The Business of Beauty: Building an Art Gallery from Scratch

What does it take to build a thriving art gallery from the ground up? Hayley's journey offers a masterclass in following your passion against all odds.

Growing up on Long Island with its breathtaking beaches, Hayley developed an early love for beauty and creativity through museum visits with her art-teacher sister. While her corporate marketing career took her around the world, art remained her true passion—using paychecks to buy paintings while friends splurged on luxury cars and vacations.

Life took a dramatic turn when she received a lifetime achievement award in her mid-forties. Reflecting on her father's passing at 47 and her constant travels away from her young children, Hayley realized something needed to change. A synagogue fundraiser where she organized an art auction revealed an unexpected truth: New Albany residents loved buying original art. Just like that, a business plan was born.

The Hayley Gallery opened on November 8, 2007—her father's birthday—with an overwhelming response of 500 attendees. Then came the 2008 recession. Hayley cashed in retirement accounts, sold jewelry, and made countless sacrifices to keep her dream alive, driven by commitment to the artists who trusted her with their work.

Today, the gallery represents 90 diverse artists, each with remarkable stories—from Adam Culp, who creates art inspired by his experience of blindness before cornea transplants, to Sean Augustine, who found healing through art after military service. The gallery has become more than a business; it's a community where artists' stories of transformation inspire visitors and collectors alike.

Come visit the Hayley Gallery, where you'll be greeted by Maddie the gallery dog and surrounded by beautiful, meaningful art in an inviting atmosphere that breaks down the intimidation often associated with art spaces. As Hayley tells visitors, "You're standing in my dream."

Transcript

From Long Island to Ohio

Justin 0:15

They tell you that too.

Hayley 0:16

They're always like you're not from Ohio, Like how'd you know? And so After 20 some odd years.

Justin 0:24

You've been here for 20 years.

Hayley 0:25

I've been in Ohio 22 and I was in Chicago for 16 before that. Wow, I really shouldn't sound like this.

Justin 0:32

And you're just hanging on to it.

Hayley 0:35

Every time I talk to my sister in New York, it comes back.

Justin 0:41

So your sister still lives there.

Hayley 0:42

Well, my sister lives in Florida, which is like South New York.

Justin 0:45

Yeah, that's exactly right. That's right. My grandmother lived there forever and it was just flocks of New Yorkers when I would go visit.

Hayley 0:54

Yeah, I think that there's like this law the minute you start wearing white shoes, you've got to move.

Justin 1:03

So what was it like being in the Bronx?

Hayley 1:05

I wasn't in the Bronx.

Justin 1:06

Sorry, long Island, long Island was idyllic. Really.

Hayley 1:11

Oh, it was. I grew up eight minutes from Jones Beach, from the most beautiful beaches, from the most beautiful beaches. In fact, my cousins got married on Long Island, near the Hamptons, about six years ago. Okay, and I sent pictures to people and they're like oh, are you in Jamaica, Are you in the Caribbean? I'm like, no, I'm on Long Island.

Justin 1:33

I've never been there. I've never been.

Hayley 1:34

It's the most beautiful beaches you could imagine without leaving the, without leaving the united states yeah, that's, I think if, if it wasn't for all the people, it would be fantastic. Yeah, it was a fabulous childhood, surrounded by water and being able to go to the beach all the time. That was to me, that was my yeah uh solace for me.

Justin 1:58

I think that maybe I'd be okay with an East Coast beach, because, like when I go south to the beach or out west, like it's just so hot, I don't do well with it.

Hayley 2:08

Yeah, that's why there's water, yeah.

Justin 2:12

I think I'm afraid of the ocean, are you really? I'm not a fan of going in the ocean.

Hayley 2:16

See, and I'm a scuba diver.

Justin 2:18

Oh really.

Hayley 2:25

I've been a diver for over 30 years.

Justin 2:26

Wow, I'm at the point where I could probably teach it. I think I'm only five classes away from a certification. Wow, I'm gonna have you just move it a little bit closer. It kind of like it cut out a little bit Much, much better. So what don't you do so from?

Hayley 2:36

Long Island. What don't I do? You've got an.

Justin 2:38

You've got an art gallery you're a scuba diver and you're still today scuba diving.

Hayley 2:44

Well, there was this thing called COVID. Five years ago I was very sick, I was in the emergency room and then they admitted me, and then I went to the ICU and I almost died my goodness, and it was in fact.

Hayley 2:57

I was followed by various radio state TV stations in the area. I was interviewed because I was one of the first people to come forward and said I had COVID. Wow, people discouraged me from telling others I had COVID because they thought it would hurt my gallery business. People would think that it was cursed or it was they didn't catch it. Remember there were so many misnomers at the beginning.

Hayley 3:20

People thought, oh, I can't touch the surface, I can't go in there, I can't breathe this, and I decided to go to really be vocal about it because I was a real advocate of wearing masks.

Justin 3:31

Yeah, yeah.

Hayley 3:32

And so I almost died on August 2nd 2020, which was the beginning of COVID. That was the very beginning, and they didn't know what to do. They didn't know how to treat me. There was one day where almost everyone on the floor died.

Justin 3:48

Wow.

Scuba Diving Adventures and COVID

Hayley 3:49

And I was very lucky because I had something I had no comorbidities, yeah, and the people who were dying were most for the most part, they had either heart ailments, diabetes, they were obese, and I was fine. I just happened to get a really bad dose of it and so I had a surgery in April and it was determined that I only had 25% of my lung capacity. So with scuba diving, you have to have strong lungs. Your lungs are actually a flotation. So with scuba diving, you have to have strong lungs. Your lungs are actually a flotation device when you're diving and you use your breathing as one of your best tools. So I have not tried to scuba dive since.

Hayley 4:33

I had COVID, I'm really afraid, but every time I see someone scuba diving I can't take my eyes off the screen. I'm still fascinated by it. After 30 years, it's still one of the most amazing hobbies, Although people say why would you want to do something where you have to bring your air with you?

Justin 4:53

Yeah, exactly that's how I feel, and you never know what's there. I've done snorkeling with with my my brother loves to do it down in palm beach and and so we went with them and I'm just like what is that? What is it like? I'm just there's, there's sharks and things there are.

