Interview with artist Sandy Hubler
Sandy Hubler grew up in the small town of Henderson, Arkansas. She attended Arkansas State University in Jonesboro and studied art under renowned artists including Evan Lindquist. But it was not until Sandy purchased The Showroom in Little Rock in 2003 that she began to paint full time. Now called Art Showroom and Custom Framing, the gallery is celebrating its new location at 2300 Cantrell. More of Sandy’s work can be found at sandyhublerfineart.com.
AAS: Sandy, are you an Arkansas native?
SH: Yes, I grew up in a small town in the Ozarks, called Henderson. As a kid we used to joke about how small the town was, because the population sign read 144, and that was 12 dozen. Henderson did not have a school, so I attended school at Mountain Home for 12 years while I grew up. We had to ride the school bus and board a ferry to cross Norfork Lake to get into Mountain Home every day, then do the same to come home. I would do my homework on the school bus every morning. I was late nearly every morning going to school, because the ferry didn’t run when it was foggy for safety reasons. Once the fog lifted, we would be on our way.
I graduated from Mountain Home High School and attended ASU in Jonesboro. While at ASU I started working for UPS loading trucks in the early morning hours and was working part time. During this part time work, I managed to get a cosmetology license, which I keep current as of today. Later, I went to work full time driving a truck for UPS. I stayed with UPS for 22 years and moved up through the ranks to a Human Resource Manager when I was transferred to Little Rock. All of this time my art was still on my mind but on the back burner. I would maybe, get to paint 10 paintings a year. Once I left UPS, I ended up buying the Showroom in 2003 and my art kicked in another gear. Now I average 125 to 150 paintings a year.
AAS: Were you always interested in art as a kid? Did you have any artist role models growing up?
SH: I have always been creative. When I was kid, I always wanted that extra large box of crayons. It’s funny now, but I could occupy myself for hours with paper and crayons. It’s a shame that things are so different now with kids, and everything is so electronic and digital. My Dad nicknamed me “Doodles”, and I remained his little “Doodles” for his whole life.
AAS: I first saw your work at The Showroom in 2003 and purchased two of your paintings. The Softer Side of Aspens has remained one of our favorite paintings. Trees and tree landscapes are a frequent subject for your paintings. Are you a big outdoors person?
The Softer Side of Aspens, 40” x 30”, oil on canvas
SH: 2003? That was a long time ago, Philip. Thinking back, years ago I would paint with a palette knife a lot, and your painting has a lot of palette knife work. This creates an effect where the paint is heavier and more textured. Yes, I love being outside. I love to paint, and nature and trees are one of my favorite subjects. I prefer to paint paintings that make a person feel at peace, tranquil, and in touch with Mother Earth. I do the plein air painting method when I can. I have a special place in Hardy, Arkansas, that I go to and paint outside down by a creek and deep in the woods. Painting in plein air is sometimes challenging due to the ever-changing light. You have to be ready and go with the weather, bugs or wind. I have chased several paintings down before. Once I get back to my studio, I have to do a clean up on them. There always seems to be leaves, dirt or whatever stuck to them.
AAS: Tell me about They Dance at Night. I love your interpretation of the cypress trees. Was that originally sketched on site?
They Dance at Night, 48” x 36”, acrylic on canvas
SH: The painting They Dance at Night is a painting that I completed recently. It is a little on the darker side than I usually paint. I think at the time, there was a full moon and I remember it being so bright outside. This painting is one of my favorites. I remember in college being told to never paint scary paintings or dead animals. This painting falls under the “eerie painting” genre. It seems to have a mysterious feel about it. I think cypress trees have that mysterious look, and I love to paint them. By the way, where I grew up, we didn’t have cypress trees, which I believe contributes to why I am so intrigued by them.
Most of my painting is done in my home studio now due to the large canvases I paint on. Many times I will paint a smaller painting and come back to studio and paint a larger painting off of that. The photos available from the internet and social media is unlimited, but about 98 percent of my artwork is done from my own personal photos. My computer is so full that I have added an external hard drive to hold them all. Believe it or not, I am pretty organized with that and have photos in categorized files so I can find them.
AAS: In Leaves In The Forest you use an even more impressionistic style. I can hear as well as see the leaves fluttering.
SH: My goal was to paint a painting of nothing but the leaves. I wanted to capture the feeling of walking through the woods, and to be only focusing on nature and how beautiful God painted this Earth.
Leaves in the Forest, 48” x 60”, acrylic on canvas
AAS: Of course, I have to ask you about your love of horses and your painting, Boys with Attitude. Did you grow up with horses?
SH: Horses are my first love. My dad gave me my first horse when I was 5 or 6 years old, and I have always had horses ever since. I currently have two horses. One I still compete with in barrel racing, and the other is a buddy horse, otherwise known as a pasture ornament.
Through social media, particularly Facebook, I keep up with different pages on the wild mustangs. Boys with Attitude was inspired by the wild mustangs from the San Wash Basin in Colorado. I have never been there, but it is on my bucket list.
Boys with an Attitude, 72” x 48”, acrylic on canvas
Sandy and Rocket compete in Texarkana.
AAS: I want to ask you about your time at ASU, which has a long and strong history of training in art and design. Who did you study with there?
