Today we’d like to introduce you to Hillary Whitaker.
Hi Hillary, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
After graduating from College in 1999, I started working at Stellers Gallery at Ponte Vedra. I acquired the gallery in 20o1. After 18 years, we changed the name of the gallery to Hillary Whitaker Gallery.
Hillary Whitaker has been in the art industry for over 22 years and takes pride in the development and nurturing of strong relationships with clients and artists rooted in integrity. We feel strongly in providing an environment that customers can trust both our business ethics as well as sound, professional guidance in their collection of work.
With the utmost integrity, stylized creativity, the strength of collaborative resources, and the desire to be a part of the important effect art have on individuals, we take pride in having the opportunity to help curate and “bring to life” the story/culture of our client’s projects.
Hillary Whitaker Gallery at Ponte Vedra, formerly Stellers Gallery at Ponte Vedra, is a boutique art gallery located in North East Florida featuring fine art by the best regional and local artists. The gallery offers fine art, consultation, installation, and framing. Our vision is to increase the accessibility of fine art by promoting and placing quality artwork while maintaining the integrity of our artists. We focus on guiding and educating clients in their selection and offer professional consultation with stylized creativity.
Listening to the desires of the client and keeping in mind the aesthetics of the setting, we offer our expertise in the acquisition and installation of the perfect piece for any space. “We LOVE what we do! We love scouting new artists, offering ideas and solutions, and providing fine art that “speaks” in the design of the spaces our clients call home as well as positively influencing corporate environments for their visitors, clients, patients, and employees alike.”
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Hmmm, well this could be considered a blessing or a challenge. In the past few years, we have had the opportunities to curate large collections for various healthcare facilities and commercial clients. This added another full-time task to my plate in addition to our 6 days a week gallery work.
The creative process drives me and is an everflowing mindset. I find myself up in the middle of the night with both brilliant, (and not so brilliant ideas) and solving various tasks in my sleep.
Being present with my family has been challenging as I seem to always have a proposal to finish, an email to respond to, a text to send… I am working on finding a better balance- being more efficient with my productivity and more intentional with my family/personal time.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have been an art consultant and gallerist for 22 years. We are a full-service fine art gallery and consultancy firm. Over half of my life has been devoted to Uniting my Passion for art, design, and people.
I cannot think of anything more gratifying than to create a beautiful space that moves or offers an uplifting moment for someone. Not only does art serve an aesthetic need, we believe it is healing and can have transformative effects on one’s mood and well-being.
From the residential reward of seeing collectors react to their first piece of art to the more impactful purpose of artwork that has offered comfort, peace, a distraction, or quick reprieve for a patient family, or staff in a healthcare facility. WE love what we do- we love the joy that art brings to people- we love connecting artists to clients.
We provide art that speaks to the culture and design of our clients.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Most people think that we sit prettily behind our desk waiting for clients to walk through our door. And our reality is actually quite the contrary- I never thought this would entail wearing hard hats, steel-toed boots, walking job sites, endless zoom calls, presentations, RFP’s (just learned what that was), prying open crates twice our size, shlepping 950 lbs of art on acrylic.
Needless to say, my back is typically in a spasm and my 44-year-old hands have early-onset carpal tunnel (insert silly face emoji) Years ago after landing our first major new construction project, scrutinizing the blueprints with the architect and design team, I asked, “Now… what is TLT?”
They looked up at me with a mixture of surprise and likely concern and said, “That is a Toilet Hillary.” Here we are 6 years later and 3 hospital projects in and we still laugh at how green I was.
Contact Info:
- Email: hillary@hwhitakergallery.com
- Website: www.hwhitakergallery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hillarywhitakergallery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hillarywhitakergallery
Image Credits
Jessie Preza
