We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Georgia Carbone. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Georgia below.
Georgia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
It crystalized for me during my undergrad years at Hunter College. I arranged to spend my junior year abroad, studying art in Florence, Italy – mostly for the adventure, I wasn’t an art major at the time. While I was there, I made a mixed media sculpture that asked gallery visitors to listen to their heartbeat through a stethoscope while reading a text that encouraged them to trust and follow their inner sense of knowing. The piece was chosen for a juried show and while it was on display one of the gallery visitors, an Italian woman, had a profound experience with it. She came up to me at the opening and spoke to me very passionately, she spoke to me in Italian which I was still struggling to understand fluently, so I didn’t catch all the details, but the soulfulness and sincerity were palpable. One of my teachers was standing close by and translated what the woman had said after she left. The woman had expressed how deeply she had connected with the sculpture, and how much it had touched her. It was in that moment, of directly experiencing the power of art to be a vehicle for genuine and heartfelt exchange between complete strangers, that I knew I would dedicate my life to creating those kinds of connections between people through art.
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.
Well, first of all, my business has two facets. I think of them as two beautiful and expansive butterfly wings (with me being the not as glamorous insect body in the middle that holds them together and operates them, lol). On the one side, there is a straightforward white walls gallery space that features solo artists and group shows exploring spiritual, mystical, esoteric, and metaphysical themes. The gallery aims to generate community and conversation, as well as being a bridge between artists that are working with this subtle material and collectors who are interested in these same subjects. On the other side – of the wall, literally – is a more casual, salon-style gallery shop and a studio space with a similar vibe for production and classes. I refer to the studio side as a “sacred arts studio” and the type of creativity that happens there, as well as products that are made and sold, are dedicated to healing, divination, devotional practice, and magic. We make ceramic vessels for ritual and ceremony, paintings of saints and symbols for good luck, healing and meditation images, talismanic jewelry and we carry products by other local artists and makers who are working in a similar vein. We also offer tarot readings, and workshops which range from esoteric to mindfulness to traditional art technique. It may sound mysterious but it’s not at all, and we don’t hit you over the head with it. We like to have fun and also enjoy making casual everyday items with these themes, like T-shirts, tote-bags, and buttons. We’re very inspired by artists like Daniel Martin Diaz who have taken a DIY ethos and diversified the ways art can be experienced into everyday accessories and objects. Part of our mission is to create a space where people feel comfortable to connect where they’re at, with themselves and each other around art, creativity, and the mysterious aspects of life; and the conversations that have been happening in the gallery and studio are terrific!
The road that led me to create this enterprise has been full of twists and turns. When I set out to be an artist, I imagined it in a pretty traditional and straightforward way. I went to graduate school at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco and received my MFA in 2010. Following grad-school, I had some great opportunities to show in the Bay Area, I was in a couple bands, and I fell in love with someone from New Mexico. We got hitched and decided to move back to his home state, “The Land of Enchantment”. We moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2018. I knew that there was an art scene in Santa Fe so it seemed like it would be a good fit. – A few dead-ends and a pandemic later, I found myself running a gallery in the premier art district, Canyon Rd, where there are over 100 galleries on a half mile stretch of charming winding road. I never once imagined that I would run a gallery, but I discovered that I really enjoyed and excelled at it. The social and community aspect, meeting the intellectual challenges that it presented, and the chance to be an advocate for other artists all came naturally. After a couple years, an opportunity presented itself to open my own space where I could curate the kind of work that I found most exciting and offer support to artists that believed in, and I jumped on it.
Since we opened in May of this year (2023) it has been a rollercoaster of highs and lows, discoveries and reality checks. This new enterprise is growing fast and is still in a state of becoming. We are experimenting and trying a lot of different approaches to see what will best serve our community. What hasn’t changed are the principles that guide us and give us the energy to follow our hearts into uncharted waters. Our core intention is that the work we are doing will be of the greatest benefit for all beings, through art, creativity, inspiration, teaching, laughing, and simply creating a space where the deep truths that we all hold within us are welcome to be expressed.
Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
The biggest challenge that I’ve faced is the business side of being a creative person. Art comes naturally to me but financing, organization, legal factors, and other nuts and bolts have not always been easy to grasp. Since I’ve embarked into entrepreneurship I’ve discovered that there are a lot of organizations out there that assist small businesses with educational material, mentorships, and grant opportunities. An organization that I’ve found to offer good business educational resources is the SCORE Foundation, and another resource that offers grants and resources for women-owned businesses is WomensNet.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
This question is so important because a “thriving creative ecosystem” is what creates a thriving and healthy society at large. It’s easy to observe that areas where artists have space to grow, be weird, and experiment, eventually become thriving economic and cultural centers – SOHO in NY being a prime example. I think it would be wise if municipalities took it upon themselves to invite artists and artist-run businesses into the heart of their cities and towns by offering grants, incubator spaces, and material resources. Artists and creative professionals have the skills to transform problems into generative possibilities, and everyone benefits when the creativity is flowing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.georgiaelectra.com, www.electragallery.com
- Instagram: @georgiaelectra, @electra_gallery
- Facebook: GEORGIA ELECTRA , Electra Gallery
Image Credits
Georgia Carbone