Hayley 5:09

There are and and, in fact, when you're diving, you're using um hand signals. So I've actually dove with people who are, who were, um deaf, and it's so easy for them because you're using sign language. Oh wow, so like this is shark and this is eel.

Hayley 5:27

But I find scuba diving to be the most amazing sport because it's almost like you're on the moon. It's almost like you're weightless and you see things that really only a portion of a small portion of the population would ever see, and I myself are fascinated by it. In fact, when I see fish in a tank, I get very upset because I don't think they should be there.

Justin 5:56

I think they should be where I could see them, not where everyone else could see them. That's mine.

Hayley 6:02

Yeah, so yeah, scuba diving to me is a sport that is, I think, everyone could do it. It's just there's a lot of fear with it because of the unknown, you don't know what you're going to see. But to me that's the exciting part of it. I'm looking for these things Braver than I. Oh, I have swam dove with sharks twice. Oh, wow, yes, where they chum the water and you're watching them.

Justin 6:30

Intentionally.

Hayley 6:31

Intentionally chumming. I took my daughter. You'd think that would be very bad. I took my daughter with me and we watched In. Here's something. So when my kids were 11 and 12, I got them certified, oh wow, and they were at a place called kid sea camp and we went to the caribbean.

Hayley 6:48

I think it was um rowatan, honduras, and we. They got certified and it's it's called a junior open water, because you really can't get certified until you're of age, and I think that age is either 16 or 18. Okay, but we got PADI certified, which is one of the there's two places that certify you. So we did PADI and I got rescue certified just so that I could be their buddy, which is what it's called when you pair up with someone. And so I could save them if something happened.

Justin 7:17

That is cool.

Hayley 7:19

And they still thank me for that. These two children, who were 11 and 12, are now 29 and 30.

Justin 7:26

Do they scuba dive still?

Hayley 7:27

Oh yeah, my daughter went scuba diving. She went to Australia last year, oh wow, and she went with whale sharks.

Justin 7:35

That is amazing. That's nuts. Yeah, that's crazy. That's really cool though. Cool Amazing.

Hayley 7:43

That's nuts, that's crazy. That's really cool, though Cool. So where are they at now? So tell me about that. My son is in Westerville. He works for Huntington Bank. He used to manage my gallery for four years. He worked for Mama Nice. Yeah, well, he may not think so. He definitely grew from that experience and I think that a lot of the customer facing interactions he had has helped him.

Hayley 8:04

Yeah, yeah, absolutely being in Huntington and my daughter is in Tacoma Washington, with her husband. She's married and she's an outdoor, real outdoors person and she climbs and they camp and they glamp and they paddle, they do everything. So she's a real outdoorsy person. She was in Chicago but she married a geologist Interesting, not in Chicago, not a lot of need no.

Hayley 8:34

So she's now, he's in the mountains and she's in the mountains and they are living their best life with their new puppy, Sloan. That's awesome. In fact, we are going out there in two weeks.

Justin 8:48

We're taking them to the Ohio State Washington game. Nice, they could care less, but we want to go. You'll be excited. That should be a good game.

Hayley 8:53

It should be 22,000 people in that stadium. That's great. So it's one fifth of the size of the shoe.

Justin 9:00

Yeah, that'll still be a great environment. I'm sure it'll be. Yeah, they think they're going to win. I bet they do.

Hayley 9:05

I don't know this.

Justin 9:07

The Buckeyes look really good.

Hayley 9:09

Don't they? But it's hard being number one. They have a real target on their back being number one.

Sharing Diving with Family

Justin 9:13

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, it's kind of crazy with them in the Big Ten. You know thinking about like West coast schools, but it seems to be working out.

Hayley 9:21

I think so.

Justin 9:22

I think it's going to help a school like Washington, I'm sure.

Hayley 9:24

Yeah, I'm sure grambling is still putting ice packs on their body.

Justin 9:28

Yeah, they're trying to. That was a tough one. Yeah, it was a tough one. Ou, I think will be a little bit closer, but it'll be into it. I didn't even introduce you so. Haley welcome to the show.

Hayley 9:45

Thank you very much.

Justin 9:45

I appreciate that. Yeah, thanks for coming. And you are the owner of the Haley Gallery, right, I am?

Hayley 9:51

I am.

Justin 9:53

And I told you, I've been there once. I don't know much about it at all. So how about a little bit of like, just like, how did you, how did you start it? Like, what made you want to open a gallery?

Hayley 10:05

Well, this is a real circuitous story, but when I was born, my sister was 16 and a half years old and there's nobody in between, wow and she ended up going to college for art education in between, and she ended up going to college for art education. So by the time that I was five and six years old, she was looking for ways to put her education to use. So she would take me to museums in New York and we would go to the Guggenheim and we would go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and she would draw and she would have me draw, and I just developed a love of art and she would draw and she would have me draw and I just developed a, a love of art and an appreciation of art. Um, and being a teacher was very nurturing for me to be around her and then fast forward.

Hayley 10:52

I grew up in on Long Island, as, as we discussed before, and I graduated from Hofstra University, which, if you've ever heard of it, most people have not, but it's a very large school on Long Island and I was a marketing major and I couldn't at that point think about how to weave art into my career. Because I needed to eat into my career, because I needed to eat. I worked in Manhattan and the first business trip I ever had, I was 21 years old and I went to Indianapolis on a business trip and there was an art fair in the lobby of the hotel and I was just fascinated. So I took my paycheck, my entire paycheck for a week, which at the time was $250,000. And I slapped it down on a painting.

Hayley 11:48

People thought I was like out of my mind and I said I just I love art, I just want to collect art. And that started a fascination with art. And my friends were going to Mexico doing Club Med, buying BMWs. I was going to auctions Buying art. I was buying art. I was buying important art too. I was buying art that, with people like you'd recognize the name of some of the art, and that's how I incorporated art is whenever I made a little bit of money I'd buy a piece. And so, fast forward, 27 years, the industry that I was in gave me a lifetime achievement award and I was only in my mid forties.

Justin 12:39

And.

Hayley 12:39

I said, hmm, this is something Should I gracefully leave. And I did at that point, start thinking about what am I leaving my children and what kind of memories will they have? And I felt at the time I was divorced, I had two children, I was living in Chicago and I was taking these international trips and I was I always had a suitcase.

Justin 13:09

Yeah.

