We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kevin Ivester a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Kevin, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – walk us through the story?

Ivester Contemporary is approaching two years in business, and we’re very proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, but we are artists at heart and always looking for ways to experiment, branch out, and continue to connect our Texan artists with a wider audience. Our first big experiment came this summer, when we partnered with New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA), which is a non-profit based in NYC that directs art fairs across the country. We applied to NADA’s space in New York City and were accepted to present a solo exhibition of paintings by Houston based artist Bradley Kerl. This was a big opportunity for us and right from the start we looked at it as a chance to learn and grow. The exhibition called for 6 paintings total, six framed watercolors and one large oil on canvas. The exhibition went perfectly. It was Bradley’s first solo exhibition in New York City, we sold a bit of the work that was featured, and we connected with new art lovers all over the country. The lessons that we learned was how incredibly expensive opportunities like Art Fairs and out of state pop-ups are. We’ll be spending the next few months reorganizing, continuing to focus on our programming here in Austin, TX, and then preparing for our next big chance to bring Texan artists to the rest of our country!

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?

My name is Kevin Ivester and I own and direct Ivester Contemporary, and I also own East Side Picture Framing. Ivester Contemporary is a fine art gallery in Austin, Texas that works with artists all over Texas. East Side Picture Framing is a museum-quality picture frame shop also located near by the gallery, in Austin, TX. I grew up in Massachusetts, graduated from Endicott College in Beverly, MA with a studio arts degree, and embarked on over a decade of experience working in the arts. I began in galleries, worked for auction houses, picture frame shops, restoration artists, as an art handler, and finally I was given the opportunity to direct and curate for an established gallery, which I did for over five years.
Even though I worked in many capacities within the arts over the course of a decade before I opened Ivester Contemporary, I knew almost immediately that opening my own art gallery was my primary ambition. I saw my mixed experiences as necessary building blocks to accumulate a solid base of knowledge about how the art world functions. One of my earliest memories as a gallery assistant, at the first gallery I worked at that will always stick with me and is the reason I’ve spent more than ten years pursuing this specific goal was selling my first painting. The shared joy and connection that a sale of artwork produces is unrivaled. The collector is happy, the artist is happy, the gallery is happy, and each party becomes a part of one another’s story. It is, in my opinion, the reason artists make work – to connect with and communicate with others.
So after my years of working in the arts, I was ready to open my own gallery. I looked for space for about a year, without luck, and then COVID hit Austin. I was devastated, but quickly realized that there were many great retail spaces becoming available due to people feeling like retail space was no longer necessary, but I knew COVID would eventually come to an end, and I saw the event as a chance to get the perfect space for my vision. I found that space in the Canopy Creative Complex in East Austin, and I feel grateful for my location every day I unlock my front doors.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started this gallery in the early days of COVID, so social media has always been an important part of my gallery. I credit Instagram with introducing my program to the majority of the people that have continued to follow the gallery, and through it, I’ve discovered other galleries and artists that I admire. Social media can be overwhelming, but used correctly, I do believe it is a powerful tool that can bring communities together. In my opinion, in order to get the most out of social media, you need to choose one main outlet (mine is instagram), you have to stay consistent, and you have to be genuine in your interest and support of other people’s pages. Social media doesn’t work when you’re just putting out information and not interacting with what others are doing. Social media is a conversation.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I feel incredibly lucky to work with such talented people whom I genuinely enjoy being around. It sounds too simple, maybe, but hiring the right people from the start is a key first step. It is only from that starting point that you can build a relationship and working environment that will continue to grow stronger. I think “the right people” is different for every business, so I will focus on what makes my team so special. Each person that I hire, first and foremost is positive and passionate about the role that they are hired to do. I also believe that every person (whether they are right or wrong for the roles I am offering) wants to make an impact, wants to be useful, and wants to be recognized for their contributions. In order to retain these people, it is most important to make sure that they feel heard, that they are generously compensated for their work, and that they feel like they have true agency over their work. The people that I work with all understand the “base” tasks that they need to be doing in order for things to run smoothly. They’re also given the opportunity to explore ways that they can expand their roles and have a sense of ownership over the direction that their role can take. We’re all full of great ideas and a desire to be creative, I think it can be rewarding for people to be able to express that in their own way.

Contact Info:

• Website: ivestercontemporary.com
• Instagram: @ivester_contemporary
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-ivester-41217963/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcH3wJnBP-EdtkUwMxumWvQ