Meet Patricia Gerkin of Gerkin Studios in Exurbs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Patricia Gerkin.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I’ve always known I was an artist, from early years, but I never had the confidence, or guidance, to pursue it as a career. So, I became an editor, working in publications and painting and pursuing art classes and workshops on the side. My salary was critical for college expenses of our two sons, but when I made the last tuition payment for my youngest son, I announced that I was done and it was my turn, my time. I quit my full-time job and turned to art full-time. At the time, I lived in Alexandria, VA, so I went to the Torpedo Factory Art Center, got a part-time job with The Art League as an arts administrator and worked on advancing my art career while learning the ropes of an arts organization. The part-time job grew into a senior management position and, 10 years later, I quit again. I moved my career into a studio in the Torpedo Factory where I worked my art until I moved to New Hampshire in 2007.

I started out by painting in oils, watercolors, and acrylics, but I began experimenting with encaustic in 2005. I still paint large acrylic works, but my passion is with encaustic. I find that nature is my muse and my inspiration. I believe that I am a better person when I paint. I am an abstract painter, sometimes non-objective, and always seeking to describe the essence of a thing or a place. One might say that I strive to discover a state of being using the natural world as a jumping off point or as metaphor.

I am currently represented by Powers Gallery, Acton, MA; L’Attitude Gallery, SoWa Boston, MA; Art3Gallery, Manchester, NH. I derive great benefit from being a member of several artist groups, including Elemental (an exhibiting art collective made up of four artists), Painters & Poets (a group of artists and poets exploring the intersections of art and poetry), Ogunquit Artists Association (an artist membership in Ogunquit, ME), and a former member of New England Wax (a New England organization dedicated to raising awareness of the encaustic medium and its newest expressions). My formal training was with the Corcoran School of Art and Design, Northern Virginia Community College, Arlington Arts Center, The Art League, R&F Paint’s workshops and independent studies.

Has it been a smooth road?
I suppose my biggest challenge was having to delay gratification of my desire to create for so long. Starting so late has probably limited my potential, but I like to think that I am sipping the juices from every creative fruit placed in front of me. I remember the struggle to publicly proclaim, “I am an artist.”

One of my biggest hurdles was when I moved to New England. I lost all my contacts, my market, my galleries, and my artist friends. Being an artist in the DC area was easier for an abstract artist. Once here, I had to start all over again, establishing new contacts, finding sales outlets, marketing opportunities, making new friends, the works. After all, I had lived in the DC area for 40 years.

My husband and I moved to New Hampshire to help out with a severely disabled granddaughter and a newborn, so everything else became secondary to our family’s immediate needs. Lexi is 16 now, and her sisters are 14 and 11. Our role is on a more even keel, and I am free to pursue my creative passions. It is important to remember that everything, even the challenges, ultimately inform our work in some way.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am an artist. I paint for pleasure as well as for profit. I am a curious being, so I tend to paint what I want to paint. I like operating on multiple levels as I paint, and I pursue not only the painting as a physical object, but also an aesthetic, a philosophy, a point of view. I find that my viewers relate to the work on various levels and together, we can take the artwork further than I can take it alone.

I am able to work with galleries and museums to create works that are site specific and serve public needs. Business skills are sometimes difficult for fine artists, but not for me. I spent many years in the business sector, honing those skills and I am acutely aware of the need to meet deadlines, market my work, write and communicate clearly and regularly.

What sets me apart from others is that I work very quickly and I can interpret my clients’ needs appropriately. It’s important to me to educate and inform my clients as we work together so they are satisfied with the product and they appreciate the work. The art world has long fostered a rarefied atmosphere surrounding art, but I want to make art approachable and intellectually available to anyone interested. What could be more uplifting than being surrounded by fine art and the creative energy behind it?

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Boston is a great city! It is filled with interesting, cosmopolitan people who like a wide variety of experiences. It is blessed with many universities and schools of higher education and so it produces a plethora of cultural activities and needs. Several areas of the city already abound with striking, bold, questioning art and performing arts. Theater thrives here and music and arts enjoy a hot-bed of new talent springing up from the grass roots of the area.

Boston is a good place to start an art career, with several art schools and many small museums throughout the state of Massachusetts.

The biggest struggle for artists is funding. The bricks and mortar business model for galleries is changing and gallerists, artists, and clients are all trying to figure out how it is going to shake out. Art is a tough business for artists to find enough support to continue. All cities are facing the same challenges regarding art.

Contact Info:

• Address: 18 Haines Brook Farm Lane
  Greenland, NH 03840
• Website: www.gerkinstudios.com
• Phone: 703-587-1767
• Email: gerkinstudios@gmail.com
• Instagram: gerkinstudios

Image Credit:
Patricia M. Gerkin

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