Hayley 13:10

And my kids were young. They were, they were in kindergarten and we had a nanny.

Justin 13:14

Yeah.

Hayley 13:15

And I just kept saying is this the kind of life I want to have? I was making really good money, but I was gone.

Justin 13:23

What was that career? What were you doing?

Hayley 13:29

I was in sales and marketing for a company that did customer service support. Okay, so you dial an 800 number.

Justin 13:37

Yeah.

Hayley 13:38

And you get someone on the line. They're sometimes in the United States, but a lot of times they're not. So it had me. I was in India, I was in South Africa, I was in Panama. I was all over the world looking for places where we can hire people to take phone calls from American companies.

Justin 14:01

Yeah, and then trying to raise two young ones.

Hayley 14:04

Trying to raise two young ones with a real, challenging ex-husband who would not take my kids outside of whatever was written in our agreement.

Justin 14:17

Oh geez.

Hayley 14:18

So, for instance, I went to India for five days.

Justin 14:22

I can't go to Kroger for 30 minutes.

Hayley 14:26

Yeah, yeah so five days and it's a two-days travel each way. Yeah, I'd go to the Philippines, and that's a long time. It's 48 hours, so I would literally be there for a day and a half. I once went to Hawaii on a Monday and came back on a Wednesday Because I couldn't change my visitation. So it became really challenging.

Hayley 14:51

And at the same time, my father passed away, when he was 47. And I was getting to that age and I started to think about what legacy am I leaving behind? Yeah, and it became very clear to me that I needed to make a better impression on my children for how I was managing my life, my career, my happiness, yeah. And so I was given an opportunity to I had moved to Ohio, by the way, by that time and I won my kid. I won a lawsuit not a lawsuit, but I did file suit to take my kids. It's called a removal process so I was able to remove them to Ohio from Chicago, which was quite a thing to do. In fact, you'll find my case in the Illinois Supreme Court, because not only was it decided by a judge, but then they appealed it. It was appealed by my ex-husband and then it was confirmed again. So I made a lot of lawyers very rich.

Hayley 16:00

And I took a job in Ohio in that same business, okay, and I helped build this company up, but there were a lot of promises made to me. With this company being a woman, they wanted to convert it to a woman-owned business to get more business. And so that was what he told me he wanted to do, and he did give me a board position on the do and he did give me a board position on the company and he did make me a lot of promises, but it ended up being a very toxic culture and so, even though I did have my kids with me, I was traveling a little bit less. I was so unhappy.

Hayley 16:35

So here's at the same time, I'm thinking about my father passing away. I have these two kids that I'm trying to raise and be around for them. I didn't know a person in Ohio, but I moved here anyway because I wanted to take a shot, I wanted to be financially independent and I wanted to be able to give my kids the life that they deserved. So at the same time, I was a member of a synagogue called Temple Beth Shalom in New Albany and they saw that I was a go-getter, gutsy woman from New York and they said hey, would you like to do our fundraiser, our next fundraiser, and that's a big thing to take it on.

Opening Haley Gallery

Hayley 17:17

I said sure. I said how about we do an art auction? I said where'd you come up with that? I said I am an art collector. Maybe I can call my artists and see if they'd like to donate. But I structured it a different way. I said we'll give you, the temple will get 50%, the artists will get 50%. Most fundraisers are they want the artist to give that piece to them.

Justin 17:37

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hayley 17:38

I couldn't see the alignment. There's a stronger alignment with things like diseases, like cancer and diabetes and Alzheimer's, but here I was asking artists to give it for a synagogue.

Justin 17:50

Yeah.

Hayley 17:53

And although everyone was very supportive of it and there was no anti-Semitism there and so people were supportive of what I was trying to do my kids were going to become a bat and bar mitzvah there, so it was important to to support it. Well, I called up all these artists. I found artists in in Ohio. We sold 90 pieces in under two hours and raised $40,000. It was the biggest thing they'd ever had, and usually their fundraisers they were making 15, 20,000, 40,000. And so my marketing hat was saying wait a second, people in New Albany like to buy art. Maybe this is my second career. So I wrote a business plan and I talked to a couple of brokers and I found a spot. Wow. I gave my notice of my company and then I spent about three months building the gallery up and I have to tell you the day I opened, which was November 8th my father's birthday. Oh, wow, november 8th 2007. They had to call the New Albany police to direct traffic because we had 500 people at the opening.

Justin 19:06

I invited 100.

Hayley 19:08

It was unbelievable and we did. It was amazing that November and December was fantastic and then 2008 came, oh yeah, and the recession, and I started to. People were like are you glad you did this? And I'm like, no, I really wish I had some tarot cards at the time to tell me what it would be like. Yeah, so it was really hard. I bet I had come down from a major high and I ended up doing a lot of things that I didn't think I was going to do. I cashed in my retirement account, I cashed in insurance, I sold jewelry, my own stuff. I did a lot of things to keep my business going.

Justin 19:58

Man that's tough.

Hayley 19:59

It was really tough. It was a real come to Jesus moment where you say, should I just, you know, just say I tried it and did it and go back to corporate America, but something said, you have to stay with this. And the other thing was I developed such a phenomenal relationship with my artists and so many of them were depending on me. Here I was changing my career and doing something I'd never done before and saying I could do it, and I was dealing with artists who were themselves manicurists, nurses, teachers, who wanted to give up those careers to just sell art. So I was in such a parallel ride with my artists.

Hayley 20:42

I felt I couldn't let them down.

Justin 20:44

Yeah, yeah.

Hayley 20:44

I had convinced them going with me was the way to go.

Justin 20:48

Yep yeah.

Hayley 20:49

You know, at the time I had 20, 25 artists. Today I have 90.

Justin 20:53

Yeah, and so all of the art in the museum are from local art Gallery. Gallery sorry.

Hayley 21:01

It's okay. You could look at a museum. The only difference is you can buy things. Yeah, yeah.

Justin 21:07

So they're all local, is that correct?

Hayley 21:09

90% are local or they have either a strong or loose connection to Ohio.

Justin 21:16

Okay, nice, and everything in there is for sale.

Hayley 21:19

Everything except for the dog People try to buy the dog. I had a dog named Rory for 14 and a half years. She would sit on the chair in front of my desk and look at me the entire day, and she was. She was the gallery dog.

