Art adviser and gallerist Bridgette Mayer forges relationships between contemporary artists and makers and collectors seeking to assemble a relevant art collection. In my conversation with Mayer, we explore the impact she has in the arts market and her role in shaping the contemporary visual arts world.
Resources in include: Bridgette Mayer Art Advisors, Bridgette Mayer ArtMBA Mindset program. Image Credit: Bridgette Mayer and Bridgette Mayer Art Gallery
Script: Episode 136: Bridgette Mayer: Forging Relationships in Contemporary Art
Before we dive into this episode’s celebration of gallerist—she is the founder of one of Philadelphia’s preeminent contemporary art gallery and art advisor Bridgette Mayer, Bridgette and I are partnering in a Giveaway on Instagram. You could win one of three books authored by Bridgette Mayer including The Modern Artist’s Way a guide to building a successful career as a creative in the 21st century.
You could also win one of 2 special edition tee-shirt designed by Art Girls Rising or yours truly Beyond the Paint with Bernadine. Yes, I am getting into the merch game. Winners will be announced on Thursday November 4. All female artists who participate in the giveaway will receive a special shout out on my podcast including a link to your website in the show notes.
Please go to @beyondthepaintwbernadine and take a chance! I also added my IG handle in the show notes. Good Luck! And now onto the show!
Bridgette Mayer sees the endless possibilities afforded by blank walls and open spaces. I found that quote from an interview in Bucknell magazine in 2014. Just resonated with me especially in light the role art played for Mayer as child—she openly shares she was raised in an abusive home with no furniture, little food and money. In her book The Modern Artist, she shares a memory when she was a young child: “One day, I found a ratty bag with makeup in it. As I played with the materials in the bag, I went over to one of the apartment walls and smeared the makeup everywhere thus making my first piece of art.” She describes the palette of blue eye shadow, textured creamy lipsticks, eyeliner… a “cacophy of color.” It was pure delight, says Mayer “and I didn’t stop until all the materials were used up. I had a deeply satisfying feeling of the color, the material and making my first piece of art. In that moment I was free. I had a voice. I could express myself and play. I was an artist.”
I relate to her story on a similar plane because as a young mother, who discovers the possibilities of art on blank and open spaces, in museums and galleries, the elements of color and line and texture, they transformed the landscape of my inner life. As a young mother, unable to afford to art, even art prints, I would purchase postcards of masterworks at museum shops, always an image I and my children experienced in an exhibition or from their permanent collection, glued them on construction paper as a kind of makeshift frame and lined the walls in my home, at the eye level for my young children—creating a gallery of sorts—a way to experience beauty, the visual expression in my domestic, personal space.
From that seminal experience, Mayer navigates her life, through all aspects in the visual arts. She is a studio artist, studied art history, she is a gallerist, art advisor for collectors of contemporary art, and she writes books and guides artists and other creatives to craft successful art and creative careers. Even in her social media presence on Instagram, she engages with creatives through these wonderful Monday Mindset affirmations, she plays a dual role in building relationships and supporting artists she represents, connecting the artist, their work with collectors who want to build and assemble a relevant, meaningful art collection. It is through her work in the gallery and as an advisor Mayer “creates.” She doesn’t have much time to make anymore. “The gallery as she sees it is her masterpiece.” Mayer told Philadelphia Day News, “she is consumed by her business—it is where her creativity comes through.”
Collectors Patrick H. and Stephen D. from Philadelphia describe the experience working with Mayer—“She doesn’t just sell art; she fosters connections between her clients and the art—and in many cases the artists themselves. This creates a much more emotional bond between us as collectors and the pieces we own. She understands that for us, knowing the story behind a piece, whether that’s the provenance of something she has found for us in the secondary market or an intimate tour of an artist’s studio turns the process from a transaction into a relationship.
Art advisors like Mayer provide expert advice to a private individual in order to build and manage their collection of art over time. They will often advise on the best pieces to source for investment purposes and will have expert knowledge of a specific art form such as impressionist, post-war, classical, contemporary. On behalf of their clients, art advisors perform extensive research and will attend auctions, private viewings, visit artist studios. As we will learn from my conversation with Mayer, art advisers have a great eye, good at curating art—Mayer’s Art Advisors is a full service art consulting firm based in Philadelphia and Los Angeles—her firm specializes in art acquisitions, curating collections as well as commissioning artworks for private individuals, corporations and businesses the hospitality industry—services include everything from acquisition, framing, installation, valuation—from vision to budget to the art collection needs of her clients and collectors. In my little part of the visual world, I am teacher, educator, podcaster, I help to bring awareness to women artists—and I am in awe of Mayer’s ability to extend her deep love for the visual arts to help others build collections, supporting and representing artists and she has this joy that spills out of her wide open smile, and energy—it is just infectious and inspiring.