in 1967.

"We got to know a lot of the top museum directors and artists," Richardson said. "They would visit us in the winter time, and we would always go to dinner with them."

Since 1988, Richardson and her husband, Brad, have operated one of the most successful stores on gallery row, the Legacy gallery.

Her parents left her a legacy of sorts by instilling the importance of cultivating and nurturing relationships with people who work for her.

Like her parents, she vacations with them, dines with them and compensates them well.

It pays off.

"We try to have more of a personal relationship with our artists," said Richardson, who does not have a formal education in art.

"It started years ago. We pay them real promptly, and that gets around to all the artists in the country," she said.

"For some reason, if you just pay them good and pay them on time, you are really popular. So we are able to attract some of the really finest artists in the country."

She wears the business pants, and her husband wears a tie to work at their large, lush gallery at Scottsdale Road and Main Street.

She handles the administrative end of the business, including advertising, and he spends the bulk of his day on the phone with artists and clients.

Together, they log about 90 hours a week. They employ six workers here and four at their gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyo.

The gallery represents nearly 50 of the best Western artists in the nation, including Roy Andersen, Scott Christensen, and John and Terri Moyers.

They also handle landscapes and figurative works, even sculpture. A garden room is filled with plants and bronze sculpture of children playing.

Building on diversity

Bill Bishop has manned Bishop Gallery and Antiques for 35 years, 28 of those on Scottsdale’s Main Street. It’s an impressive record in an industry that can be as fickle as fashion.

Like Richardson, Bishop believes that trust is the foundation of his relationship with customers, taking personal checks when necessary without identification.

But he has found that knowledge about art and diverse offerings also contributed to his gallery’s appeal.

"You really have to know the field. It is vital to have a working knowledge of art or antiques, not just to go in it because you happen to like a particular artist," said Bishop, 71, who has long gray hair and wears jeans or shorts to work every day.

Bishop said a lack of diversity played a part in the failure of the gallery whose space he now occupies.

"She was a one-artist gallery," he said. "She did all kinds of fancy decorating. She put in a full working kitchen and the bathroom looked like one in a bordello. She was here less than a year and spent a lot of money decorating. She had one artist, and it happened that, right at that minute, that artist was not in fashion."

Bishop’s gallery has a decidedly casual atmosphere. The large rustic paneled space has two rooms. One is packed with antiques: on the floor, stacked on tables and overflowing from shelves. The other room is filled with work by artists such as two-dimensional artist Leonard Baskin and sculptor Bart Walter.

Bishop also owns a gallery in Colorado, where he represents Fritz Scholder, legendary Native American artist and Scottsdale resident.

"It is a surfeit of riches," he said.

A day in the life

Bishop and his associate, Peter Lewis, come in every day but Sunday, turn on the lights, put some music on and sit on a blue crushed-velvet couch and read for most of the day.

Some days, they deal with merchants who come with truckloads of merchandise they are trying to sell. At one time, Bishop spent a lot of time going on buying trips, but now most of what he sells comes to him.

The average price of his pieces is $5,000. Bishop said the art and antique business could make you broke or wealthy, and he is somewhere in between.

"In our kind of business, where you have high-ticket items, you don’t have to have a steady stream of people buying things. It’s not a card shop," he said. "I’ve gone weeks without having a single sale, and still been able to pay my bills. I can’t buy the Wrigley mansion next week, but then I don’t want to."

Patience and instinct

Lisa Sette, 45, will celebrate her 18th season on Marshall Way in January. She is widely respected by other gallery owners and even museums for her knowledge and her style.

In her sometimes-simple, sometimes-stark contemporary art gallery, she represents such nationally recognized artists as Mayme Kratz and William Morris.

For Sette, who spends much of her time planning future exhibitions for her 30 artists, the secret of her success is trusting her instincts.

"Without sounding egomaniacal, I just show things I find interesting or stimulating, and I don’t think about trends or other influences that make me not true to myself," she said.

Sette said patience is a priority.

"You need the patience of a mother in all aspects of the business," she said. "Patience with clients, patience with artists."

"I think you have to go into it knowing things are going to be slow and steady, and you can’t expect things to come easily. You have to build a business clientele, and you can’t do it in a hype way," she said.

"It’s just hard work, with good decisions over a long period of time. And don’t expect to make a lot of money, because that is not what it is all about."

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