Meet Cheryl Schubert of JGS – Art Studios

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cheryl Schubert. Cheryl and her team share the JGS story below.

Please kick things off for us. Where does the story begin?
Cheryl is a bit of a chameleon. Maybe it grew out of moving nine times in fifteen years and having to reinvent herself each time in the working world as she and her husband relocated for work. Seeking out a new job and learning yet another corporate culture. Over the years she worked in the hospitality industry, the fine paper printing industry, and the plastics industry.

When moving from the Midwest to the Houston area in 1998, she started out by going through a temp-agency ultimately landing a temporary spot as a purchasing agent for a plastics manufacturing company. The responsibilities covered 12% of the company’s total purchasing spend. Her value was recognized and she was promoted to Purchasing Manager after one year but it required her to take on the task of centralizing purchasing. She arrived here with a high school degree, but after five years in this position the company chose to move manufacturing overseas. This gave way to a vastly different journey – one she never dreamed was possible, but deep down it was always a real dream.

It was just that; a pipe-dream. But Cheryl had always dabbled in it; she had always romanced it. The initial consensus of what she was about to do was not received well. She wanted to go to college and pursue her dream, her desire, and her passion to become an artist. It took almost five years.

Once her family and friends saw that she took to it like a duck to water they were some of the best cheerleaders a girl could ask for. She was a very untypical college student. When her fine arts professors said do 35 works, she did 70 of them. She knew she had just a snapshot of time with them before graduation so she made the best of it. She knew she was in her element when every time she took a new class exploring a new medium she thought she would do that the rest of her life.

She traveled to Europe with the school’s study abroad summer program. Traveling to Germany to study art for a month one summer, only to be invited back the next year on scholarship. And at one point a month in Italy studying art every day. But she is an explorer and it lead to an opportunity that solidified her life plan, although at the time she did not know she had one.

While in her last year of college there was an opportunity to apply for an internship at one of Houston’s top 10 galleries. There were only a few openings and she was chosen. She learned their software and how a gallery works. Some of her fellow students asked why she would work for free and she shared with them the advantage for knowing how a gallery works, chooses artists to represent, and their operations in general. A few months into her internship the gallery owner asked to see her artwork. He truly liked what he saw and asked her to bring in more for him to view. She brought in 40 works. He said he was going to have a show for emerging artists and he decided she was going to be one of the seven! He said he was going to choose four of her works and ended up choosing ten.

The night before the opening two works had already sold. And another one sold opening night. She was grateful for the show. However, the night of the opening the gallery owner gave Cheryl the biggest surprise of her art-life. He invited her to join the gallery as a represented artist. And this was six months before she graduated with her BFA in Studio Art. Cheryl went on to be represented in his Santa Fe, New Mexico gallery. But the winds of change blew in again and her path was about to shift.

After a year and a half with the gallery it became clear that the hefty stable of artists had become impossible for the gallery owner to counsel and manage. It resulted in the release of all the emerging artists and being one of them it presented a new dilemma for her. How was she going to have her artwork seen by potential clients? And just like that a door opened, one Cheryl had been knocking on for almost two years.

An upscale salon and spa asked her if she still wanted to hang her artwork in their establishment. After a few discussions, she said yes. That was two and a half years ago. In that time, she has not only shown her work, but it opened an opportunity for her to choose and show other artists whose work she knew well. And with that Cheryl added Curator to her business card. She continues to do this for emerging artists and underrepresented artists to this day.

Still she looked for other opportunities. This is when she was introduced to the world of staging new homes for sale. She worked with an interior designer a few years ago on a newly built house that required original artwork for staging. Cheryl brought 40 works of art for the designer to choose from and 36 works of art were chosen for staging. It was not just her artwork, but fellow artists whose work she knew well. These artists believed in her and what she was trying to do for them and herself. For all of this first experiment she was paid nothing. But she gleaned valuable knowledge. She was going to rely on sales of the artwork from people and realtors who saw the staged home. However, none sold while it was staged and then the house sold and the artwork was taken down. And that was that for the time being.

She checked in with the interior designer from time to time. No news yet about the new owners. Six weeks later, Cheryl received a call from the new owners. It started with the family wanting three or four works of art but has turned into a collection surpassing the initial request. She worked with them on artwork placement bringing work in from the East Coast and selling local Houston artists work. At the point of successfully placing these works and artwork with several other clients over the last three years she holds herself out as an art consultant.

