We were lucky to catch up with Girls Who Paint Gallery recently and have shared our conversation below.

Girls Who Paint, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Opening an art gallery was a risk. However we saw the need for a female focused art gallery. Women and people of color are grossly underrepresented and underpaid in the art world. We wanted to do our part to change that. Our goal was to create an art gallery that made buying art more accessible and a creative space in our community where everyone felt welcome.

8 months ago, Sarah walked into the neighborhood thrift shop. She frequented the shop during the pandemic and loved browsing the clothing and books. Sarah noticed the shop next door was empty an inquired if they had a new tenant. The shop manager explained that they already did. Disappointed, Sarah mentioned that she had a dream of opening an art gallery in the neighborhood. “You’re kidding me” said the shop manager. “We just told our landlord that we won’t be renewing our lease next month!” Sarah obtained the landlord’s information and immediately called her neighbor, mentor, and fellow artist, Angie. As soon as Angie saw the space, she was in!

The space was a diamond in the rough built in the 1950s. With some help from friends and family, we began the transformation from musty old antique shop into beautiful art gallery, We pulled out the 1970s carpet, painted the walls and floors, cleaned and beautified the space with furniture and plants. It was certainly a labor of love! We did not know how we would make rent each month but we knew if we stuck to our mission of promoting emerging artists, everything else would fall into place.

The risk was worth it! We have had the privilege of hosting approximately 60 female creatives and artists in our space for exhibitions and pop ups in the 6 months we have been open. We have had challenges but we are learning new skills everyday. The entire process has been extremely rewarding and we are so grateful to be able to do what we do!

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 background and context?

Girls Who Paint is an art gallery, studio, and shop located in Kensington Maryland. We are also a creative event space that hosts paint nights, birthday parties, baby showers, art classes, and more. We are two professional female artists and friends. We have had the pleasure of working together for many years creating platforms for female artists in our area to display and sell their work. These events instilled a desire to create more opportunities, especially for female creatives.

Sarah is a mixed media artist. In 2017, after ten years of teaching art, she created Renzi Sanders Art and began selling her work. Since then, she has participated in international online exhibitions as well as juried shows on the East Coast.

Angie is a mixed media artist who works out of her 125 year old converted barn studio in her backyard. Kilcullen has been active in the arts community of Kensington for the last 12+ years. She has hosted a multitude of art pop-ups featuring all female artists, creating community, promotion, and connection.

Girls Who Paint is a natural trajectory for us as we strategically focus our vision on providing a platform for female and underrepresented artists, while also making art more accessible in the community.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is the relationships we build through sharing our art. When someone connects with your work, you create a deeper soul level connection. As gallerists we have the pleasure of sharing and promoting other artists’ work as well. There is no better feeling than connecting an artist and a collector. Art is for everyone, not just the wealthy. Buying art shouldn’t be intimidating. Art can transform the energy of a space. Art can change your mind and mood. People from all walks of life can connect through art and that is why creating community is at the forefront of our mission.

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

We are proud to have built our social media following organically. We know that we rise by lifting others and our following has grown naturally as we promote other artists. Our advice on building a social media following is to be as authentic as possible. Like, follow, and share what you enjoy seeing. Do not sacrifice your vision or work to gain popularity or likes. Social media is a powerful tool and when we use it to create community, it can become transformative.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.girlswhopaint.com
• Instagram: @girls.who.paint
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girls.who.paint.kensington

Image Credits
Taylor Monet Photography