Art Frankly Interviews Jenn Singer
Q&A with Jenn Singer Featured on Art Frankly’s Frank Talks
Earlier this month, founder Jenn Singer was interviewed by the team at Art Frankly for their Frank Talks blog.
Some highlights from the Q&A follow - read the full interview via the link below:
Where are you from and what is the arts community like there? How has your upbringing shaped what you do in the arts today?
I was born and raised in Fort Worth, TX , a much smaller city back then than it is today. I saw Annie at Casa Manana’s amazing theatre in the round and Fort Worth Ballet’s The Nutcracker at the old Tarrant County Convention Center, and was immediately drawn into the performing arts.
We had amazing museums too – the Kimbell was and still is a favorite, and I got to perform there with Fort Worth School of Ballet when I was a little girl.
I was raised by a single mother and my grandparents, but was always able to go to excellent schools (mostly on scholarships) with well-funded arts education programs. I have very clear memories of learning about Van Gogh, Monet and Seurat in my first art class in first grade and my favorite class in high school was Art History. I didn’t need to come from a wealthy, collecting family to end up opening a gallery. It was my exposure to the arts from a very young age that helped shape me and that’s led me down the path I’m still on today.
You worked at several galleries throughout your career, what prompted the decision to launch your own?
Like most great stories, it allll started at the hair salon. (Shout out to Joshua Barbieri on Irving Place!) Josh was cutting my hair and I was sitting there thinking about the papered-up windows in the shop next door. I asked him what the deal with that space was and he said “oh they’re turning it into a storefront – what? Are you gonna open up an art gallery or somethin”? I couldn’t believe he said that out loud. But then I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
A month or two later I worked up the courage to secure the space and then worked my tail off putting together a roster of artists (mostly women!), a website, and an exhibition schedule. Suddenly I had a gallery. The night before opening I was exhausted from months of planning, a long installation day and last minute prep, and all I could think of whilst heading back to Brooklyn on the train was running away. I was terrified. I didn’t even know about imposter syndrome back then, but I had a bad case of it. But I did it and I couldn’t be more grateful and am so proud of myself for giving it a shot and sticking with it.
You had already been working largely in a digital capacity pre-pandemic, how did COVID-19 change your operations?
Yes! I was seeing and feeling the shifts in the art world over the last 5 – 10 years. So many galleries were closing when my short-term lease was up. I was making sales via email and phone, so I took my time to look for new space. I ended up finding a British husband instead! I moved to the UK and while settling in, decided to go against the art world grain and add an ecommerce element to my website. I was 6 months pregnant when it launched in February 2020 and started making online sales right away. A month later we went into lockdown in the UK.
I was pandemic ready, thankfully. It was quiet at first when the whole world was freaking out and buying toilet paper. But, it didn’t take too long for the sales to start coming back. Just in time to give birth! It’s been a busy past couple of years…
What is something you do every day as the Founder & Director of Jenn Singer Gallery?
I’m going to lie and say I get up at 5:30am for a 5-mile run or an hour of yoga. Hell, why not both?! What I really do instead is have breakfast with my family and then get to my desk and make it happen. Every. Damn. Day. I do try to fit in a bit of yoga each day and some wine for balance.
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