SLOANE SQUARE GALLERY

On Display | arts & culture

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Sloane Square Gallery has been open in Huntington for one year

Story Dawn Nolan | Photography Shannon Shank

Whether he was sketching or practicing his penmanship as a child, artist Jamie Sloane has always had “a good hand.”

“My dad wanted to be an animator for Disney, so a lot of the time he would just scribble on a piece of paper and tell me to make something out of it. I had to use my imagination, and I think that gave me a lot of confidence that I could create something out of nothing,” Sloane said. “I also had adult handwriting before I was in school. I loved my mom’s cursive, so I’d have her write something out, and I would write it over and over until I got it to look like exactly what I saw.”

Sloane credits his parents for his creative spirit, discipline, organization and work ethic — all of which gave him the courage to pursue his dreams.

“Going into art, I was not intimidated at all,” he said. “I was confident that whatever I saw in front of me, I could duplicate. Bringing honor to my family has always been my motivation.”

Along with his drawing skills, Sloane was also musically inclined from an early age, and he later studied musical composition at Marshall University and privately with plans of becoming a composer.

“I pursued a career in film composing in California,” he said. “I was there for two years before I got homesick and moved back to Columbus [Ohio, where he spent his early education years].”

Sloane still loved composing, but it got to be too much for him.

“I couldn’t sleep at night; I couldn’t shut my brain off,” Sloane said. “I remember going to see my doctor and he said, ‘Why don’t you try not composing for X amount of time? Give yourself a break for, say, at least a year.’ So I did that.”

On Display | arts & culture

But for someone like Sloane, they need a creative outlet.

“It wasn’t even a few months, and I was drawing,” he said.

But Sloane always considered his work as more of something he did for fun — until he met Jimmy Hobbs. The two became friends and later partners.

“I invited him over to my house, and I just painted as a hobby, so I didn’t have my work on the walls or anything — I just had them kind of lying around everywhere — and he asked me if I was a collector,” Sloane said. “I told him no, and that I just painted as a hobby, and he didn’t believe me. He said, ‘You don’t know this, but you’re going to make a lot of money.’ And I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”

Hobbs was a collector, and he recognized Sloane’s talent right away [“He bought a lot of my stuff right off the bat,” Sloane said.], and later introduced him to the late Mark Bailey, then owner of Mark’s Antiques in Huntington.

“Mark was known to be the guy that had really high tastes for good, quality art in Huntington,” Sloane said. “We went in there, and he saw some of my work, and Mark said, ‘You don’t know this, but you’re going to be a great artist one day. You already are, but we’re going to get you to the place you need to be.’ I said, ‘OK, that’d be great; let’s make it happen.’”

Bailey then introduced Sloane to businessman Jack Bourdelais, another collector very involved with the Huntington Museum of Art. At the time, Sloane was preparing for his first exhibit at the French Art Colony in Gallipolis.

“Mark brought Jack to my house in Gallipolis, and the first day he came, he wanted to buy everything that I owned, and he basically did at the show,” Sloane said. “That was the door swinging open. There was this momentum behind me. I never knew what I wanted to do, but everyone knew what I should be doing. But I could also tell that that’s what I needed to be doing.”

Not long after, Sloane received a call from the Huntington Museum of Art, asking if he’d be interested in doing a few pieces for an exhibit called the ‘San Quentin Project,’ a show inspired by vintage prison records.

“This was a bunch of different artists coming in from all around the United States, and some of them were my idols,” Sloane said. “I was going to be included with all of these great painters, so, I knew I had to

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do something ambitious.”

“I sold them all,” Sloane said. “After that, they [the museum] asked me if I’d like to do a solo show.”

Of course he agreed.

“They gave me two years to pull off a 12 — portrait series where each measured six foot by seven foot,” Sloane said. “I didn’t have a social life, but all I could think was this was the opportunity of my life.”

Called ‘Jamie Sloane: The Visiteur Series,’ the exhibit opened in November 2018 and ran through early February 2019.

“We broke attendance records with that opening, and we did a documentary on it that ultimately aired on PBS,” Sloane said. “Out of everything that I’ve done, that’s probably what I’ll be known for.”

