WITH GRACE HOPPER
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SFR: How did you get Unit D [2889-D Trades West Road] up and running?
GH:
Basically, I talked to my friend, Larry Wang, because I needed the space to do matting. He said he had a unit available, and I came and looked at it. I walked in and said, 'Can I turn this into a darkroom?' And he said, 'Absolutely, I'll help you do the plumbing.'
Wow, that's really-
Yeah, fortunate. Very lucky. And then it was like, 'What else can we do with this space? How about a shooting studio? How about a gallery? How about renting it out for other people?' I had other people join me, because I can't afford the rent by myself, so I brought Nathan Addison in, and Eric Cousineau, who brought Adam Frost in. And Nathan, almost right away, bought a color processor so we can do color prints. You know-four heads are much better than one.
You're only 25 and your business partners are also in their 20s. A recent study about Santa Fe's arts industry cited a problem of young people leaving because it's not affordable here, but you guys seem to be going against that grain.
A little bit. For me, I needed a place to print to become a professional artist right out of college. The only alternative was the Darkroom, and whereas they are our ally, it's hard to support so many young people in just one space. It's also hard to find galleries to show your work. So, we're kind of shooting two birds with one stone in having our own space, so that all four of us can pursue careers as professional photographers while promoting other people's careers and our own by having a gallery space.
What kind of work will you be hanging on the walls?
I think it will be primarily photography, but it will also be mixed media and photo-based art, focusing on emerging and young artists. We've talked about doing film presentations here, because it is 1,000 square feet.
As a young and emerging artist, do you feel Santa Fe has enough pull to keep people like you here?
I think it has a lot of community, and that would keep me here. I mean, I have so many really supportive friends in High Mayhem, or Half Rack, or BANG! Gallery. I need to work full time, if not more, just to pay for this studio, and for my house rent, and for any equipment that I buy. It's a struggle, but just having that community as a support network is very important, just to keep the strength up as an artist really fighting to pursue a career, especially as a person who doesn't have a lot of money.
Your gallery is in a warehouse that has become studio space for several creative types in the middle of an abandoned industrial park. Do you think this area is starting to flourish?
A little bit. It's kind of like Canyon Road was once the artists' place because it was the cheap part of town; well, now this the cheap part of town. So I'm sure, if anyone stays around, this will definitely be developing into an artist hotbed, or at least working space.
Are you hoping to make this work through sales, or will you be relying on leasing out darkroom space?
Everything. Everything we can. All four of us have private businesses, doing everything from product shots, head shots, weddings, matting everything we can photo-related. But we do want to sell artwork here and hopefully represent other artists. Whatever we can do to stay afloat, and where we don't have to work restaurant and 9-to-5 jobs.
An organization called Creative Santa Fe is preparing recommendations for the city on how to promote and support the arts here. If you had the opportunity to throw in a recommendation, what would it be?
Grantwriting. Either teaching young artists how to write grants, or providing grants for young artists. It's taken me a year and a half, with help of course, to put the studio together, because I've been working 40 to 60 hours a week [at my other jobs]. It takes a lot of time and energy. I did this out of my own pocket. If I had a grant it would have taken so much less time.
Did you do all of the remodeling work yourselves?
Yes. When we moved in here it was all boxes. This used to be a tofu factory, and so it had stained floors with a big black circle in the middle of it, with all drippings of different wood polishes, because they had a woodworker in here, too. We painted the floor, we painted the ceiling, we painted the walls, we built these floating walls, we completely repainted and redid the back darkroom, we're putting in ventilation, a whole new lighting system, building tables, furniture, buying all of the equipment.
Did you ever think that being a gallery owner was something you were going to do?
No, I mean, I've run galleries before and I always thought maybe it was something I could do when I was already a successful artist, the 'once upon a time' kind of era when I was in my 50s or something. I didn't think it would happen this quickly. I think it's amazing, the support we've gotten from the older, established artists, people who have been doing photography their entire lives and are now in their 50s and 60s-people who are so excited. That's what really keeps me going. They'll smile and show up and give us flowers and say 'congratulations, way to go, keep doing it.' They're so excited because it's probably what they were doing when they were our age.