Hayley 21:35

In fact, I was interviewed by various City Scene Magazine. She was the gallery dog. Yeah, In fact I was interviewed by various City Scene magazine, Capital Styles, various magazines that were around at the time that actually City Scene still is a big one. Yeah, they interviewed me and there was always the dog in there and so. Rory lived with was around for 14 and a half years, and then now we have Maddie, maddie.

Justin 21:54

Who's?

Hayley 21:54

three and a half years old. Okay, and people will be very disappointed if Maddie is not in the gallery when I'm there. Yeah, like, where's the dog?

Justin 22:02

Why didn't Maddie come here today?

Hayley 22:04

Oh, you know what? Maddie had a separate engagement.

Justin 22:06

Okay.

Hayley 22:07

Yeah, Maddie had an engagement with my husband.

Justin 22:09

All right, all right Fair enough.

Hayley 22:12

Maybe next time she stays home sometimes, next time we can bring her in yeah, yeah, well, that's great.

Justin 22:18

And so these artists? Are they selling their pieces elsewhere, like?

Hayley 22:24

just tell me a little bit more about the artists. I have artists that have been with me this entire 18 years, which is to me the most gratifying part of what.

Hayley 22:33

I do is they have taken this ride and a leap of faith for the most part part to be in the gallery. For that long. I've been invited to weddings and to baptisms and to birthday parties and they're a part of my life, they're my network, they're my friends. So, the artists that I have, I would say that right now, 65% of them are women, 10% are LGBTQ Okay, 15% are minority. All right, which I think is the way it should be.

Justin 23:06

Yeah, absolutely.

Hayley 23:08

And they do everything from. I mean, we have painters and we have people who do mixed media, blow glass. We have three different types of glass yeah, Stain glass, blown glass, fused glass. We have ceramics and different types of ceramics. We have sculpture. We have Renata Fackler, who's been with me the entire time too. She did the bronze of the Brutus Buckeye at the Ohio State.

Justin 23:31

Student.

Hayley 23:31

Union that everyone takes their photos with. Yeah, I've taken photos with her, so we represent her.

Justin 23:37

That's awesome.

Hayley 23:39

I would say that probably 10% of my artists are only in my gallery. Wow, I mean, there's woodworking in there right. There's wood, oh, there's wood.

Justin 23:49

Metal. I think there's some there is, there's metal. I remember seeing yeah.

Hayley 23:53

There's a little bit. We even have cards by a wonderful guy whose name is Jason Bradley Krause.

Hayley 23:58

He was married to Chris Bradley, who was the meteorologist who passed away from leukemia, and we have his cards and some of his Ohio State posters, and we have a little bit of everything. One thing that I, being an art collector, one thing I always was observant of is going into a gallery and seeing a lot of white walls and only a piece here and a piece there, and it being a little bit antiseptic, and I felt there were galleries that I've been in to, not only in the United States but throughout the world, where you're intimidated to go in. You felt like it was above you or beyond you and that is the opposite, the antithesis of what I wanted to create. I with the dog especially, and that was not a marketing thing, that's just because I like having a dog.

Justin 24:52

I also have two cats, but they it wouldn't work with them.

Hayley 24:55

They'd scratch everything up.

Justin 24:57

But and I'll be honest, when I walked in, when I came in, um, I told you I had like I was, I don't know what they I was with the kids. We were between probably between uh, ice cream, johnson's and and uh and mellow mushroom.

Justin 25:11

Right, so we were I was like I want to see it, like I see this sign, I've heard of it, I've seen the social and and I was a little intimidated walking in there. But then it is like once I'm mostly intimidated because I'm afraid my kids are going to break some expensive that is good, because if you break it, it's good to watch them hold their hand.

Justin 25:28

So I did. I was holding two hands, um, but yeah, it was not I don't know what I expected, but it was definitely different than what I expected. I mean it was, it was, it was was definitely different than what I expected. I mean it was it was.

Hayley 25:40

It was, yeah, not intimidating at all. Yeah, people say that people will. Will say that they spent. They went to the Short North Gallery Hopper. They went to the Short North or and they they didn't say anything they liked, and they said it was hard not to find something they liked, because I have a lot of things and it is still a gallery.

Hayley 25:54

It is a gallery that is open to many different artists, and I don't think of artists as only those that can paint. Artists could fire ceramics. Artists could make jewelry. Artists could be graphic designers, and I believe in having an open mind as to what artists I want to represent. I have one artist and this is something I'm most proud of is Demi Shostak. She was a student in New Albany High School, okay, and she became they have something where you are shadowed by a junior for senior seminar, junior or senior and so she worked with me for months and months and months for school credit for senior seminar, junior or senior and so she worked with me for months and months and months for school credit for senior seminar, and then she did a report and I went to her presentation and I've actually done that a dozen times already now, but she put her work in the gallery and we have been very successful selling it.

Hayley 26:58

Really, that's awesome and she is a sophomore sophomore junior at Ohio State now. Wow and we represent her, so it's also aspirational.

Justin 27:06

That is really cool.

Hayley 27:07

And I love the fact that we've had over 1,000 kids come through the gallery with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and school trips Scouts and Girl Scouts and school trips and we've had even people from Goodwill who are disabled come in and see the gallery. I'm very proud that we've opened our doors towards a lot of different people, a lot of different sectors of the population of Columbus who want to learn about art, and when they come in, I always tell them you're standing in my dream, because it is.

Justin 27:44

How can you I?

Hayley 27:45

mean, I feel like every day I'm surrounded by beauty and when people bring art in my artists bring art in it's like Christmas morning, yeah yeah, yeah, that's great.

Justin 27:56

I mean, yeah, look like I'm a sports guy and I thought it was awesome, but I love art. I need to maybe see if you could sell one of my pencil drawings.

Hayley 28:07

Oh, okay.

Artists and Their Stories

Justin 28:10

I just like to do it. The kids love to do it. I'll sit and do it with them. They're not great, but I always, like in high school, I loved ceramics. That was great. I still have some of the things I made, again not great, but I just love doing it I think that's.

Hayley 28:24

I think it's fantastic.

Justin 28:25

I think that everyone has a creative side to them yeah, till I, until I drop off the my pencil drawing of a cow. Oh, yeah, well, we'll have to see what that looks like. We'll see what that looks like. I should have brought it in.

