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Alyson Stanfield thinks she has the greatest job ever and she just might be right. While she completely enjoyed her ten years working in art museums, working as an art-marketing consultant is way cooler.
Alyson began consulting with artists
informally fifteen years ago as part of her position as a museum
curator. When she left museums, old artist-friends continued coming to her for help and advice. Everyone wanted an agent! A little research into that field led her to conclude that she wouldn't be doing artists any favors by doing all of the work for them. Instead, she decided to teach them how. You know the Chinese proverb: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
That's what she enjoys doing most—Teaching artists to fish!
The neat thing is that almost everything Alyson teaches artists to do, she's doing herself for her business. To that end, she stays on top of marketing resources, business trends, and artworld goings-on. This knowledge is manifested in her weekly Art Marketing Action newsletter (published since early 2003 and sent to more than 4,000 artists worldwide) and her classes. It is also why she most enjoys giving live, motivating art-marketing workshops across the U.S.
Alyson's work is deeply affected by her ten years in art museums. Affected in a good way. Affected in a way that really helps her clients. She has loads of experience working with collectors as well as the general art-viewing public. That means she knows how people interact with art, how they approach it,
what they fear, and how they can be educated to alleviate their fears. Alyson worked as curator at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art and educator at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and Wichita Art Museum.
Alyson's clients also benefit from her experience working in the U.S. Senate. What, you may ask, does that have to do with art?! As she puts it, she learned from THE BEST politician around. She knows how to form and nurture relationships to get results. And, like the rest of life, politics plays a large a role in the artworld.
On the off chance that you've read this far, Alyson's undergraduate and graduate degrees are in art
history, although she started as a painting major. For some reason, she got a kick out of sitting in those dark rooms looking at slides. If you have the time or are extra curious, you can read the long story of how she got here on her vita (PDF file).
Alyson's work is inspired by artists she comes
across every day—in cyberspace and in galleries. She's surrounded by an office with cadmium-red walls (yep, redder than this page!) with glossy giant polka dots that make her smile. She rests her arms on a black steel desk, which she commissioned from artist Jay Haen, and stares at a library replete with books on artists' careers, making money, contemporary art,
women's art, textiles, and other favorite areas of study. The beautiful Rocky Mountain foothills peek through
her window, while her home is filled with
artwork by dear friends Gail Frasier, Kurt Christian, David Castle, Pam Caidin, and Gloria Abella de
Duncan.
When not in her office, you might catch Alyson hiking in the foothills or
in the Rockies; skiing in Crested Butte;
cooking; watching Grey's Anatomy or The Daily Show; or gardening. She was born in Great Falls, MT; raised in Oklahoma City, OK; went to undergraduate school in Laramie, WY and Norman, OK; worked in Washington, DC; went to graduate school in Austin, TX; and now happily calls Colorado home.
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