Another project for the museum followed in 2020. Sloane created a Bauhausinspired sculpture called ‘The Kiss’ for the museum’s ‘The Wide Reach of Bauhaus’ exhibition commemorating the institution’s 1970 addition designed by Walter Gropius and partners.

“It was a beautiful show,” Sloane said. “It was probably one of my favorite shows I’d ever seen. And I got to honor Walter Gropius, a world famous architect. That was pretty amazing, and the fact that they wanted me to do that.”

When the pandemic began, Sloane started contemplating his next steps.

“During COVID, we thought everybody is experiencing these vulnerabilities and fear, and things like that, and I wanted to invest my money that I had accumulated from my art,” Sloane said. “I thought the only way I’m going to be able to do that comfortably is open my own business, that way the money is in my own hands.”

What he hadn’t planned was opening an art gallery.

“I really wasn’t for it,” he said. “I always said it was like the equivalent of Taylor Swift opening her own store for her own music. ‘Like nobody does that, right?’ And then you’re specified to one specific

demographic, so your chances of profiting are almost wholly based on your talent. I didn’t know if I could deal with the pressure; I didn’t know if I was ready for it.”

But Hobbs, as he always had throughout their relationship, encouraged him.

“He said, ‘Of course you are.’ And he was right. I just always have my doubts. I always think that there’s a little more work for me to do.”

Fast-forward to July 2021, and Sloane and Hobbs opened Sloane Square Gallery in Huntington’s Central City Antiques District.

“Jimmy picked out the building,” Sloane said. “This was one of his favorite places when he was little; he’d come here with his mom, and he would go to auctions with his dad as a little boy, and he’d learn about the tricks of the trade, and he is fantastic.”

Together, Sloane is the artist and Hobbs is the curator/decorator.

“This [the gallery] is an exhibit of our collaborative effort. As a painter, even if you’re like Mark Rothko or Van Gogh or anyone whose work sells at Christie’s, and they make millions of dollars, its always about the interior decorator — designer — putting it in the homes of the wealthiest people. So there’s this relationship to interior and to the artwork itself,” Sloane said. “So, we wanted to let people know, when they come in, how do they buy a piece of art, and anticipate the questions that you would ask yourself, like ‘Will that work in my home?’ That’s the importance of staging, and Jimmy is just brilliant at it. If I had to pay him to do what he does, I wouldn’t be able to afford him; he has a millionaire personality.”

Inside the gallery, visitors will find Sloane’s current, ongoing work. The present exhibit, ‘Pointillist’ will run through the end of November. The next show will be Painters Portrait Series opening on Dec. 1.

“We change the exhibit every four months,” Sloane said. “The next one will consist of a dozen portraits as well as fashion elements.”

There are also many other finely curated pieces — everything from glassware to jewelry to pottery and fashion accessories — that appeals to all price points.

“We want anyone to be able to come in here and feel comfortable,” Sloane said. “They might not buy a piece of art, but they need inspiration, especially here in Huntington, which gets such a bad rap.”

Small touches, like soothing music, chocolates and aromatherapy add to the ambiance and the metropolitan feel that many comment on.

“We want to appeal to all of the senses. People come in here to feel good, and that’s a real compliment,” Sloane said. “I was really aiming for a larger city at first, but then I got to thinking and entertaining the idea of going where it’s needed,” Sloane said. “Jimmy and I were talking, and we were asking ourselves if we could see this maybe as a potential Short North [an Arts District in Columbus] sometime in the future. So, we decided we’d give it a shot — to see if people jumped on it.”

As it turns out, they did. In addition to a steady flow of regular customers, people have come out in droves for each of the exhibit openings.

“It’s wonderful to see,” Sloane said. “It just tells me that there is a need. There’s a need for inspiration and to see something new. And that’s really beautiful. It’s that kind of spirit that encourages me in this world.”

Sloane Square Gallery is located at 611 14th St. W in Huntington. For more information, visit facebook.com/SloaneSquareGallery.

Current business hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. a

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