Hayley 28:38

That would have been very funny.

Justin 28:39

Yeah.

Hayley 28:41

But we're like non-denominational. Yeah, we're like a church without a. You know, you don't have to be a great artist, you have to be a talented artist. Yeah, yeah, you have to have the talent. I'm not looking for the next Picasso. Yeah, I'm not looking for the next.

Justin 28:58

Picasso.

Hayley 28:58

Yeah, I'm not looking for the next Monet. I'm looking for someone who is devoted to creating art, yeah, and creates art that I could sell.

Justin 29:08

Yeah, and so there's some Ohio State stuff in there.

Hayley 29:11

That was really cool there is Ohio State, but it is not like Ohio State. It's not like we don't have the Buckeye and we don't have braided stuff.

Justin 29:21

We have real art ceramic and glass. Really cool stuff.

Hayley 29:26

Yeah, very cool, Really neat, In fact. You know who one of our clients is. Who's that? Oh see, I don't want to know if I should name names, but I will tell you that Jim Trestle has bought art for me Nice. How about that? Yeah, and we've had some famous people. I'm not going to name names.

Justin 29:42

Yeah, yeah.

Hayley 29:43

We've had some pretty notable Ohioans come in and come to the gallery and inside I'm oh my goodness, I got the opportunity to meet you. This is so exciting so.

Justin 29:55

Coach Trestle was just here. I don't know, maybe a couple weeks ago I got to meet him. He was here for a city event.

Hayley 30:01

Yes, and you know that before they interviewed him, they interviewed me. Yeah, okay.

Justin 30:06

It was the interview before him.

Hayley 30:07

Nice Good, we were on TV, for it was oh, I forget the name of the channel Spectrum News.

Justin 30:15

I Spectrum News. I did see some cameras here. Yeah, how about that?

Hayley 30:18

They interviewed me right before. How do you like that?

Justin 30:20

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Yeah, so is that when he came to the oh no, oh, no, yeah, yeah, yeah, he and I go way back, okay, good yeah.

Hayley 30:31

He bought a piece of Renata's Okay. So here's even Funny story His first marriage Renata was a bridesmaid. At his first wedding, she's the one who did the Brutus Buckeye. Yeah, so she made him a small bronze.

Justin 30:46

That's really cool.

Hayley 30:49

So we meet a lot of great people in the gallery. It's a real. It's a spot where people know they can see beauty and buy things and buy gifts and are not intimidated and can pet a dog.

Justin 31:00

Yeah, who doesn't want to see a dog? Right, I mean, and sorry, what's the second? The new dogs that Maddie, Maddie, Maddie.

Hayley 31:06

Maddie, who I have to tell you. Depending upon the mood I'm in, she's either Maddie Matilda, madeline, She'll answer to anything, that's as long as it's a cookie that's great.

Justin 31:21

Um, man, I love the story, I love. So my mom has a, uh, she has a, well, she, it started with like clothing consignment, um, back in small town of courtland, ohio, and, um, she, then, she, the consignment clothing kind of turned into furniture and then so now she has this small shop in a small town where she does consignment furniture. But I feel like she does a lot better with like local stuff. Sure, sure, I'll call them artists, but like it might be jewelry, it might be like there's a candle shop in town that she sells lots of those. So she always has people bringing things to her that they're making or creating or whatever and very similar. And I like, I, the challenges of like the economy and just everything COVID or whatever it may be like that, that challenge, for I have an appreciation for that, I guess, because it is, it's tough.

Hayley 32:16

It is very tough and and unless an artist is going to fairs and selling their work at, like the upper Arlington or the, you know, the Westerville art fair or the Worthington, it's very hard for them to get noticed locally.

Justin 32:31

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Hayley 32:33

So we have the new Albany farmer's market where some of them could go for crafts.

Justin 32:37

Yeah.

Hayley 32:38

So I have a difficult time turning people away and we get at least 10 applications to be in the gallery a week.

Justin 32:48

I bet, I bet.

Hayley 32:49

And unfortunately, 9.75 of them I have to turn away on average because with 90 artists, I have to be very selective. I also do not want to um have too many in any one medium because I don't want it to be yeah, a bunch of paintings, a bunch of the same thing, or commonplace if you will yeah so, um, but we do.

Hayley 33:12

We have a very, I would say, strict process. You have to apply online, we have to know a little bit about you, we have to understand what your experience is working with a gallery, what your price point is, what your artist statement is, and if people can get through that whole process, it's wonderful. And if I see even a spark of something, I do want to bring them in and see it. Yeah, but it's very hard to let them down and a lot of people will think that what they do is art. But it is really a craft which is just as nice.

Justin 33:46

But I'm not the right avenue for that. Yeah, absolutely.

Hayley 33:48

There are other avenues for them to sell crafts and there's lots of great places in Columbus you can go to buy that type of work, just not mine.

Justin 33:59

Yeah, yeah, mine, yeah, yeah, yeah, no, that makes perfect sense. That makes perfect sense.

Hayley 34:03

And we do partner with. We partner with Cameron Mitchell I think that Hudson 29 in New Albany has been a phenomenal partner and Greg the GM has been just spectacular. And we do events and we do parties. We do openings once a month and we'll always say make it a date night and go to Hudson 29 after the gallery and have a wonderful evening For the Kentucky Derby. Last year we had a bunch of women who came to the gallery and then afterward we all went and we had wonderful drinks and they had a whole place set aside for us in the bar.

Justin 34:47

They have amazing drinks, by the way.

Hayley 34:49

They are a fantastic restaurant and one day I'm really hoping that we can put art in there. But it's a process, yeah.

Justin 34:58

So you were telling me after looking like walking how beautiful Brickhouse Blue is. You had mentioned like going to place art in places. Is that something that is common that you do?

Hayley 35:09

Well, they buy the art. Okay so we just put. I think it was a half dozen pieces in Ohio. Real Title.

Justin 35:18

Okay.

Hayley 35:18

Which is right next door in the building next door and they are on the water as well and the art looks beautiful. It's perfect. And art in an office is so cheery and it's so different to have a commitment to local art and original art in an office. It gives people a smile on their face, just like it does when you're at home. I always say to people when they're not sure about whether to buy a piece of art, I said, okay, it's like a marriage you want to wake up every morning, see it and really be happy you bought it.

