Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Childs.
Fort Works Art began as a pop up between co-founders J.W. Wilson and Lauren Childs in March of 2014 at Shipping & Receiving on the South Side. Now famous for where Leon Bridges recorded his debut album, Coming Home, the “Tilt Room” was their home for two years thanks to the amazing Eddie Vanston, who has been a tireless advocate for both artists and musicians in Fort Worth.
In 2016, the decision was made to brick-and-mortar and create a legitimate gallery on the West Side near our phenomenal Museums, to the likes of what you could find in cities like New York, Paris, London and other international and national art hubs. The gallery to date has created a strong presence in the community and produced tremendous crowds show after show.
The latest organization, founded by owner Lauren, is a secondary Gallery called Gallery of Dreams, which will be an extension of the underlying mission of Fort Works Art, which is to support, educate and bring life to the city of Fort Worth and the art community. This will allow the organization to bring more educational programming, artist outreach and advocation, and hopefully a residency program that will be nothing short of a dream come true for artists and our city.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been nothing short of a roller coaster. The art business is definitely not a smooth road. It has however, been exhilarating. We have found every day brings a new set of obstacles and challenges. This is both difficult and rewarding, and definitely never boring.
Fort Works Art – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We are a hybrid gallery in the truest sense. Existing somewhere between a gallery, a cultural center and a museum, Fort Works Art strives to continually evolve into its own entity, free from the traditional labels of the art world. They exist to support the arts, to give back to the community and to inspire youth.
What that means to us, is that we understand the white wall world of galleries has become a harder and harder market to exist within. Artists have many more opportunities outside of the gallery to sell and work, especially with social media and the internet. That being said, the gallery still represents a gateway to legitimizing an artist’s career and putting them in the forefront of the eyes of Curators and Directors of major Museums. It also allows them to do what I call, “make an album”, instead of just a “song”. They are able to bring to fruition their life, and their work in a massive way that is powerful, inspirational, thoughtful and exciting. The second side of this, is it allows our community to experience powerful exhibitions and have more culture and art surrounding them.
What sets us apart is our ambition and undeniable love and commitment to this city. We believe Fort Worth is full of some of the richest culture on the globe; Museums, Parks, Zoos, Symphonies, the list goes on. We want to bring the same caliber of quality to the gallery world in Fort Worth, all the while supporting and growing our artistic community.
As a company, I am most proud of our Annual Betsy Price High School Art Competition. This competition allows selected high school artists the ability to show their work in a real gallery, have a reception with their parents, be honored for making art, and there are some great prizes awarded to the top three finalists by our Mayor. It is curated by the Senior Curator of The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, and renowned painter and professor Sedrick Huckaby. It is a tearjerker of a day for sure!
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
That’s definitely a tough and loaded question. I guess, for me ultimate success is simple. It means love, happiness, and fulfillment. So, right now, today I feel successful. There are always markers that I see ahead of myself that I would like to achieve. As mentioned, I am very ambitious, and I would be lying if I said I did not have a laundry list of things that I wanted to accomplish before the lights go out. However, when I begin forward thinking that much I don’t enjoy what is happening now. And I have to say, what is happening now is nothing short of a dream come true.
I never planned on owning a gallery, traveling our artists to Miami our first year for the biggest Art Fair in the United States, working with the caliber of artists we are blessed to share our lives with, filming a premier movie Nationally at The Modern Art Museum. The list goes on and on. And truly, the rewards, have outweighed all of the heartbreak, which there has been much of as well. Remember roller coaster here!
Pricing:
- We sell original works of art ranging from $300 to six figures.
Contact Info:
- Address: 2100 Montgomery Street, Fort Worth, TX 76107
- Website: www.fortworksart.com
- Phone: 817.759.9475
- Email: info@fortworksart.com
- Instagram: @fortworksart
- Facebook: /fortworksart
- Twitter: fortworksart
- Yelp: fortworksart
Image Credit:
Fort Works Art
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