We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Gregory Thornbury. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Gregory below.
Gregory , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Silver Art Projects at the World Trade Center. We were founded in 2019 to change models of systems that perpetuate a culture of inequity, we support artists through critically needed studio space. We nurture and build thriving practices while contributing to the creative ecosystem of New York City.
The program was begun by Silverstein Properties, who wanted to do something extraordinary for visual artists who make the city such a dynamic place in which to live. Silver Art was given an entire floor at 4 World Trade Center, which enables us to host 28 visionaries from a variety of disciplines with inspiring views to create vital artwork.
More about the program and the innovative way we are re-envisioning commercial real estate’s commitment to the arts downtown is in this recent story about the program,
The World Trade Center Offers Case Studies in Making Space for Artists in Urban Centers
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’ve had a bit of a circuitous path towards finding my way into leadership in the arts nonprofit world. After completing my PhD, I taught philosophy and religion courses, and taught courses on aesthetics along the way. I eventually got tenure and then embarked upon a season of being a college dean and president, which is what eventually brought me to New York. I sought out interdisciplinary partnerships with the art department, and boned up on art history. In my free time as a guitarist, I formed a rockabilly band that did performances with the son of Carl Perkins, Stan.
A friend at the time, a graduate from the Art Institute of Chicago, approached me about doing an installation at a relational aesthetics conference called Open Engagement in Portland, Oregon that was led by Harrell Fletcher and Miranda July. At the time, I was deeply diving into the thought of Jacques Lacan, who was friends with Dalí, Breton, Magritte, and Prévert.
Based upon some conversations we had been having, we came up with “The What Are You Running From-athon” based on the idea that that maybe the reason why people who are runners are subconsciously trying to get away from something – or someone – in their home. But it classic psychoanalytic fashion, they somehow circle back to the same place where they began. When conferees showed up at the race track at Buckman Field Park, we had recruited several psychoanalysts from the area to talk with the runners about what they were running away from (NB: everyone had to sign a form acknowledging that they were not receiving professional psychological treatment in the exercise). They were then given a blank race bib and a Sharpie to write it down. From there, participants lined up at the starting blocks, and when the whistle blew, everyone ran in circles, thinking about what was on their race bib, as long as they desired. In the “cool down zone,” we handed out Gatorade and everyone went back to their “analyst” for the day to talk about what it felt like to run from their psychic burden.
The experience solidified in my mind the power of art to help people look deeply within, to interrogate themselves – a virtue all too lacking in an increasingly unreflective society. Whether it’s painting, sculpture, photography, or conceptual work, art is the last thing we have in society that can get people of different stances and ideas to “look together” and discuss the meaning of a work for ourselves and others. From that point forward, I wanted to help direct the future of arts education and philanthropy.
After a stint as a college dean and president, I got the amazing opportunity to serve as Vice President at New York Academy of Art in Tribeca. A leading independent graduate school of fine art, the institution was founded by a group of artists, including Andy Warhol, in 1982 to help revive the traditional skills of drawing and painting the human figure. I served there for five years, and was honored to see alumni such as Anna Park, Trey Abdella, Chloe Chiasson, Atalanta Xanthe, and Monica Ikegwu, among many others, have their work rewarded and discovered in the contemporary art world.
At a dinner for young art collectors in Tribeca, I met Cory Silverstein, whose legendary grandfather, Larry Silverstein, has spent the past 23 years rebuilding the World Trade Center. Central to that vision was to make the site a vibrant center for culture and the arts. The Silverstein family made good on this promise by donating an entire floor of 4 World Trade Center to start a new nonprofit for visual artists. The program gives an entire year of large, free studio space to 28 artists, and then resources them for success through professional development seminars, best business practices, and most importantly, by bringing leading gallerists, collectors, museum leaders, and curators into the space. It’s been a proven formula for success. Now in its fourth year, over 100 artists have gone through the program has seen their studio practice and opportunities expand. Last June, I was privileged to be named the Executive Director of Silver Art Projects.
At present, I’m working with an amazing and dedicated Board to find supporters for this distinctive residency that has been called “Y Combinator for the Arts.” I encourage everyone to follow us on Instagram, and come see for themselves the remarkable work being done by this cadre of pathbreaking artists who are chosen each year by art world professionals from hundreds upon hundreds of applications.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
This is a pretty easy one: directly support artists and prioritize funding arts organizations. As former mayor Michael Bloomberg said on the opening night of the Perelman Performing Arts Center: New York is New York because of the arts. It’s what makes the city such a special place to live and work. Everyone — no matter their income — can begin an art collection. The art world needs new collectors to follow behind the generation of great families in the city who have made buying art they love from the artists who most inspire them.
And I would also urge folks to be generous with the institutions that support and encourage artists. It’s not an easy road, especially in New York City. Increasingly, the city is becoming an inhospitable place for the creative class both financially and socially. Being an artists is often lonely work — it can sometimes feel isolating. Arts nonprofits provide resources to bring artists together across generations, and to keep them in their studios, lifting the sights of all those who are looking on and who benefit from the truth, goodness, and beauty to be found in the work.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Mercy, there are so many! One of them is a book called: Risktaker, Caretaker, Surgeon, Undertaker: The Four Faces of Strategic Leadership by William Rothschild. Any institution is inevitably at the point where one of these roles is desperately needed. Figuring out which one is a priority is the first step in achieving organizational greatness.
Another book I recommend to anyone working with teams is the six hats of parallel thinking by Edward de Bono. It’s an exercise that recognizes that people have different ways of thinking about solving problems. Sometimes conflict arises when we don’t understand the place from which a colleague is speaking. By prefacing comments with an indicator of what is behind a person’s question. The six hats have different colors. The white hat means fact finding. The yellow hat lets people know you have something positive to say about an idea or matter at hand. The blue hat gets to procedural and operational questions. The green hat refers to a creative, perhaps even “out there”, approach to the subject. The red hat indicates that you’re perhaps not objective about what’s being discussed, that you’re aware you might be emotional about what’s being discussed. The black hat means, “I am going to say something negative” about the issue. Using the six hats helps clear the air and reduce tension in discourse. As Thích Nhất Hạnh once wrote, “Understanding is the foundation of love. If you misunderstand, you cannot love.” The result is suffering for individuals and organizations.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.silverart.org
- Instagram: @gthornbury
- Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/gregory-thornbury-0489b487
- Twitter: @greg_thornbury
Image Credits
Keith Martine
Drew Jessup
The cactus sculptures (first photo) are from the studio of Raul de Lara.
The painting is entitled “The Wanderer” by Jean Pierre Villafañe.