Meet Courtney Childress | Artist & Artist Advisor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney Childress and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney, what’s the most important lesson your business/career has taught you?
In my eleven years in New York, I have always been in support of other artists. I started working as an assistant at a gallery in the lower east side with an excellent reputation during graduate school. My time working with the owner was priceless. She taught me the business of the art world in a way that few artists experience in a lifetime. I was a sponge, eagerly absorbing everything I heard and read, happily passing anything gleaned to friends and cohorts over the years. The advice varied between how to read consignments, write emails to curators or collectors, pack work and understand complex shipping forms, navigate taxes and consignment agreements, collector’s discounts, edit artist’s statements, and price work.

Quickly I recognized an oversight in arts education; my fellow state school students were not the only ones in need of this type of advice. With a decade of experience in the New York art world, I helped found an advisory group for artists, developing a series of workshops and working with artists one-on-one.

I’ve learned many lessons in my various roles in the art world. But the most important one is to be your own advocate, no one else will. You are in charge of your destiny. I’m happy that I get to be part of that for artists

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I make my sculptures — “Rocks” and “Boulders” by layering melted crayons into vivid sculptural masses akin to geologic formations. When applied to a drawing surface, they are performative tools that leave trails of polychromatic impressions. At first, they are craggy with a surface almost petrified and brittle. With use, they are burnished to reveal smooth multicolor strata in carefully selected palettes.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Whenever I travel I love the ‘local experience.’ So when people visit, I tend to take them along to art shows and to eat and drink at little neighborhood spots. One of the only touristy things I do like to take visitors on is a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. It’s a nice free boat ride and you get to see the bottom of the island and the Statue of Liberty.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wouldn’t be where I am today without my community of friends and other artists. I get so much from the artists I’ve worked for and with over the years. It feeds me.

Website: www.courtneychildress.com

Instagram: @courtneychildress

Image Credits
Erik Dalzen Tara Rice Sara Salamone