Justin 35:52

You're happy you made that decision.

Hayley 35:54

And so it really is great for morale. So not only do we have art there, we have art at Wallach and Company, which is right, by the gallery. We have art at Nationwide Children's Hospital. They've been a phenomenal supporter of the gallery for over a decade. We have art in the convention center.

Justin 36:14

Daughter has a piece of art at Nationwide Children's.

Hayley 36:18

That's fantastic.

Justin 36:19

It was through the school and it was a cardinal. Yeah, and so she at the time was in kindergarten and I don't know how they selected pieces or what they did, but it's a permanent fixture there. I haven't been to see it.

Hayley 36:31

I know who selected it, in fact the woman who selected it Ann Dierker, who is no longer there, but I'm sure it was her who selected it. They've made a phenomenal commitment to having children's art and local art.

Hayley 36:43

Yeah, that's pretty neat, but the more that people know that they can buy art at the gallery that's affordable, that they can put in their offices and it could really make a difference to the way people perceive the business when they come in and see that In fact Ohio Real Title has art also in their offices at Polaris. So they've been and they're a Cleveland-based company, but they've been incredibly supportive of that because, it makes a big difference.

Justin 37:14

Yeah.

Hayley 37:16

So we don't place art, we'll only sell it to put in there.

Justin 37:20

Yeah, yeah.

Hayley 37:20

But occasionally, if someone wants a piece or two for a specific need, we will talk with the artist and see, because we don't own the art.

Justin 37:31

Yeah.

Hayley 37:31

So we can't just take a piece of art and put it wherever we want? Because, it's not ours. It belongs to the artist, so we have to respect that.

Justin 37:38

Yeah.

Hayley 37:38

And the artists also are the ones who set the prices. So when people are curious about how the prices work, it's always based on the market value of what the artist has sold before them, of the medium, the technique, whether it's oil or acrylic, mixed media. That has a big impact and the artists set the price and it's a living wage type of price so that they can continue to produce.

Gallery Operations and Hanging Systems

Justin 38:05

That's exactly right. Do you have anybody like? Do they make custom? Any of the artists do custom pieces for anybody. Many of them do.

Hayley 38:11

Some of them will say I will never do a commission, but others are fantastic. In fact, I have one artist, lori Clements, who used to be a New Albany resident. She'll make someone two pieces and let them choose which one they want.

Justin 38:23

She's amazing, pretty neat.

Hayley 38:25

And we have several people Carolyn Heffelfinger. Carolyn Heffelfinger, in fact, did a beautiful thing for me Last week. I came in the gallery and there was a little package there and I opened it up and it was a painting of Maddie and she said I love your dog and I want you to have this. And I was just blown away. And so she does beautiful pet portraits and beautiful pieces.

Justin 38:58

She's great we have Adam Culp.

Hayley 38:59

Okay, so this is a great story.

Justin 39:00

Adam culp is an art teacher at new albany, okay, and my daughter had him now.

Hayley 39:02

What building he's? He's a teaches the senior. He teaches in the high school okay, he did teach in middle school, though okay, side note, he has two sets of twins under and he had them under the age of three. Two sets twins.

Hayley 39:13

So him and his wife are like amazing people, so you have four, so you can imagine having them both. Oh yeah, no thanks. And so Adam, who grew up in Westerville, went to Otterbein when he was a senior in high school. He started losing his vision and the doctors determined it was something that was going to keep progressing. And he went to Otterbein and he basically was blind. He could only see shadows Wow. And he was an art major Wow.

Justin 39:43

So he met his wife Heather at Otterbein.

Hayley 39:46

He continued as an art major. His mother would walk with him and take him around to his classes. I mean amazing commitment. In 1999, they discovered what it was and they gave him a cornea transplant. But they could only do one at a time. They don't want to take a chance.

Hayley 40:05

So he had one in 1999, he had another in 2000,. Restored his vision, he went back to Otterbein for his master's in teaching because his corneas were from a child or from children, because he was not fully formed yet. He was only, you know, under 21. Oh wow. So he said he wanted to go back because he sees through the eyes of a child.

Justin 40:27

Yeah.

Hayley 40:27

So he taught, so he was my daughter's teacher, so I was.

Justin 40:30

I went to Otterbein for education 2004.

Hayley 40:34

He was a little before you, yeah.

Justin 40:36

I was there from four to nine.

Hayley 40:37

Yeah, he, you should look him up.

Justin 40:39

Yeah.

Hayley 40:39

So, adam, what a story. And his art some of his art, is blurry because it it harkens back to what he used to see. And then it's very clear Children's Hospital has several of his pieces because his story is so amazing, so for me, it's also about the story.

Hayley 40:58

So I have one artist his name is Sean Augustine and he was in the army during Desert Storm and he had some issues with two deployments and he was suicidal and his counselors said you should really try expressing yourself another way, and he started photography and that led into art and now I have sold so much of his work, wow, and he's an amazing artist.

Hayley 41:28

He still has struggles with health, struggles from a result of of being deployed yeah, yeah but to be be able to represent someone like that, who has been there and has triumphed. I also have an artist, lori Clements. I mentioned her before. She had breast cancer and she started a fund called Locks and a Lift, and what that is is she uses some of her funds from art sales to provide wigs and rides to chemotherapy for people who can't afford it how amazing is that.

Hayley 42:02

So every artist has a story. We have artist Marianne Phillip is one of my artists, who was formerly in Art and Recovery, which is for artists who have gone through mental health and other types of substance abuse issues, and she's one of my best-selling artists right now Wow. So there are stories and there are things that I really love to share about my artists, and that's why I stay in business. I stay in business because these artists are relying on me to tell their story.

Justin 42:32

Yeah, that's really neat.

Hayley 42:34

Yeah, I have another artist, todd Buescher, who's been with me the entire 18 years. He was part of the fundraiser at the temple. He supersedes the gallery and he used to supplement his income. He was a track teacher. He was an art teacher in Urbana, but he was also the track coach and I sold enough art that he could give up coaching so he can concentrate on art. So to be able to know that I facilitated that is incredibly gratifying.

Justin 43:07

I coach track too, so I have an affinity for that.

Hayley 43:09

You know that Now he just retired after 35 years teaching Wow Yep, and he has a show coming up in November with another artist from Pataskala, suzanne Robinson, who's been with me a dozen years.