While one might think that is enough, Cheryl started a fine arts program for a young women’s residential treatment and transitional living program that enables young adult women to become healthy, strong and influential through a journey to recovery and mental health out in Fort Bend County. She provides lesson plans and hands on introduction to a wide variety of painting processes adding in art history and engaging in discussions about art and the art world. She believes in art as therapy and helping these young women find another voice. What started as two classes a month has blossomed into eight classes a month.

Over the last three years Cheryl has been invited as a guest lecturer at Houston Community College introducing students to materials they have never worked with before. She has spoken to art organizations on how to present a portfolio and myriad other subjects related to presentation in general of artwork. Last fall she was asked to jury HCC’s student art shows for all five campuses. She speaks to women’s groups about the approach to reinventing themselves and shares her challenges and successes.

In her search for art inspiration, Cheryl has a love of all things magnified. She studies the world we live in with the use of a microscope and telescope. Cheryl’s studio is in her home in Sugarland. She and her husband Larry share their time with their two Rhodesian Ridgebacks, Newton and Plato, and their American Bobtail cat, Utopia.

Cheryl, can you expand on some of the struggles you faced along the way?
As the story lays out my journey, having an art gallery representing my work was wonderful. When I lost representation it just made me search for other opportunities. I did not want to first look for another gallery. I spoke with a lot of artist’s about their path. Not to copy it but to hear their perspective and learn what I might miss if I just pursued another gallery.

Thank goodness I worked in a corporate environment. It helped me learn time management and Microsoft Office which I use daily.

My biggest struggle is the accounting aspect. My salvation is having a good accountant who guides me with best practices, do’s and don’ts and learning to keep vigilant about record keeping. Having just finished year three, I am finally well organized in this matter.

But as a single business owner, I am overwhelmed at times on marketing, researching opportunities, and keeping up with all the avenues for getting my name out there. With Facebook, Twitter, Linked-in, Dropbox, Hootsuite, Instagram, and Snapchat, to name a few and managing my website it is a lot of work.

This year I am tackling branding. The first thing I did was create my logo. I am most excited about my logo. I worked with a graphic artist who is also a painter so we were able to dialog famously and it just came together. And then I have to have time to paint and draw too. Although scheduling painting is uninspiring to me, I welcome the time now. And I always have a sketchbook, portfolio and thumb-drive with images on it with me.

But my world is art and everything I do allows me to show starting collectors that it is possible to purchase art that speaks to them and that they will love to live with for a long time. That is why I do what I do. Whether I sell my artwork or that of others whose work I know well, it is the best feeling when a client see’s they can create a voice that speaks their language of the love of art for whatever environment they are creating for themselves. I have clients that just purchase that one special painting. Some are just starting to think about collecting and want a guide.

Please tell us a little more about yourself and JGS – Art Studios. What else should we know?
First and foremost, I am an artist. I paint using watercolor, acrylic, mediums or oils. I paint on canvas, paper, and plastic.

I am a doer. I am a seeker. Most of all I am curious. Marie tells me I have an eye for placement of artwork.

I really listen to what my clients want for their homes. In one case a builder was not happy with an artwork I placed in the main room and I said I would take it down but not before they came to see it at sunset and stay past dusk. When they honored my request, I was there ready to take it down and the builder said they saw the painting was well placed. It remained in place.

AND light matters. If the lighting in the home is too cold too whatever, I address lighting as well.

AND I hang all the work, sometimes with assistance.

AND I consult about framing or no frame – even materials for framing matter.

I believe everything matters.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I am not a believer of Monday morning quarterbacking.

I believe all that touched me along the way up until today ; work, school, friends, family, good experiences, bad experiences, all the moves made across the USA have brought me to this amazing moment. So why question my path.

Grandma Moses did not start painting folk art until she was in her seventies. So I think I am way ahead of the game.

Sometimes what really matters is just to start.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jgs-artstudios.com
• Phone: 1.855.834.2012
• Email: cheryl@jgs-artstudios.com
• Instagram: magnifiedartist
• Twitter: @jgsartist

Design by: Ward Starrett Creative

Image Credit:
Headshot – Chris Gillett Photography-Houston
Abstract images – in reds are by Cheryl Schubert – acrylic on plastic
Abstract image – in purple/pink is by Cheryl Schubert – watercolor on plastic
Other images by Cheryl Schubert – Staged home and clients home.

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