Gallery Features

AGBU Insider Feature, Volume 11, August 2019: http://online.fliphtml5.com/fqpe/dppf/#p=16
Kristine Woodward is the founder and owner of Woodward Gallery, which she and her husband, director John Woodward, established in 1994. Kristine graduated from Beth Israel Medical Center and Pace University, before retiring as a Board Certified Critical Care Registered Nurse. She has been the AGBU invited Moderator and Panelist on “The Art of Business” with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Paddle 8 Auction. Kristine appeared in various episodes of television programs, such as “Home By Novogratz”, “Art Detectives”, and the local news. Kristine consulted and was featured in the Richard Hambleton documentary, “Shadowman” by Oren Jacoby which premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival. In addition, Kristine has published numerous essays and press releases on both contemporary and urban artists and their work.
What is it like being a NYC Art Gallery for nearly 25 years, a quarter century?!
Working with the public to provide art culture and public exhibitions has been quite a ride! We started in SoHo and have been pioneers on the LES for quite a while. There have been huge changes with the way people appreciate art today versus 25 years ago. We have adjusted to a global art market through technology. Art collecting has moved into a virtual age where people research and see lots of material online to make informed decisions. We are able to help navigate their interests and introduce additional ideas.
It has been our pleasure to have met incredible folks who respond passionately to art and have allowed us to help develop their collections. We have worked with extremely talented Artists and have raised awareness on several who have made lasting public impressions, like Artists Roy Newell (1914- 2006), Richard Hambleton (1952-2017) {There is a documentary out now about Richard Hambleton, Shadowman by Oscar nominated filmmaker Oren Jacoby, which we were involved with for the eight years of filming!}, Artist/ Actor Val Kilmer, and Gorillaz co-founder Artist Jamie Hewlett.
Our mission has always been to feature artists and educate the public. It is wonderful to have touched so many guests with the shows that we mounted throughout this time. By having open hours, our exhibitions received 1000 people a week! It was both inspirational and exhausting to be in the exhibition space all day every day, but exhilarating all the same.
Just last year we moved to an appointment model of operation, so we could offer more individualized attention. People can now experience our exhibitions 24/7 from our street level windows and receive additional details through our website. Clients call to make an individual appointment to visit and talk further about their interests. It is an exciting new phase for our gallery! The response has been amazing! We have had a great time meeting people from around the world and sharing knowledge.
We also show fine art throughout NYC in Lincoln Square, SoHo and Tribeca at the Gourmet Garage locations. We have been featuring original art in their windows and large store interiors for over 15 years. We believe gourmet food and art culture are a nice combination!
How do new Artists get a show at Woodward Gallery?
Our Director John Woodward has kept his eyes open to potential new Artists all along and has been instrumental in developing careers. He is well connected and fully engaged with the art market. He has been known to invite a new Artist into a group exhibition to be shown with contemporary masters. Our Artist Review Criteria changes yearly and updates can be followed through our website (WoodwardGallery.net) and on social media. My best suggestion to aspiring artists is to become familiar with the Gallery you are submitting your work to and understand their policies or specifically what they are seeking. For instance, we receive 3000 submissions a year on paintings, street art and sculpture. If you submit a proposal for a black and white photography show for instance, that is not necessarily something we specialize in.
What is the key to your success?
We have been very creative with our Gallery practice all these years. Have stayed dedicated and passionate about the art world. We try to stay ahead of trends and have been lucky to have survived major NYC events like 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, the financial recession. We strive to build lasting relationships, remain relevant, and lead by example.
What does your typical day look like?
Wake up too early usually after staying up too late, and walk our 2 Sharpei dogs. Walk dogs again to work by 11am, drink lots of coffee! Get ready for the day by preparing for appointments. We have warehouse storage for the collection, so we bring paintings in tailored to the meetings ahead. Artwork can be seen night or day through our exhibition windows, so we get requests at all hours to see and talk further about something specifically. My day never seems to have enough hours as we answer emails, respond to phone calls, identify new inventory to buy, keep the website updated. Will end the gallery day by walking the girls home. We live and work in Manhattan, so it is such a pleasure to be able to commute by foot.
