The Artwork and Business Model of Pam Smilow

We recently started working with modern artist Pam Smilow, who represents her own work—fabulous bright and lively paintings in a variety of sizes—and that of her late husband, Gert Mathiesen, whose vivid Tree of Life painting is above.  
Pam and Gert have had a unique business model for the past more than three decades. While they have done shows in galleries and been exhibited by some museums and Gert's work even spent four years (2014-2018) on display at the Consulate General of Denmark in New York City after his death, they have connected most with their collectors doing home shows.

Pam describes these events as "the Tupperware party model", meaning she goes as an invited guest into a home and lays out the paintings (most are on canvas or on paper) "like rugs on the floor," she says, and on the walls of a home. Potential buyers are invited to the home for a kind of "art party" and they can select the art they want. And then Pam goes to their homes to help them place it where it will look the best. (She also has the ability to do this virtually  due to the pandemic). 

She explains that many people need help placing their artwork. The way the light hits the wall, the way the furniture is arranged, the way the lighting changes throughout the day, all of that matters to how the painting will look and how viewers will experience it. Some people try to put too small of a painting in a space so then the painting gets lost. Or maybe the work doesn't coordinate with what else is in the room so it will look out of place. These are the things Pam helps with when she makes "house calls." 

The Tupperware Party model of selling art came about for Pam and Gert when Barbara Edelston Peterson, world-champion triathlete, author, Whole Champion Foundation founder and Pam's childhood friend, suggested at a high school reunion that Pam come to her newly reconstructed, blank-walled house (rebuilt after a California fire) and put on a show.Barbara says, "My walls were blank. We lost everything. So did all of my neighbors so their walls were blank, too." So Pam and Gert and all of their artwork flew to Northern California and Barbara threw an art party so people could redecorate. And that began quarterly trips to California, both Northern and Southern, and selling to people in many many homes over the decades, including to some people you've seen on the silver screen.  

COVID, of course, with its lockdown curtailed Pam's mobile art shows, but it has given her plenty of time to create new art and to start a blog called "Things We Love", which features three things she loves that week. The blog publishes every Sunday morning and people have said it has become part of their routines, just like reading The New York Times. For that, Pam is grateful. If you'd like to read Things We Love just click on the words and it will take you to it and you can subscribe to this weekly burst of inspiration and gratitude. 

As more and more people are vaccinated, and the world opens more each day, Pam is excited to resume her travel schedule and to meet with collectors new and old and help them find and position artwork that makes them happy every time they look at it. 

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