SH: I started college at ASU back in 1977, which reveals my age a little bit. I studied with the late Evan Lindquist at that time in Art 101. I remember him being extremely soft spoken and always a very positive person. I do not ever remember him being negative. He always found something good in everyone’s art. I later took some painting classes and print making classes with him. Evan and I remained friends and stayed in contact up until he passed away last year. At that time, around the late 70’s, I also studied with John Keech and Curtis Steele. I attended ASU for two years and dropped out, as I mentioned, to pursue life and work for UPS. Eventually, I was able to go back to college after a 15-year layoff. I went back to ASU for the next 5 years part time and studied under the late Roger Carlisle in painting and Bill Rowe in pottery classes. It’s funny how you feel about college when you are 18 years old, and the difference in perspective you gain at 35 years old.
AAS: You are doing more abstract paintings now and Puppy Love is one of my favorites. Are you enjoying the challenges of abstraction?
Puppy Love, 60” x 48”, acrylic on canvas
SH: Puppy Love is one of my abstracts. I have seen a trend in the interest in abstract art over my nature paintings and I have had to lean toward that direction. Even in my abstract paintings, you will notice the color palette will have a lot of earthy, natural, calming colors in it. I am trying to work on loose abstract landscapes, but for some reason, I start off with that in mind and end up somewhere else. Haha, shocking, I know! I prefer to paint in oils, and most of my landscapes and trees are painted in oil. Working on abstract paintings, I seem to have more play in the paint with acrylic paints. I don’t like that acrylics dry very quickly, but you can layer up on the paint and get some really good paintings by accident. Puppy Love was one of those paintings that when I backed up away from it, I could see a bull dog at the bottom of the canvas. I went with that and added another dog and here you have it, Puppy Love.
AAS: Tell me about The Showroom and its new location.
SH: When I left UPS after 22 years, I purchased the business called “The Showroom” in Little Rock in 2003. It was by accident that I ended up with a business. I had been purchasing frames from a man named T.V. Sharp for several years who owned The Showroom. One day, I had an art show coming up and I was at The Showroom getting some art framed and he made the statement, “As much as you spend here, you should buy the place.” Well, next thing I knew, here I am, the owner of a small business. It was an existing business that was started in 1986. It started off as a 11,200 square foot building full of frames and art. I recently downsized the business and moved it to its new location at 2300 Cantrell this past August. It is now a storefront with 24-foot ceilings and room to hang a lot of art. The name was slightly changed from The Showroom to Art Showroom and Custom Framing. It is a gallery representing on average about 25 artists from local to surrounding states and a custom framing company. The gallery specializes in very large, focal point pieces, but we have small pieces too. The custom framing aspect of the business is of the highest quality of archival materials out there, and I have two very qualified people on my team. We have a very large selection of mouldings to choose from and carry a large inventory, which usually assures the turnaround time from when you place an order is quite quick. We try and turn around jobs within 3-5 days or even faster.
AAS: What is it about creating art and surrounding yourself with art that has kept you and The Showroom going for so many years?
SH: My art has been very good to me. I would have never believed that I could make a living from painting. I passed the 7 digits several years ago in art sales. I'm not bragging, I still can't believe I've done that. Staying grateful and humble is my goal. I look back to the very small town I grew up in and the county lifestyle I was raised in and here I am today. How many people can say they look forward to going to work and do what they love and love what they do.
It’s a tough life being in art and custom framing. Would I do it again, absolutely. I love being around art and artsy people. I love helping people create something stunning for their home that they are proud to invite you into. When they welcome you in and show you their recently framed piece or a new piece of art they purchased, it is such a gratifying feeling. I think a successful gallery owner, must be a people person because the customer is always right. Art galleries have really taken a nosedive in the last 15 years. I attribute that to artists moving into social media, and so many artists working that side of the selling part and promoting their own personal art. I offer the one-on-one experience of helping you with the choice you make, the added framing of the piece to work in your home, and the most important part, if you don’t like it, bring it back! Let’s find something that works and you love in your home. I do not want a client to have a piece of my art or from my gallery that they aren’t happy with. Happy, satisfied clients tell their friends the good things about working with you. Many times I will visit a client at their home to see what they have in mind and get a feel for their personal space for art. This adds that personal touch. I do have a lot of clients that will purchase art because it matches the sofa. And that is ok, also. But I love it when a person buys a piece of art because it speaks to them.
AAS: Do you have any advice for artists who are looking for gallery representation?
SH: As a gallery owner, my most challenging thing is getting artists to take the gallery seriously and keeping the gallery supplied with fresh, new pieces. I get so frustrated with this part of the job. I don’t think some artists realize the expense of representing them, advertising, social media, insurance, rent, utilities, payroll, time to display and show, and to try and place their art. A gallery is place for placing art, not keeping it on display for years at a time because an artist doesn’t swap out for some of their latest, newest work. At Art Showroom, we try to keep up with, if not ahead, of trends and new developments in fine art. Luckily, we have some very talented and determined artists who help us keep things fresh and come up with new ideas in terms of creating and displaying art.
As far as artists looking for a gallery, I do have some advice. First, ask yourself if your work is at a level ready to be gallery represented? If not, don’t give up. Take lessons, ask for help, watch videos, get ideas on how to be better and different. When there is a gallery you are interested in, visit the gallery ahead of time and to see if are you a fit. Is your work different or does it look like what is on the wall? You need to take on an attitude as if you are applying for a job and going for interview. This means being prepared to show what you can do. Title your art, make sure it’s signed, have it labeled well. It may take a while, but if your work is good, you will the right find gallery.
