Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Howard.
Hi Jason, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Rubine Red Gallery was founded in February of 2019, in Palm Springs, CA. The history of how I reached the founding of the company stretches back to 2001. One Saturday in 2001 I was walking in Uptown, along Lyndale Avenue when I happened upon the SOO Visual Arts Center — which was located at 27th and Lyndale at that time. That day I met Suzy Greenberg the gallery owner and I purchased my first real piece of original art (from an MCAD student who was showing there). I was inspired, and I kept going back to the SOO monthly for visits and art viewing (and sometimes buying). I was engaged and hooked, so I started volunteering at events and eventually joined their Board of Directors. I was active at the SOO until 2018 when I moved to California.
Based on my interest and love of art, I had a goal to open an art gallery “someday when I retire”. In 2018, as my corporate job started to change and evolve, I decide to start working remotely in Palm Springs — so I pulled up my MN Roots (I had lived in Minneapolis since 1992) and moved to CA. Once in CA, the plan was to work and wait and learn the community, in preparation for a gallery opening in a few years….BUT the universe conspired and within 6 months plans for a simple exploratory look at opening had turned into an actual plan for opening.
I continued to do both my corporate job and the gallery for the first year, then transitioned to focus on the gallery only in Spring of 2020 (thanks to the pandemic and a “corporate restructuring”).
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Well…the road has been smoother than I thought it might be…even with the Pandemic. Definitely the pandemic has been the biggest bump. Because PS is an older demographic than most cities, the community here took the Pandemic very seriously. We were shut down for almost 3 months, then open for appointments only for months after that…before returning to a normal schedule in October 2020.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Having left the corporate sales world behind (I previously worked in commercial printing for the Taylor Corporation, Mankato, MN) I am now a full time business owner/sole proprietor in the realm of the arts.
Rubine Red Represents 30+ artists — most of whom are Midwestern/MN based. We are proud to be able to bring and share and promote the wondrously talented artists of the upper Midwest (a pool of talent much of the country doesn’t realize exists). I also learned, from my many years of affiliation with SOO VAC, how important the stories and art of underrepresented artists are. I am very cognizant in my curation of the mix of artists we show….balancing and figuring that out…while also needing to be profitable as a business. I believe there is a way to do both. We are definitely not perfect in that sense, but we try and so far are succeeding.
We also have leveraged the vibe of Palm Springs (and its Mid-Century uniqueness) to represent several artist estates. Our most popular estate is that of Malcolm Myers — a Minnesota art icon in his own right. Myers passed in 2002 but his leadership at the University of MN Art Department from the early 1950s onward laid the groundwork for literally thousands of artists. Myers’ artwork form the 1950s-1990s has been extremely popular in Palm Springs, and what we have learned from that success we have built on with a select few other artist estates. Mixing contemporary work with historical work has been fun, challenging and rewarding.
What are your plans for the future?
Currently, we are in the process of expanding into custom framing as an add-on service to our art sales.
Contact Info:
- Email: www.modernistframe.com
- Website: www.rubineredgallery.com
- Instagram: @rubineredgallery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RubineRedGallery
- Twitter: www.malcolmmyers.com
Image Credits
Jason Howard
