Today we’d like to introduce you to Nathan Madrid.
Nathan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Art Room started with an idea between Katie Murray and I while we were in graduate school together. Shortly after graduate school Deedra Baker joined our endeavor and shared the same passion for showing meaningful work as we did. We often discussed the idea of opening a gallery space with the intent of exposing emerging local and national artists in the DFW area. The idea was to create a space that would show artists that would normally not have the chance to show in the area. With the generosity of M2G Ventures, we successfully have had eight shows and introduced dozens of artists to the Fort Worth art scene. Today we are operating a bit smaller than we initially started out as and are focusing on just a few very strong shows per year. Initially, we identified as a gallery but as we have grown we have come to the conclusion that we are exceptional at curating shows. We want to curate shows that include artists that are currently creating work that addresses our current cultural climate. As such, we realized since the creation of Art Room that we are a curatorial team rather than a gallery space.
Has it been a smooth road?
After graduate school, we kept in touch and kept kicking around the idea of a starting a gallery. However, the obvious entry to barriers existed like finding an affordable space and generating income to sustain the space. Fortunately, Katie was very good friends with Susan Gruppi and Jessica Miller, while they were at TCU completing their undergraduate degree. Susan and Jessica had created a real estate development company called M2G Ventures and part of their business philosophy is to inject the creative arts into every venture they are a part of. After a few meetings with M2G, they decided to loan us our first space and allow us to develop our gallery concept. We knew the space was temporary but this opportunity allowed us to develop our idea further and truly figure out what we wanted to do. We knew we did not want to follow the traditional gallery model and we wanted to add elements to each show that would make us unique in the DFW area.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Art Room is an idea very much like the name, a place for creative and meaningful ideas to come to fruition. We created Art Room to show and expose new artists to the art scene with the hopes that they would be able to show with future galleries in the area. After our first few shows and with feedback from everyone that attended, we quickly realized that our success came from curation. I believe after a few shows, people came to see which artists we selected and how they fit into our overall theme for the show. We are most proud when the artists we show move on and gain representation in the area or show with other galleries. Katie and I are very excited to see an artist we have introduced to Fort Worth to continue to show in Fort Worth and DFW. Our curation sets us apart from other galleries, as well as the catalogs we create for each show. A special aspect of our shows are the catalogs and individual artists that we create. Deedra spear heads each catalog design. Each one is a work of art.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Fort Worth is great. The city is committed to the arts and we are very excited to see the city grow culturally. Although there are about a dozen galleries here, there could be more.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artroom.space
- Phone: 9728498900
- Email: artroomfw@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ART_ROOMGALLERY/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artroomgallery2712/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/art_roomgallery
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