Niya Ruseva in Conversation with The Art Hang Founder, Samantha Picard
Samantha Picard.
Samantha Picard is the founder of The Art Hang, a London-based platform, showcasing female creativity through curations and collaborations. In the middle of the pandemic, Samantha decided that through Instagram she would reach out to emerging female creators and connect them to a young collector base. As time went on, The Art Hang became involved in multiple projects and is already looking at a bright future, in less than a year after its creation.
MADE IN BED’s contributor Niya Ruseva spoke with Samantha Picard over Microsoft Teams about the story behind The Art Hang London, operating a small business during a pandemic, and how ‘Everything comes down to the DM.’
Niya Ruseva: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you began your journey in the art world?
Samantha Picard: I began working in the creative industry at 17 in New York, where I fell in love with the fast-paced world of Marketing and PR. After stints in both the music and fashion industries, I took Sotheby’s Institute’s summer course on Art and its Markets, and I intuitively knew I wanted to pursue a career in the arts. I always loved art history but, for some reason, I was a bit intimidated by the business side of the industry and the daunting stereotypes around it. However, after my Sotheby’s course, I knew that it was what I felt most passionately about. I quickly began working in Arts Communications in London after I graduated from University and amid the pandemic. From there, the idea of an inclusive female artistic platform was born and I haven’t looked back.
Jess Cochrane, Pound Shop Glamour, photographed at 12 Hill Gallery.
NR: You started your company amid the global pandemic, which one would assume to be a difficult time to launch something. How did you turn it into a success?
SP: I guess the beginning of The Art Hang’s journey started a year ago after I left my last Arts Communications job in March. In April, I desperately spoke with arts recruiters who all said that my earliest shot of getting even an interview at another arts firm in London was early July, and as someone who is constantly kept busy, that was a stressful thought. I needed a new project to keep me sane and to give me a purpose and a routine. Last May, a few girls and I launched a Covid relief initiative on Instagram which sold works by emerging artists to help artists struggling during the pandemic and to raise money and awareness for Gingerbread, the UK’s leading national charity working with single-parent families - a group that has been disproportionately affected by Covid-19.
My art world positions, at that point, were all entry-level and looking for a new job in the midst of a pandemic was terrible for my self-confidence. However, I took a step back and used the social media, marketing and PR skills I have carefully gained over the last five years and began putting them to use. When followers and press started coming in as a result, it gave me a much-needed confidence boost and fueled my drive to pursue my dream of a female-led Instagram-based art platform. The platform has evolved into this beautiful little community of women supporting women in the arts and is helping to promote female creativity through incredible collaborations and curations. My takeaway is: don’t underestimate yourself or your ability, as you probably know more than you think.
Jess Cochrane, You Didn't Kiss Me Goodbye, 2020.
NR: Why did you choose Instagram as your main platform and do you plan to expand onto other social media?
SP: I’ve spent a lot of time at both university and Sotheby’s Institute studying and researching Instagram’s effect on the Art World, and while traditionalists often shy away from the platform, I’ve always viewed it as a new, inclusive frontier. In 2019, The Hiscox Online Art Trade Report claimed that “Instagram continued its reign as the leading social media platform for the art world with a 65% popular vote among their survey respondents.” And further, that 75% of art buyers use Instagram to find art for purchase. I also personally use Instagram to find new artists and collect. With that being said, I feel like such a millennial now trying to figure out ways to bring The Art Hang to Gen Z powerhouses like TikTok and Clubhouse, which I think is the next logical step. I would also really like to figure out WeChat to appeal to more young female Chinese collectors.
Pollet bouquet & Jess Cochrane print, A Love that is Timeless like Chanel, for Valentine’s Day.
NR: Let’s talk about your collaborations! You had a wonderful Valentine’s Day Special collab - can you tell us about it? It appeared to be a massive success.
SP: First of all, I think collaborations, especially for small creative businesses, are the future. Secondly, it’s so much fun to be constantly working with and inspired by female creatives. For instance, one of my main tenants for The Art Hang is female empowerment in the art world, and self-love is really at the core of that. One day of the year when, I think, women are the most self-critical and stressed is Valentine’s Day - such a flawed day of only feeling worthy if someone else romantically loves you. When discussing this with both Jess Cochrane and Holly the florist behind POLLENET, we created a bundle with a bouquet and a limited-edition print that wasn’t really meant for your lover but designed for your BFF, your favorite aunt, your work wife or most importantly yourself — there is nothing more important and badass than self-love and we really wanted to connote that while displaying two incredibly talented London based female creatives.
Denisse Ariana Pérez.
NR: Can you share with us a bit about your future projects?
SP: I am so excited about my upcoming curated collaboration with Darklight Art as part of the Darklight & series. They are a new online platform selling affordable fine art prints by some of the world’s most exciting photographers and visual artists. Launching on March 8th to celebrate International Women’s Day, it will feature six works by the female photographers Natalie Christensen, Denisse Ariana Pérez and Iggy Smalls. The curated prints will be available for a period of three months only, consisting entirely of open edition works under $150, in line with The Art Hang and Darklight’s shared ambition to make art accessible while championing female creativity. The theme will be focused on the inner self, the personal space and the coping mechanisms people come up with due to Covid-19. It’s been a really intense year full of contradictions happening simultaneously: extreme change and banality, collective perseverance and isolation, rediscovering oneself but also losing a sense of identity - we can’t address one aspect of the pandemic without the other. Right now, people are spending so much time inside their homes, it’s insane. I’ve tried to create a sense of escapism through the objects which are surrounding me. The pieces, which I chose for the curated collaboration, are somewhat conventional sights into otherworldly and inspiring entities. I really wanted the prints to reflect that escapist mentality.
Iggy Smalls, Salt, 2017.
NR: How do you source your artists and galleries, and how successful is your reach to young collectors?
SP: The process is very full circle. On the one hand, we source a lot of artists and young collectors through Instagram; the Instagram Shop option has really helped for the smaller edition prints, rather than having a viable collector base. But all my collaborations have gone so full circle. For example, one of the directors of Karnik Gallery asked me to be part of her 12 Hill curations. Through that, I had the chance to reach out to Jess Cochrane and I was so excited to finally work with her and present her work at the members club. Then I had the chance to work with Cochrane again for the Valentine’s Day collaboration; then, she introduced me to her friend, Mimi Gray, who is one of the co-founders of Darklight Art. This really shows how small the art world is. I think the biggest thing I learned this past year is that you constantly have to put yourself out there - I’ve been reaching out to so many people I admire in the art world, mainly through Instagram. It’s crazy how a simple DM can lead to an incredible partnership or collaboration.
Thank you, Sam.
Discover more about The Art Hang’s artists and collaborations on their website and Instagram.
Imagery courtesy of Samantha Picard.
Niya Ruseva
Contributor, MADE IN BED