Complementary art companies paint profits
Gallery, consultancy are businesses, not hobbies, for Jones
Marsha Boutelle Correspondent

Gallery owner and art consultant Beth Jones has been a visible fixture on the Sacramento fine-art scene for 18 years, running galleries, volunteering in the development of visual arts programs and working with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission and the Center for Contemporary Art.

She is also an astute businesswoman.

In partnership with Lynda Jolley, Jones owns JayJay, a gallery that this month moved to a new site on Elvas Avenue.

And Jones, as a sole proprietor, is an art consultant helping corporate clients enhance their offices with fine art carefully chosen and placed to help project the clients' desired image in the marketplace. Her Beth Jones, Art Consultant business likewise moved into the revamped Elvas edifice in East Sacramento.

Even in the current jumpy economy, Jones has thrived. Gross sales for her consulting totaled $288,000 last year, with a gross profit of $90,000. Projected sales through September this year are $250,000, with a gross profit of $75,000.

JayJay's gross sales for 2001, its first year of operation, hit $85,000, with a gross profit of $41,000. This year through September, gross sales are projected at $78,000 and gross profit is predicted at $33,500.

'The' art consultant: Donna Lucas, president and chief executive of public relations firm NCG Porter Novelli, considers Jones to be "the" art consultant in Sacramento.

"In my business, you've got to look creative but also maintain a corporate feel," Lucas said. "Art in your offices expresses that creativity."
Jones, Lucas said, "takes the intimidation factor out of art."

"We had very little to spend -- we were in a transitional time" when Jones was brought in, said Lucas. "Beth asks what your budget is and she works within it."

Adding art, Lucas said, "is a great way to enhance your space. People's eyes go to the artwork; they don't go to the offices or desks.

"We are probably one of the best-dressed offices around!"

Jones generally charges $75 an hour in the consulting business, and gets 30 percent of the art sales price. The charge varies based on a project's size and complexity.

Sometimes in the consulting business, Jones subcontracts out work to Jolley.

In the gallery business, JayJay gets 50 percent of the selling price for a piece of art, with the artist determining the price.

Marketing: Jones and Jolley work hard at marketing. Said Jones, "You have to market more in tight times."

She and partner Jolley, also a longtime and prominent player on the eclectic Sacramento arts scene, last year established a Web site (http://www.jayjayart.com). They have found it to be an effective triple-threat showcase for the gallery, their artists and the consulting business.

Jones and her husband -- S.R. Jones, an interior decorator and artist who works on a different floor of the Elvas building -- paid $250,000 for the Elvas structure and took out a construction loan for remodeling. Total costs ran about $400,000.

The gallery had been on Franklin Boulevard, a short walk from Broadway.

"Moving our businesses into this new building is also an extension of our marketing," Jolley said. "We do receptions every two months.

"We are also very aggressive with the media in getting reviews of our shows and keeping them informed of the progress and changes in our business."
The hours of the two businesses differ dramatically.

"The consulting business is really a Monday-to-Friday, 9-to-5 type of business," Jones said, "because that is when our corporate clients are available. The gallery is open to the public Wednesday to Saturday from 11 to 4.

"Since there are two of us in both businesses, we can be in two places at once -- Lynda out on the gallery floor talking about an artist, while I am at the desk working on a proposal for a client."
Word of mouth has proved to be effective marketing too.

"We have been in the business long enough to have made some very good contacts," Jones said. "Many of our clients are referred to us, since there are not a lot of people who do what we do."

Art is hard work: Getting started in the gallery business is a tough proposition, said Barry Sakata, owner of midtown Sacramento's B. Sakata Garo. (Garo is Japanese for gallery.)

Sakata, who has also carved out a successful business in the four years since he opened, recalled his difficult early days.

"It was pretty depressing at first," he said. "Nobody came in."

After some futile attempts at cold calling -- "companies I found in the phone book" -- Sakata hit on the idea of contacting Jean Runyon of Runyon, Saltzman & Einhorn PR fame.

Sakata had grown up the son of a tomato farmer "down river" in agricultural country. He knew Runyon had grown up there herself. So, he contacted her.

"I called her and left a message: 'My name is Barry Sakata. I have a new gallery here in Sacramento,' " he said. "Because she, like I, was from down the river."

Sakata's approach played out beautifully. Runyon called him back, became a patron and has referred many subsequent clients to Sakata.

Nowadays, Sakata said, "Mrs. Runyon lets me hang art for her in her house, wherever I want to!"

Jones said that early in her business career, she sometimes pursued projects without getting a written contract or fee up front, and spent time, and sometimes got an artist started on work -- and then the prospective client flaked.

"Often there is political stuff going on," she said. "They pursue you, but then it turns out they really have no intention of buying anything."

There are other, general pitfalls in the art business.

"A lot of people see art as a hobby rather than as a professional career choice," Jones said. "We are advocates for artists.

"Don't get into the gallery business because you think it would be glamorous or fun," she said. "It is very hard work and requires stamina, knowledge and passion."

And though the gallery is open just 20 hours each week, Jones and Jolley work there many hours when it's closed.

Said Jones, "We clean the bathroom and hang the shows."