We recently connected with Anita Sue Kolman and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Anita Sue , thanks for joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

In 1977, I completed my formal education achieving a Ph.D. in Sociology. For the next 24 years, I engaged in multiple activities using my professional skills to conduct research, teach undergraduates, and evaluate mental health, social service, and educational programs. Although these activities were personally rewarding and financially successful, I became bored and realized that I needed a change.

One day, while having lunch with an artist friend, I told her about my frustration and that I was looking for something new and worthwhile to do. My friend said to me “Why don’t you help me sell my art?” I laughed and said, “I don’t know anything about selling art.” After thinking about her suggestion, I realized that my passion was sharing art with others as a Docent at the University of Minnesota’s Weisman Art Museum. I also realized that despite my lack of formal art training, I had transferable skills that could help artists sell their artwork. I accepted my friend’s suggestion to help her to sell her artwork and have never looked back!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Kolman & Reeb Gallery connects Minnesota artists primarily with local art collectors, but also with art lovers nationally and internationally. We focus on people-to-people connections. When possible, we facilitate face-to-face opportunities for both art lovers and artists. We accomplish these goals by exhibiting abstract, contemporary work by Minnesota artists in diverse media.

The Gallery is a unique collaboration between Anita Sue Kolman, arts patron, and Jodi Reeb, artist and curator. Kolman & Reeb holds exhibitions celebrating the evolving aesthetics of the established artists it represents, with an eye toward placing those works in the homes and businesses of discerning collectors. The Gallery also mentors emerging artists whose work demonstrates prowess and promise.

Kolman & Reeb Gallery has become an integral part of the Twin Cities’ visual arts community. The Gallery hosts and participates in open forums to advance the public’s understanding of the value of art and collecting, and to advance artists’ professional development. It’s a community resource that invites everyone to discover the most singular artistic voices working in Minnesota today.

What I am most proud of brand-wise are activities that have expanded the Gallery’s reach beyond Minnesota, and of our recent Project Space Grant initiative. For example, we have participated in international art shows in New York City and Miami Beach where we have connected to and sold artworks to national and international art collectors.

The Kolman & Reeb Gallery Project Space is an initiative launched in 2021 to further support Minnesota visual artists. The program awards three to four grants per year of $10,000 each to Minnesota visual artists. The goal of the grant program is to provide artists with the funds, space, and support they need to create an important project that will significantly impact their artistic careers. Additionally, the Gallery’s aim is to support projects that will bring powerfully engaging and thought-provoking experiences to the Gallery’s followers, visitors, and to the public.

Have you ever had to pivot?

My experience is that few art galleries enjoy smooth roads. Art sales are discretionary and volatile. In our best year, Kolman & Reeb Gallery’s gross sales were five times as large as our worst year. Of course, like other businesses, the Gallery was severely impacted by Covid-19. Before the pandemic, most sales occurred because customers visited the Gallery in person. When the pandemic started, we were forced to close for several months. During that time, we had to pivot in the way we interacted with our customers, so they would not forget us. We expanded our visibility on social media by increasing both the quality and quantity of our posts. For example, we created an illustrated post for each of our client artists showing how they crafted their work. We produced enthusiastic short videos highlighting artwork for sale through the Gallery. Finally, we initiated an online Marketplace, so our customers could purchase artworks directly from the Gallery’s website. After the Gallery was able to reopen, we continued with our expanded online presence via social media and our Marketplace. We are now reaching more customers beyond Minnesota and are increasing our online interaction with potential and actual customers.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Since I completed my formal education more than 40 years ago, I have experienced multiple opportunities to demonstrate resilience, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. When I was a graduate student in Sociology at the University of Minnesota, I expected my post-Ph.D. career to follow the academic path emphasizing research and college-level teaching. Initially, that is exactly what happened. I participated in research at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and taught at Augsburg and St. Catherine Universities in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, respectively.

After a decade in academia, for a variety of reasons, I decided to shift focus and use my research skills to evaluate social service and mental health programs operated by the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota. During the same time frame that I worked in the Wilder Foundation’s research office, I decided to explore my lifelong interest in the arts and volunteered as a Visual Art Educator for the St. Louis Park Schools, St. Louis Park, Minnesota and as a Docent at the University of Minnesota’s Weisman Art Museum.

My next career shift was to leave Wilder and start my own firm that competed for evaluation work for public agencies. One of my clients was the Perpich Center for Arts Education, Golden Valley, Minnesota. My work for the Perpich Center included traveling around the entire State of Minnesota observing programs and meeting artists and art educators. In 2001, that experience, my work as a volunteer Visual Art Educator and Docent, and other contacts with artists convinced me that I could use my professional skills to represent artists and assist them in marketing and selling their work to art lovers and collectors. In 2010, I leveraged my experience as an Artist Representative to increase my impact by opening a 1500 square foot art gallery in the Northrup King Building in Northeast Minneapolis. The Anita Sue Kolman Gallery, now called the Kolman & Reeb Gallery, emphasized selling art by making personal connections between artists and art lovers.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://kolmanreebgallery.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kolmanreebgallery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kolmanreebgallery
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitasue/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kolmanreebgall
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/kolman-and-reeb-gallery-minneapolis