Meet Jessica Ransom | Curator, speaker, and writer

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

Hi Jessica, we’d love for you to start things off by telling us something about your industry that we and others not in the industry might be unaware of?
The art market is opaque and unregulated – a challenge for both creative professionals and collectors. There is no clear path to becoming a working artist whose creations can generate enough income to thrive. Similarly, there is no simple guidebook on establishing or, for that matter, deaccessioning an art collection. For that reason, I devote my career to helping creative professionals build their careers and guiding collectors in developing well-considered collections that they can manage throughout their lives.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I am the Director of Artist Services at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County. We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to champion, engage, and grow the arts. I specifically oversee the three galleries in our 1940s era art deco building in Lake Worth Beach that originated as a movie theater. We exclusively showcase the work of artists who live and work in our county. I create calls to artists, oversee visiting curators, run professional development courses for artists, and curate exhibitions. I am incredibly proud of our solo gallery which is an open call and provides a platform for artists to show an entire body of work. Similarly, I look forward to our soon to be launched emerging artist grant which will provide training for professionals early in their careers.

I began working in the arts after a successful career in government and education. It was a challenge to earn a master’s degree later in life and also to establish credentials in an entirely new field. I realized that I would have to start at the bottom to diversify and build my knowledge in many aspects of the art market in order to gain traction toward a curatorial position. Today I have a fairly comprehensive view of the market that I can draw on to guide both artists and collectors.

A lesson I have learned over and over again is that we are always on a team even if we are not aware of all the players. I think again and again about Malcolm Gladwell’s book “The Tipping Point” where he discusses connectors, mavens, and salespeople. I consider myself a connector and work to both aide others in making connections and to gather knowledge about people who will serve as useful connections in my field. My late father was a mentor in learning this skill as he never met a person he couldn’t connect to.

Like anyone, I have had ups and downs in life. I have learned that it’s important to try to be slow to take offense when engaging with others as we can never really know what challenges their current life holds.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
South Florida in a nutshell:

In West Palm Beach there is so much public art to see – be sure to visit Nekisha Durrett’s “Genius Loci” sculpture at Heart and Soul Park in Northwood and the Yinka Shonibare sculpture at The Square. Eat a chirashi bowl at the Four Seasons in Palm Beach overlooking the ocean. Then walk on Worth Avenue and visit the garden of the Four Arts. Food options in West Palm Beach are endless, but bread and desserts are in abundant supply, and many must be tried: Aioli’s chocolate babka, Loic’s croissants and focaccia, the Buccan Sandwich shop, Bread by Johnny in Jupiter. Depending on your particular taste profile there are many barbecue options to meet your taste including Pig Beach, Tropical Smokehouse, and Austin Republic. Of course, there are beaches, but the culture should not be missed. The Morikami Gardens in as well as the old IBM building now called the BRIC (Boca Raton Innovation Campus) is a mid-century masterwork with a cafe and hallways full of art. Take in a play at the Maltz Jupiter Theatre or listen to some music and sip a local draft beer at the Northwood Art and Music Warehouse in West Palm Beach. And of course, visit the three every changing galleries at the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County in Lake Worth before strolling Lake Avenue to visit cafes, shops, and other galleries.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My daughter for willingly quizzing me with hundreds of art history flashcards during my masters and my husband for encouraging a mid-life career change. The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County for continuing to support artists by pivoting to online exhibitions when the pandemic shut down our galleries. The gallerists and collectors Marc & Livia Straus who always challenge me to look at more art and to find the best available example of an artist’s production. The book “How to Be an Artist” by Jerry Saltz for convincing me that I need to know why I do not like a work of art equally as much as why I do.

Website: www.palmbeachculture.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-ransom-810a6945/

Youtube: https://youtu.be/HPuXz7qLO_g?si=C6N6B_prwDDRNY7Q

Image Credits
Dancers in front of ghost trees by Jessica Ransom Headshot by Annett Meyer All other photos by Jacek Gancarz