Ivy Hartman: Welcome to Phoenix, Arizona in the beautiful Biltmore Hotel, which was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. I'm Ivy Hartman and with me is Kim Roseman of Karen Newby Gallery and Sculpture Garden right here in Tubac Arizona.
I mentioned that we’re in the Biltmore only because it’s so beautiful and kind of work of ourselves. I should mention that we’re here at the NAWBO Conference 2008 and this is your first time attending Kim. Talk about what you’ve learned from the conference and your experience here.
Kim Roseman: Well you know not being NAWBO member and getting this opportunity sort of last minute to come to convention and see what it’s all about first hand it’s been fantastic. And I got to say the speakers had been powerful and the sessions have incredible, but I would say more than that the social networking has been amazing.
I've met people that I would never meet in the million years of searching these people out. And I've met lots of women from all over the country who do all different kinds of things but as a fine art galore I've met two people in particular that I'm so thrilled to meet and probably a very good chance that I’ll do business with in the future.
And one being a copyright attorney from Beverly Hills. So how incredible that I came across her, that we cross paths. The other one is somebody who does cultural art tours in the State of Arizona.
Ivy Hartman: That’s perfect.
Kim Roseman: Exactly. I can connect to you to Southern Arizona and all of our artist down in Southern Arizona and so that’s been a really wonderful connection. But it’s just great to know people.
Ivy Hartman: Now talk about the Karen Newby Gallery and Sculpture Garden.
Kim Roseman: Well the gallery and garden—first let me tell you about Tubac Arizona because the natural question is “Tubac we never heard of it where is it?” And it’s a small historic town. I think the oldest European settlement west to Mississippi 1752. So it’s this old presidio charming historic. It’s a small town about 40 minutes south of Tucson, about 20 miles north of the Mexico border.
Now there’s only 1200 people in our town but there's over a 100 art galleries and shops and restaurants. So it’s this wonderful vibrant art community and it’s really a special place there's no traffic lights, there's no chain stores. It’s one of the very few last places that’s non-homogenize. It’s really unique and charming and wonderful daytrip for anyone.
Ivy Hartman: Now talk about your role with the gallery and sculpture garden.
Kim Roseman: Well it’s the Karen Newby Gallery and Sculpture Garden and then I get the inevitable question “why isn’t it your name?”
Ivy Hartman: Right.
Kim Roseman: Well it started—this is our 20th year and Karen Newby started the gallery after 15 years she retired and so I purchased the gallery for her and it was just complete list how it happened where I have been previously bought out of another business and knew I wanted to do—
I had this question what do I want to do for the rest of my life and had this great opportunity that I could do anything. And I knew I wanted to run my own business and knew I wanted to stay in the Southwest because I love it here. And didn’t want to start a business from scratch because that’s just a little bit too risky in the art field so I wanted to find a business that already had great artist and great art but that I could bring my skills with marketing and advertising in internet too and really grow it.
Well I went to a business broker, which is kind of like a real estate agent for his business, and he said, “well there's an art gallery available up west or that’s what the listing said”. So I called, signed all the company and agreements and they said “have you ever of a town called Tubac” and I said “yes of course”. And they said “well have you ever heard of the Karen Newby Gallery? You walk over a wooden footbridge” and as they were saying “walk over a wooden footbridge…” the angels were singing because it was my favorite gallery not just in Tubac but that I’d ever been in.
The artist nationally known, phenomenal, painters and sculptors and it is really unpretentious gallery with wormwood floors and expose brick and right there like angel sung and it was a done deal and that was five years ago and it’s been absolutely fantastic.
No I did add the sculpture garden in 2006 with the grand opening and I found a parcel of land adjacent and we’ve opened a two-acre monumental sculpture garden. So we have sculptures that—we have a genome Gene & Rebecca Tobey mouse that’s over 3000 pounds, bronze mouse and it’s about cast 12 feet long by about 10 feet high and we’ve got sculptures that are—
Ivy Hartman: But those aren’t part since you walk out of the door with, I wouldn’t think.
Kim Roseman: You’d be surprise you really would because you think we have had cities buy them and businesses buy them but our biggest client it’s in people’s yards and their courtyard and things like that. So it was surprising to me too.
Ivy Hartman: Talk about the future. You're going to launch king of a new online presence coming up soon. You and I talked about this off camera a little bit, are you okay with launching it now we are going tell you about—
Kim Roseman: Absolutely, it’s going to be called Indigo Desert Ranch and it’s an online catalog. In my travels of searching out artist and trying to find artist all over the country and primarily the southwest, we have been in Mexico because we’re so close, there's been so many beautiful handcrafted items that would be more considered fine craft rather than fine art.
Ivy Hartman: But definitely, consumer interest in there and you're interested in patronizing the artist and helping them get some recognition.
Kim Roseman: Exactly and maybe at a lower price point and something that would be perfect as gifts and corporate gift. Art is something so specific and so special and when you buy a piece of art you're really helping the whole food chain because you're truly changing an artist life. I mean they do rely on that to survive so it’s wonderful to be able artist and to carry a whole new line of products that maybe I can't have in the art gallery but that are just so wonderful and fantastic I don’t want to let them go and I want to be part of them.
Ivy Hartman: Kim wonderful gives us your contact information if we want more information about the gallery and sculpture garden.
Kim Roseman: Very, very easy our website is www.newbygallery.com and Indigo Desert Ranch will just be www.indigodesertranch.com.
Ivy Hartman: I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'm really glad you took sometime to chat with us and I hope to see your future involvement with NAWBO now that you’ve experienced the conference.
Kim Roseman: Absolutely, absolutely I’ve already met people from the Tucson chapter and I'm signing up.
Ivy Hartman: Perfect great job, we got a new member out of the conference. We got factor right here on the spot who’s signing up at the conference as we speak, Kim Roseman of Karen Newby Gallery and Sculpture Garden. Keep it right here as we continue our coverage of the 2008 NAWBO conference in Phoenix Arizona.
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