We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Toni Tronu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Toni below.

Toni, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The idea to open Visual Index developed organically. Both of my parents are small business owners and I knew it was the path I wanted to take with my career. I gained many useful skills helping out at my parent’s businesses, but it was the focused experience that helped bring Visual Index to fruition. Prior to opening my own gallery, I was working as a shop manager, registrar, and photographer for an organization that specialized in the representation of North Carolina artists. While working at this non-profit I met many talented makers, some of which did not have an affiliation to North Carolina. I continued to cultivate these connections and at some point the inspiration hit to become more organized and purposeful with this information. I created a spreadsheet with all the artists whose work excited me, but I couldn’t currently represent. Slowly the list grew and my passion with it. One day, while scrolling through my spreadsheet I realized that my list almost spanned the United States. This was very exciting. I started doing research into galleries that focused on representing makers from all 50 states. While there were a few representing American makers, none of them seemed to be focusing on the “all 50 states” campaign. I thought this was a perfect focus to set me apart from other galleries and this gave me a burst of passion to move the research further.

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?

As you can imagine, I read A LOT of artist statements and bios, and just like many other like-minded souls, I have always felt “at home” in the world of creativity. I’m also fortunate to have two businesses-minded parents that were able to guide me in a direction to be thoughtful about my career decisions. This sounds very straightforward, but in actuality, it was incredibly frustrating. Most young people struggle with the pressure of a career path decision and I was no different. Most parents will at least internally cringe when you tell them you want to go into the arts. What does that even mean? What type of art do you want to focus on? Oftentimes the arts don’t pay well. How is this career path sustainable?

The world of art is anything but straightforward and has always been exclusive and a bit secretive. These days there is a lot of information on how to be an art manager, but when I was learning this skill, it was the wild west of experimentation. Shoot, I had no idea that you could even be an art manager. Thankfully, my passion for art put me on a path and I just happened to fall into a pothole along the way. This was a perfect fit for me- I love art, talking to people, great customer service, being organized, doing research, and I’m a great communicator. Boom. Arts Management. There’s a lot more to it than that, but those are the core skills that you need to find a way to enjoy or you’ll go crazy in this field.

As I continue my career as an art manger I look forward to sharing more and more about what I’ve learned as well as making the art world a place where creatives can thrive. I’m on a mission to redefine the way we think about and present art galleries so that its a place where all people feel welcome instead of a place that people fear or don’t understand. The art world should always be a place that exists to support living makers.

With those opinions fresh in mind, I opened Visual Index in August of 2017 in the Arts District of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. I carry contemporary craft and fine art in a range of mediums. Visual Index is the only art gallery in the country to focus on representing makers from all 50 states.

I believe in supporting living makers! I don’t follow trends, I don’t encourage matching sets, and I relish mixing colors and textures. I believe in representing artists whose work is attainable and approachable.

Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?

During COVID there were so many unknowns for small businesses especially, art galleries. Everyone says that art galleries are the first to go, and that was eating away at me in the back of my mind. Was this the reason my gallery was going to go under? Thankfully, Visual Index grew in business during that time, but there was no way of me knowing that in the moment.

When it felt like no one was coming in the doors, and money was very tight I sent out my artist checks and to my horror there was a withdrawal error. Their check scanning program misread two of my checks and withdrew WAY more money out of my account than the checks said. It was definitely the worst timing and the bank was very nonchalant, saying it would be back in my account within the next 30 days. Fortunately, after a very passionate conversation the bank refunded the money after 24hrs.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media is a delicate dance. I don’t claim to be a social media guru, but I do believe organic growth has worked for me. What do I mean by that? I don’t care how many followers I have, I just want those followers to share a passion for makers and their handmade goods. It doesn’t matter if I’m popping up on their algorithm, because they are seeking out my profile. These followers want to know what I’m carrying and frequently visit the shop in person or peruse my online store. My advice it to be passionate about what you’re doing and authentic in your presentation.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.visualindex.co/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/visual_index_handmade/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/visualindex/

Image Credits
Visual Index