Alyson B. Stanfield began consulting with artists
informally more than fifteen years ago as part of her position as a museum
curator. When she left museums, her 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 to do it for themselves and started ArtBizCoach.com. 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 Alyson enjoys doing most—Teaching artists to fish!
Alyson believes that the world needs healthy artists—physically and financially—because artists help us question what is in front of us. Artists also help us appreciate our surroundings, while teaching our children to be sensitive to others and to explore their emotions. By getting out of their studios, artists are sharing their art with the world and making it a better place.
The neat thing is that almost everything Alyson teaches artists to do, she's doing herself for her business. See? The art business isn't so different from the rest of the world. We all need to know how to promote ourselves and our businesses—online and off. To that end, Alyson keeps up with marketing, business, and artworld goings-on.
Here's something else you need to know: Alyson's work is deeply affected by her ten years in the art museum. 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 that she knows how people interact with art, how they approach it, what they fear, and how we can educate them and alleviate their fears. I'd Rather Be in the Studio! was shaped by this knowledge.
Alyson says that her most valuable hands-on life experience came from working in the U.S. Senate. What, you may ask, does that have to do with art?! Well, she believes she learned how to form and nurture relationships from the best politician around. And if you don't think politics play a role in the artworld, think again. In I'd Rather Be in the Studio!, chapters on networking and following up are direct results of her Washington experience.
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 bigger 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 with glossy giant polka dots she added to make her smile. She rests her arms on a black steel desk, which she commissioned from artist Jay Haen and she 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 windows, while her home is filled with artwork by her dear friends Gail Frasier, Kurt Christian, David Castle, Pam Caidin (whose wonderful pendant necklace she's wearing in the photo above), and Gloria Abella de Duncan. If you're there long enough, you'll run into a bizarre pair of tropical-themed lamps that Alyson's grandmother picked up in Hollywood in the 1940s (you wouldn't believe they were hers if you had met her!).
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| On any given day, you'll catch Tofu and/or Frida in their baskets under Alyson's desk. |
When Alyson is not in her office, you might catch her at a yoga class; hiking in the foothills or in the Rockies; skiing in Crested Butte; cooking; watching Iron Chef America 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. Alyson re-met her husband at their 20th high school reunion (they've known each other since age 11!) and is grateful that he embraces the two-cat lifestyle she brought to the relationship.