Hi, I am Robert Steele, and together with my wife, Rita, we founded and own the
Steele Pointe Art Gallery, Art Brokerage and Custom Frame Studio in Springfield,
Ohio. Springfield is a mid-sized town located in West Central Ohio and
within easy driving distance of Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis.
Interstates
I-70 and I-75 run close to Springfield to our south and west.
Though Rita and I jointly own the Steele Pointe Art Gallery, I am the primary operator... Rita has a basket load of other activities which keep her out of the gallery, not the least of which being her role as a fulltime grandmother to four - and soon to be five - pre-school grandchildren. For the most part your active gallery contacts are going to be with me.
Rita and I are retired from the State of Ohio where between us we worked for the Rehabilitative Services Commission, the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency. I left the Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services in 2002 and Rita left the Ohio Emergency Management Agency in 2006. Additionally, I have 11½ years of military service, my last long-term position being that of the Deputy Provost Marshal (Deputy Chief of Police for Logistics and Administration) at Fort Knox.
We initially opened the gallery in 2003 as a gallery for the display and sale of limited edition prints, as well as, a frame design studio for upscale mouldings. The Gallery has evolved considerably since the opening... that biggest change being our representative relationship with local and national artists. Additionally, we are a partner with Larson-Juhl... we think, our country's best domestic frame maker.
Being retired with an income sufficient
to meet
our personal expenses has given us some latitude in creating an art-related
business, more in tune with upscale art collectors and my personal art-related
values. What are
those values ?
● First, I believe in "real" art... art which has been created
with vision, style and skill. Most of my most valued relationships are
with artists... and even though
only a few of them can support themselves through the sale of their art, every one of these
artists - who have been selected to display their works at the gallery - has
displayed enormous vision, potential and artistic
skill. Our mission as
a gallery and as an art brokerage to display and offer their art to as
large an audience of viewers and collectors as possible. ●
Secondly, I am a true believer in the value of frame presentation. I
recommend quality framing to all my artists and art customers... great framing,
in full reality, enhances the value of the art. One of the quickest ways to de-value a work of art is to display
a great art in a low quality, non-archival setting. Quality framing is part
of a sound investment strategy. ●
Thirdly, you will on occasion, hear
me rail against art practices which I view as disdainful, such as
the resizing and re-issuing of limited edition prints and offering
them as new limited edition pieces... or, artists who can and do create "splash and brush" originals
in hours... truly great art takes both time and talent... it is the details that
make works of art great.
I believe that it is important, whenever possible, to maintain a "brick and mortar"
facility as the central gallery location so that you have a
location to see a work of art or meet with an artist
before making the purchase. Obviously this is only applicable to original
works artists who are local represented by the Gallery. We may not the artist's
work of art that you are considering at the gallery, but in many cases we can
show you other works of art by the artist from which you can make a
determination of the quality of the artist's skills. Limited editions
offered by the gallery are fairly well presented by the images we have displayed
on the website...most of these images were taken by the art publishing houses
and - as we have found - are good representations of the artist's art.
◄ (Oops, just noticed that Daisy made it into this picture... she's a great gallery dog, except she loves being outside more than being in, and she'll bolt if given half a chance... consequently, she's been laid-off and now spends her time at home helping Barney keep the out-buildings free of groundhogs!)
Before I leave this page for today (04/13/09) there is one thing I would like to warn you, again, about "original works of art" bought and sold by interior decorators and others which may appear, by content and artist's name, to have been the work of an American or European artist. As a gallery owner I attend Art and Decor Expos in New York City, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Atlanta. At these shows I have witnessed an alarming increase in Asian import art dealers offering misrepresented Western (American, Canadian, and European) art, mass produced by Asian artists in China. We have asked the organizers of these events to require that importers label these works with the country of origin and the given name of the creator. As long as these importers can continue to misrepresent their art in American markets and American consumers continue to blindly purchase this art, than both our domestic artists will decline in number and our artistic presence in the world gallery will fade. Watch out for these "originals" at the big box stores in your community (including grocery chains)... check the back of the art, note the construction of the frame... this is a good indicator that your are getting poor quality and likely imported art, along with that low price.
Robert