Justin 43:22

Wow, and then so do the artists come into the gallery. Do your clients get to meet the artists ever, oh, all the time, okay, okay.

Hayley 43:31

It's funny because I had someone who came in from Texas. So she wrote to me and she says my husband's from Ohio, we're having a reunion, I'm from Texas, we're driving in. Could we come to your gallery? This is the artist we like. And while they were there, they also saw something else they liked by one of my artists who's a psychiatrist in New Albany. His name is Dr Eric Lane, and I called Eric up and I said hey, eric, they're interested in a piece that's on the website but I don't have. 15 minutes later he comes walking in with the piece and gets to meet them.

Justin 44:03

How neat is that.

Hayley 44:03

That happens more than you can imagine.

Justin 44:05

That's really neat.

Hayley 44:06

On any given day, I have one or two artists that are dropping off work, because when you have 90 artists, you are, and when you have so much work, we're selling on average at least one painting a day. Yesterday we sold six paintings, wow. So we have to. We're constantly playing Tetris, if you will replacing what?

Hayley 44:24

and calling people up and saying, okay, we have a spot on the wall, come in, bring a, bring a piece. So it's so easy for someone to zip up from. You know they come from, since yesterday we had an artist from Cincinnati, and we have artists come from Cleveland and from a place called Hicksville, ohio, which is near the Toledo, and we have artists from all over Ohio and when they hear there's a collector who's interested in their work, they will come out and want to meet. Yeah, and then when we have our artist openings, which is once a month Well, actually we do it probably 11 times a year we have artists who come to support those artists whose work is on display and we'll introduce them to patrons who are there.

Hayley 45:04

That's pretty cool. And then once a year we have our holiday party, which is always around November 8th when we open. So this year it happens to work that it's on November 8th and 9th and most of the artists will come in.

Justin 45:17

That's neat.

Hayley 45:18

And they'll meet their patrons and the patrons will get to meet them.

Justin 45:21

That's really cool.

Hayley 45:22

And it's a. It's really wonderful and we have artists who've developed their own personal relationships with their clients because of that mutual admiration.

Justin 45:32

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's really neat, really neat. I got to ask a question Like how are all those paintings fixed on the wall? Because if I did it, they'd be falling off and I'd be worried about breaking things. Like so who? I and I was in there and I, you said Tetris. It is kind of like there is stuff everywhere.

Hayley 45:51

I told you how nervous I was with my kids.

Justin 45:53

So like who's who's doing, are you hanging that stuff up?

Hayley 45:56

I hang it. Okay, my husband doesn't want to hear this, but I actually get up on a ladder, which I shouldn't do because I've broken my back multiple times. Oh geez, and I have the scars to prove it. But I have Ryan. Ryan Metzger is my assistant and he is an art. He graduated with an art degree from Denison two years ago.

Justin 46:18

I think that's who was in there when I was there Ryan Longhair, he's also an artist and he's having an opening now, very nice.

Hayley 46:25

He's a producing artist at the gallery as well and he helps hang. He hung the entire show that we just hung yesterday. He hung it, I design it. So that's my thing is I design where I want everything to go, because there is a science to it, there is a way to hang it and we also hang the gallery that way. We hang the gallery not by artists, but by pieces that would go well with each other in someone's space.

Justin 46:50

Oh, okay, interesting.

Hayley 46:52

So we don't just clump them all together.

Justin 46:54

So if you go in there, the artists don't have their own specific space.

Hayley 46:58

We don't. We don't do that. I know other places do that, but we believe in kind of mixing things up a little bit and making it a little bit more visually appealing. Yeah, and so we hang it from a system gallery systems A shout out to them in Boston, they're fantastic. It from a system gallery systems a shout out to them in Boston, they're fantastic. I'm also an interior designer and I'm about to put that system in someone's home a true art collector.

Framing, Events, and Community Support

Hayley 47:22

How cool is that, yeah, I, it's funny. I um opened the gallery in 2007 and in 2013 I got married to my, my husband, kurt, and um I put my house up for sale. We were were living in it at the time, but we felt we wanted a fresh start, and my friend, sherry Resnick, who's a phenomenal real estate agent, kept telling me that people were coming in and asking me who my decorator was, and it was me.

Hayley 47:52

And so I got all these cards from people and I said, okay, I'm going to open up a firm. So I opened up Dieter Design in 2013. My husband kids that it was a Sunday, which is exactly what it was, and he was watching football. And he said hey, what are you doing, honey? I said, oh, I'm starting an interior design firm.

Justin 48:09

What are you doing?

Hayley 48:10

Because I'm about to go get a beer. That's hilarious. So, I've had my design firm for 12 years. Okay.

Justin 48:19

And.

Hayley 48:20

I do not advertise it at all and I am busy all the time yeah, I bet and it's been wonderful. So that hanging system I put in clients' houses and I hang for my clients. I actually do the physical hanging for them. Wow, nice, and if I can't do it, Ryan will do it.

Justin 48:36

Yeah, yeah, for my clients.

Hayley 48:37

I actually do the physical hanging for them, and if I can't do it, ryan will do it. Yeah, cause it is. It is tough. So we have a hanging system. Sometimes we use nails, but mostly we use these hooks.

Justin 48:44

Yeah, A system for hanging art. Not me like just pounding nails in them.

Hayley 48:50

No, although there is. There is a way that if you want it hung on a nail, we can do that, but in our hanging system we are using these hooks. Some of them use a little key, an Allen wrench, some of them are push-button, so some of them are for security and some of them are just for ease of hanging. So it is more complicated.

Hayley 49:17

Yeah, see I knew there, I knew it had to be yeah, yeah it is and I can show you, if you, when you come to the guy, I can show you how it is it's like a pet peeve of my wife's, that like because I have done remodeling and I'm handy and but like I'll, nothing is kid proof.

Justin 49:33

Like they'll rip the towel, rack off the wall and I'm like I don. There's nothing else I can do to make it more secure. But so she messes with me that I can't hang a picture on the wall.

Hayley 49:42

Well, hanging a picture is okay, so the way you should really hang a picture is not with a nail in the center, and everyone does that.