What social media are you obsessed with?
Facebook was my go-to, but now I love Instagram. We are an art gallery and pictures are what we do. We try to post Art of The Day or educate on Artist birthdays. It is rewarding to connect by sharing events, artwork from our Artist studios or the chaos of the gallery day through photos! We try to begin or end the day with a landscape, cityscape, sunrise or sunset shot, engage with beautiful images.
https://www.facebook.com/WoodwardGalleryArt/
https://www.instagram.com/woodward_gallery/
See the original article at: The Native Society
Woodward Gallery has been a NYC institution for almost a quarter century. It is a pioneer in the heart of Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a neighborhood with a rich history of art and culture.
Woodward Gallery developed a Project Space at 132A Eldridge Street to offer street artists an authorized location to paint and display their work on a dedicated outdoor wall. Since the Project Space premiered in 2008, the Gallery had invited over 30 Artists to participate in creating their own four-panel works of art approximately 15 feet (457 cm) in total size. Over the years, this wall had become an iconic Lower East Side and NYC street art attraction, being featured by magazines, art blogs, and news stations.
Exhibition History at Gourmet Garage
Woodward Gallery was originally located in SoHo across from the first Gourmet Garage back in the 1990s. Director John Woodward had been a chef at the historic Four Seasons Restaurant and also a private executive chef. With this strong culinary background, Woodward had the idea to share epicurean themed art in his popular SoHo neighborhood by inviting Artists working in varied styles and mediums. Woodward set out to feature a new project called, Art By The Pound in the Gourmet Garage street level windows. The director’s goal was to build the relationship between viewing art and shopping for food, an infusion of both visuals as an enhanced experience. The ground floor window exhibitions were curated directly across from the Gallery. Seen by thousands of folks daily, the project soon became so popular that Woodward Gallery expanded this art program, a type of interactive display, inside that original SoHo space.
Woodward relocated its main gallery to the Lower East Side over the years. In addition to the rotating gallery exhibitions on Eldridge Street, Woodward broadened the art installations to additional Gourmet Garage locations throughout New York City at: SoHo (489 Broome Street), TriBeCa (366 Broadway) and Lincoln Square (155 West 66th Street). Director John Woodward curated Contemporary Art in the Gourmet Garage exhibition windows and within their 50,000 square feet of interior space each year. Dozens of exhibitions and countless artworks later, each store location featured the symbiotic gourmet food and fine art relationship.
This cultural collaboration concluded in June 2019 after nearly twenty years of installations. Thanks to all who participated in this fun project!

The strange, almost menacing shadow done in black paint on the wall gave us an electrifying jolt – recalls Alessandro Riva of GallerySalvatore Ala, while remembering the New York in the 1980s, and his first encounter with Richard Hambleton art. The artist who rose to fame in the 1980s came to NY from Vancouver in the late 1970s. The city he arrived into was a hub for new art, one that will take the world by storm in the next few decades and will be defined as Street Art. With a documentary film about Richard Hambleton ready to be premiered this month in the USA, Woodward Gallery joins in the celebrations of this unique visual creative with the exhibition I Only Have Eyes for You.
Read the full article by Eli Anupur here.

Widewalls / July 2016
Early on, the gallery established a perfect balance between showcasing the works of prominent figures like Robert Indiana and Andy Warhol and educating the public about young talented artists. Throughout the decades the gallery helped shape the careers of artists like Roy Newell and Cristina Vergano and was hugely responsible for the revival of the interest in the works by street art pioneer Richard Hambleton…Read Full Article

The New Year embarks on New Work, New York – a group exhibition of Artists from around the world who have never shown at Woodward Gallery before. Responding to thousands of Artist Submissions, Director John Woodward selected eighteen individuals originating from Japan, Spain, Canada…Read Article

Green Label / November 5, 2014
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