Crown Thorn Publishing Brings Young Masters to the Art Community By VICTOR FORBES Prayer, n. — A reverent petition made to God
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young newlywed, seeking her way in the world, Ruth-Ann Thorn had a simple request for her heavenly Father. “I was really frustrated with thinking about what to do with my life,” she recalled. “So one night I prayed, ‘whatever it is you have for me God, I’m ready.’ ” “The next day, this gal that I worked with in a restaurant — her husband was a chef — said to me, ‘Ever think of working in a gallery?’ She was employed by Images International of Hawaii at the time and I had no experience at all in the art field, other than growing up in an artistic family in an artistic community in Portland, Oregon.” Her mother taught dance and she and her sister grew up in the arts, always gravitated to it and were always involved in it at some level. “I went to the Images International Gallery and Andrew Fisher hired me on the spot. That is the truth of the story. It was destiny. “Shortly after that, my husband, who was a Marine stationed in Hawaii got suckered into it. He was a soldier during the week and on weekends would help us with shows and go to art fairs. At the time, Images was huge, with Otsuka, Caroline Young and other artists, they would take up to 23 booths at Artexpo in those golden, prosperous days. Today one of the most exciting booths at Artexpo is run by Ruth-Ann and James, nearly 20 years from her start in the industry. Her representation of Henry Asencio and Michael Flohr has generated interest from galleries and collectors worldwide and her focus on publishing just these two young men has resulted in her Crown Thorn Publishing company blossoming into one of the more successful ventures in a not so easy industry. In 1993, James was stationed back on mainland and with the art market changing radically once again (Images was selling) “My husband encouraged me to open a gallery. I called it the “gallery-non-gallery” and it was a really small space in Carlsbad CA. At the time, we worked out of our house. We’d set up shows in hotels, travel to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Colorado — load up a big U-hual truck, fly the artists in, bring our walls and that’s how we started.” 60 • Fine Art Magazine
James Thorn, Michael Flohr, Ruth-Ann Thorn, before Michael’s mural
The Thorns carried a variety of work and in 1997 opened a gallery in La Jolla. “We took all the money we had made and squirreled away and rolled the dice in La Jolla, that was our first real big adventure. For five years we had a pretty good time with it. I remember the first six months, just sitting at the desk there, my eyes welling up with tears, thinking, ‘Are we ever going to make a go with this?’ It wasn’t the best location but what we could afford. This is the foundation: we really have struggled, gone through it all. We learned a lot there that we needed to know, including, ‘There’s nothing more expensive than cheap rent.’ ”
After a while we went back to our roots doing outside marketing, interior design shows, art shows, horticultural shows—bringing people from San Diego into the gallery. We built a nice little client base.” In 2001 Ruth-Ann had another serious prayer session. The result was she and James opened up in a very high end shopping center in San Diego. Another big step in faith, the mall would only offer three months because at the time they were just a “mom and pop” store. It was a very scary proposition in that a beautiful build-out costing $100,000 was required to show the mall management how serious they were, yet they were only guaranteed a three
month lease. Said Ruth-Ann, “There was much prayer and seeing what God wanted us to do. We were always being stretched. If we’re not being stretched, we may not be where we need to be.” Shortly thereafter, James retired from the Marine Corp. after 22 years of service. The Gallery was beginning to do well and we were featuring a young artist named Henry Asencio, who we worked with from our La Jolla days. The response to his work was phenomenal and we told him ‘You are going to go somewhere, you need a publisher.’ He shopped around and came back to ask us to publish him. We had just sold a contract we had with a sculptor from Britain to a larger company so we said ‘Why not.’ We had a little bit of seed money and did the same thing we did with the home shows: loaded up a van drove up and down the California coast, doing presentations. Some people said yes, others said no, and we placed the artwork. Our plan was very solid. We followed up six weeks later with sales training with our new gallery’s staffs. Six months later we added Michael Flohr. We did it because we were such good friends — it didn’t start out as a business relationship. Originally we didn’t plan on publishing, but they both wanted to go with someone they knew. We’re like family. “Between the two of them, they’re in over 70 galleries. England, Belgium, Spain, New Zealand, Canada. What I really want to share,” continues RuthAnn, “is that the foundation of our success — without the Lord’s blessing it would be impossible — practically speaking is because we have experienced what it takes to be gallery owners — to pay rent and keep your door open — we completely understand what the gallery owner is up against. ‘Am I going to have enough money to pay the rent?’ We know what it is like to pay your employees and not pay yourself. We put no pressure on a gallery owner to sell. We put pressure on ourselves to support them in whatever way they need the help. When they’re having a tough time, we empathize with them and come alongside them. “My role as a publisher is to come underneath as a servant to those gallery owners and lift them up. The basis of our success is servitude: we teach this in our training A lot of people don’t like that, because it runs against our human nature, but the people that grasp that truth are doing exceptionally well with our artists. ‘What can we do to help?’ I act more like a coach or a helper
The Crown Thorn crew, James and Ruth-Ann seated up front
Henry Asencio’s Epiphany
on the sidelines. I take inventory back, exchange it. We’re constantly trying to be on the side of the gallery owner and help them. We know they want to sell the artwork. “It’s not all about us — it’s all about the gallery, the gallery owner, the people on the sales floor…everything we do, we ask ourselves ‘How is this going to affect the consultant on the floor.’ They’re on the front lines with the consumer. Most people are in this business because they love art. You’d be crazy to be in this business for any other reason. You’re not going to retire from the business, you can’t sell it because you are the business. They love art and the whole creative thing about it. What I love about it is working with two masters. I have to pinch myself sometimes, I’m thinking I could be working with Monet or van Gogh. The things these guys create never cease to amaze. There’s constant growth in their
subjects, textures, poses. It is always evolving, never static. You can see growth and that’s the greatness of the artist. Look at what Picasso did when he started, and what he did at the end of his life, equally as a good but constantly changing.” “James runs the gallery— San Diego Exclusive Collections, at Fashion Valley Shopping Center, where they gave us the three months. “Before we opened La Jolla, the Lord spoke to my heart. I literally went into my prayer closet: we were going to take everything we had and put it into La Jolla. I said, ‘I am not leaving this closet until I absolutely know this is Your will.’ He just showed me through scripture, ‘This is your ministry. It is going to bless a lot of people. It is my money. All I need for you to do is go forward.’ We named ourselves Good Works Fine Arts Incorporated and our motto is ‘Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify God in heaven.” As for Crown Thorn, it is like this: He is the crown, and we are the Thorns: He is over us in our direction. Our logo is a crown of thorns and drop of blood, Christ’s blood that covers our sins. We make mistakes, we are imperfect, we struggle like everybody else, but God always brings us back. We live that and I think we are blessed because of it. Less of us and more of Him, that’s all there is. We are called to be light in the darkness, and the salt in this funky world we are living in. It’s God’s work and this is what He’s called us to.” Fine Art Magazine • 61