Hayley 49:49

And of course it's going to move. So you should really have hooks on what's called the D-rings, which are the rings that hold the wire. Okay, and they're in the shape of a D, some of them are in the shape of a V. You don't want those. They're light, yeah. So don't go to like an Ace Hardware and get your hanging kit. I mean, even though they're wonderful, a lot of other things you really need from an art store. You really need these D-rings.

Justin 50:17

Interesting.

Hayley 50:17

Because you need to be able to put a hook through the ring and it has to be heavy enough. Yeah, Because some of the paintings, especially if it's a framed painting with glass, it could weigh 25 pounds.

Justin 50:28

You've got to make sure you're weighting it right. Yeah, do you do any framing, like if I had some art?

Hayley 50:38

I've been designing framing for 18 years.

Justin 50:40

Really.

Hayley 50:40

Yeah, I do all the design and we have a 100% rate of client of people coming back to me for framing. It's glorifying that people trust me so much for framing. It's one of my favorite things to do is to design it. Oh, it allows me to be creative Instead of just selling other people's art. I get to create the frame around their art.

Justin 51:07

That's pretty cool. So when somebody brings a piece in it's not framed, you design the frame around it and then it's sold with that frame.

Hayley 51:13

Yes, that could be. That's a choice. Okay, sometimes they're bringing in pieces that they buy elsewhere. Sometimes they're buying in pieces that they're bringing in pieces that their kids did. I mean, I framed diplomas, kids art. I framed jerseys, interesting yes, I framed. There was things at Rusty Bucket that I framed. How cool is that I framed a lot of the work for the New Albany Community Foundation, for Craig Moore. Yeah, All of their remarkable evenings and a lot of their speakers, everything they have. I framed all of that in their offices.

Justin 51:48

I've got to bring in my penciled cow.

Hayley 51:50

Yes, you do. We've got to get that cow.

Justin 51:52

See how you could frame it.

Hayley 51:53

We've got to get that framed, but it is custom framing Okay.

Justin 51:57

All right, yeah, cool Cool.

Hayley 51:59

Yeah, so framing is another part. So we also do gallery rental, so you can actually rent the gallery and have a party there.

Justin 52:06

That'd be sweet, that'd be cool.

Hayley 52:07

You don't have to decorate it.

Justin 52:08

Yeah.

Hayley 52:11

No balloons.

Justin 52:12

That's a little scary.

Hayley 52:13

Yeah, yeah, we don't do it as much as, but we'll do it. The other thing I love to do and this is an important part of how we show the community how much we care is we give the gallery once a month to a nonprofit. Oh, wow, and let them have the gallery, whether it's to thank their volunteers, whether it's to raise money, whatever it is, I will give the gallery out for two hours on any day of the week, once a month, and it's yours to do what you wish.

Hayley 52:45

Nice has Irene used it, yet yeah, I figured Pelotonia has used it. We've used it for the New Albany Community Foundation. We've used it for the New Albany pantry food pantry. Yeah, we've used it for the New Albany pantry food pantry. We've used it for Healthy New Albany. We've used it for political candidates. We've used it for synagogues and churches. That's great. Anyone who has a nonprofit, a 5013C, so you have to be a legitimate nonprofit. Yeah, I will give you the gallery for two hours, as long as no children the only thing.

Hayley 53:21

Because you know you don't want to be big and that they know that they have to bring all the food and the drink and all that. I'm just giving them the space and giving them that opportunity.

Justin 53:32

Yeah, that's nice. You got to get them full of wine and then they just start buying pieces off the wall.

Hayley 53:37

You know, the wallet gets looser, that's great.

Justin 53:42

Well, it's been almost an hour, probably over an hour now.

Hayley 53:45

This has been so much fun. I've enjoyed it.

Justin 53:48

It is really fun. We were talking before. Like you and I probably would likely never sit down and talk right, and so it's just really cool and I think a lot of people are going to learn a lot about you before you and I probably would likely never sit down and talk.

Hayley 54:02

It's just really cool. I think a lot of people are going to learn a lot about you Scuba diving. I was going to say I bet we'd never scuba dive together.

Justin 54:05

Absolutely not, but you're really good at it. It's easy, you just talk. Maybe you should start a podcast for your artist.

Hayley 54:14

That would be neat You'd have to teach me how to do all this equipment Easy. That would be fun.

Digital Art Challenges and Closing Thoughts

Justin 54:21

You know what I do have. Speaking of equipment, I got one more question for you. What do you think about digital art and AI and just kind of like technology in general and what that does for the art community?

Hayley 54:36

I think it's the worst thing that could happen to the art community, because artists have a hard enough time getting ripped off and in fact I tell all my artists to put a little trademark something on all the work that they publish out so it can't be stolen. I also have them on the back of their artwork reserve all their rights on the back copyright.

Hayley 54:59

All rights reserved the year. So there are so many artists who've come to me, who've told me that they publish their artwork on either Instagram or Facebook and they see someone else doing the same thing doing the same thing. Now, that's different from AI. Yeah.

Hayley 55:14

Yeah, that's different, but unfortunately, piracy is a very big issue. Now, I completely understand that it is very hard to develop something that no one has seen before. Yeah, that is obvious. However, there are certain techniques and certain skills that artists have that are their own, that they would like to preserve, yep, and when I see other people pirating it, it makes me feel so bad for them because they don't have the resources to sue or to go after these people. You can send a letter, cease and desist, but most of the time it doesn't work. Yeah, that's a that digital. I know a lot of artists who did digital. I don't represent that, but the ai scares me yeah, you can create anything.

Justin 56:05

I think I wonder if it doesn't increase the value of art, because I think I think there's an increase in value of things like this because, like the digital world and everything's moving so fast and everything is so isolated where, like I think, we're like going back to things like this or like physical art, as less people do it because they're taking on digital art. That's a great there may be some more value in it.

Hayley 56:29

That's a great point. Let's hope that someone's hearing this.

Justin 56:32

Yeah.

Hayley 56:32

And and we'll say yes, I want physical art.

Justin 56:35

Yeah, my cow just keeps getting more and more expensive. I can't wait to see this cow.

Hayley 56:40

Have you named her? No, I should. I should, because every art needs a name.

Justin 56:45

Well, I had a lot of fun. Yeah, thank you very much. Maybe we can do it again. Maybe we can get some artists in here.

Hayley 56:51

I would love that.