There's beauty around the Bend: Bend, Ore,-based art on the go offers custom framing and an innovative leasing program that makes art more affordable for everyone

Art Business News, Dec, 2003 by Megan Kamerick

Sandi Landolt is on a mission to make Central Oregon businesses look good. "Your don't have to spend a fortune to look like a million," Landolt said. "What we're working to convey to the community and businesses is that their image matters."

Landolt has done this for years through an art leasing program, first at the Glass Chameleon Art Gallery in downtown Bend, Ore., which she owned for six years, and now at her new business, Art on the Go, which opened this past spring in Bend.

She took the unusual step of starting a new business to make her life less hectic.

"Owning an art gallery is fun and exciting, but it's a lot of hours," she said. She had three lines of business at Glass Chameleon: consignment sales of original work, custom picture framing and the art leasing program. And her overhead was high. But, more importantly, Landolt recently faced several tragedies.

"There were a couple of major things that made me really stop and take a look," she said. "I lost my eldest son unexpectedly. Then, the same year, I was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through a mastectomy."

She and her husband agreed she would either sell by Jan. 1 of this year or walk away. She ended up doing both. Some buyers stepped up for the gallery operations and Landolt kept the art leasing and framing components. She used the sale to finance Art on the Go. She leased 2,000 square feet in half of a new building owned by her friend, who runs a catering business in the other half.

Frame Up

Landolt's new location has a larger capacity for framing supplies. This allows her staff to do a framing job in one day if necessary and keep moulding on hand for artists and designers. The store also matches mail order prices for art supplies to retain the loyalty of local artists.

"I tell them 'I'd rather have 100 $10 jobs from you than one $250 job because I'd rather see you again and again,'" said David Saunders, Art on the Go's framer and design manager.

Saunders, Landolt's only full-time employee, has been in framing for 18 years. He has an art background and designed the interior of the new store. The showroom has a slate floor and track lighting. The color scheme is burgundy with some black, gray, gold and purple accents. He likens it to the feeling of an urban loft. The framing room has a 10-foot ceiling to accommodate the long strips of moulding they store onsite.

"He cares like I do," Landolt said of Saunders. "That makes such a difference in employees."

Indeed, Saunders hopes to build equity in the business and take it over if Landolt ever wants to retire. His 16-year-old daughter works in the store as well.

Art on the Go has about half a dozen framing competitors in town, including a giant Michaels craft store. But Landolt said they can beat them on price as well as customer service. She has found that once customers are happy with the results and the price they remain loyal and don't comparison shop. The store also has a small retail component with ready-made frames, prints and beveled mirrors.

The Art of Leasing

The other half of Landolt's business--the art leasing program--is growing because Central Oregon is booming, and she is the only one in town offering the service. At the Glass Chameleon, she initially used offices and restaurants to hang her artists' works to increase sales at the gallery. It wasn't very successful, but when she called her customers to tell them she was discontinuing the service, one of them panicked.

"He said 'I have to have art!' so I said 'Buy it? But he couldn't afford it" she said. So Landolt asked him if he wanted to make regular payments. "That's pretty much how it started."

That's when she began talking about art leasing.

"A lot of people thought it was kind of whacky," Landolt said. Then someone told her about Ann Gormley, who owns Art Etc., in Portland, Ore. Gormley has done art leasing for 19 years. She said she consulted with Landolt for about a year, teaching her about the leasing business. "She torqued it to suit her need and her area," Gormley said. "Then she was off and running." Landolt added a percentage onto the price (she declined to say how much), gave the artist half and gave the buyers three years to pay.

What she found, however, was that customers needed volume. She has access to about 70,000 prints and an exclusive dealership with Texas publisher Gregory Editions Washington Green, which offers limited editions. Landolt also owns a lot of art from her gallery days. Since she opened, artists have contacted her to ask about getting in on her leasing program.

"We now have 18 galleries in town that carry wonderful work," she said. Then there are the retailers that carry low-end art. "There's this gap in between, so we're trying to cover that area," she said. Janet Sirhall, Landolt's art consultant, said they try to promote local artists when possible. "We have a lot of really great photographers in this area," she said. "But sometimes that doesn't work for the budget of a small company."

Customers generally pay between $8 and $12 a month for an average-sized framed print. An original work can run between $50 and $300 per month. They pay quarterly over a three-year period and then they own the art," Landolt said. At six-month intervals, however, they can change their minds and start a lease on a new piece.