Today we’d like to introduce you to Valeri Heneberry, Patrick Reid O’Brien
Hi Valeri Heneberry, Patrick Reid O’Brien, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
Patrick and I met 24 years ago at a gym in Lutherville, MD and married 4 years later blending our families. We combined an active group of children, 3 Heneberry kids and Patrick’s daughter Erin, starting our lives together in April of 2004. We are getting ready to celebrate our 20th anniversary!
We moved to Park West in 2020 after falling in love with the area and all Charleston has to offer.
When Pat and I married, Patrick was designing logos, branding and marketing companies, creating apparel and promotional items, creating album covers and more. Some of his clients included Kaiser Permanente, Saint Paul Insurance, Pepsi, CBS radio, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Heineken, to name a few. Vslerie was selling printing services to major companies, working with large advertising agencies and had clients that kept her busy 24/7.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life is never a smooth road. There are always storms. And Smooth parts. The wisdom is learning how to pivot and adapt . As a small business we have always adapted. We started our business going to summer lacrosse tournaments where our kids were playing in high school. and painting art of boys and girls lacrosse. When those events got oversaturated with vendors, there was less revenue to be made so we began to travel to equestrian events making art about horseback competition. Because there was not enough of that business in Baltimore, we found events and where to travel , the National in DC, The Hampton Classic in Bridgehampton NY and the events in Reading PA. The pivot allowed us to see a lot of the country. We have exhibited and successfully sold art for 20 years in 25 states as far west as Nevada , Texas , Alabama, Minnesota , Wisconsin and Up North , Massachussetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia , North Carolina, Delaware , Maryland , Georgia, and the list goes on. We did the equestrian art to satisfy the siblings who didn’t play lacrosse.
Patrick has always loved coastal art and visited the Ocean Gallery every year , talking to the owner about art. He was regulary turned away over the conversation about carrying his art without seeing any samples….so Valerie unbeknownst to Patrick , sent 5 samples to the owner and he called the Day he received them and said , “We want them all” what else do you have? A long relationship eveolved and Patrick was twice named “Artist of the Year” at Ocean gallery. Rejection , Pivot.
Patrick started making his signature travel style prints and soon was exhibiting nationally at the Atlanta, New York and Chicago international gift shows. The couple created and sold art to over 400 different gift and resort stores around the country which soon became overwheling when UPS costs exploded courtesy of Amazon and fuel costs . Few people know that Amazon gets upwards of 90% off all shipping so all other businesses pay rising costs to keep UPS and Fedex in business. But that is another story.
Booth fees of $4000 to $7500 per show plus Hotels in the thousands, truck rentals , gas and production costs turned their life into a hampster wheel where they did massive work for a small increase in income after all the bills were paid. It was exciting and they grew and made a lot of fans and clients but as gift stores started colosing due to Amazon Collateral Damage, They had to pivot again. Back to the Beginning , just making art for retail buyers.
Valerie started a home decor , and womens fashion boutique business that the two would take on the road with the art to holiday markets and festivals. They did very well but eventually, the Markets became less about holiday gifts and more about impulse jewelry and handbags only and it was time to pivot again.
The greatest challenge for small business today is Amazon. With the digital push and remarketing of social media , the big corporations have created a perception ( unfounded ) that consumers will always have access to everything they see and like , it will resurface on their screen always available for when they decide to buy. 99 % of small businesses they will see at a fair or pop up market don’t have the resources for the “after push of ads”. So, either you buy it on the spot or take a card and buy it on the ( if they have one ) website. If enough attendees at a show don’t buy at the show then the good makers and vendors don’t make money and won’t return next year to that show. The Promoter will try to fill the booths but you will see more garbage shops like Laser keychains , incense and cleaning cloths, you know, more Chinese box garbage. Who is excited to see that ? attendance follows and the show is on hte slide downward.
The greatest challenge to freedom of choice for shoppers, creative talent selling, new product development and a robust economy is competing with massive corporate juggernauts that push digital. They siphon off expendable income emptying the consumer’s wallet so by the time they attend an outdoor festival , the ” play” money is spent and the really cute boutique or gallery or lamp maker that has a truly unique product will be served with the question ” Do you have a card? ” and no sale.
Save your money from being siphoned by the Amazons selling Chinese goods and insure that your next local festival is a fun shopping experience. If you support the micro markets, buy product locally , vendors will come, create and make amazing things for you to purchase and next year’s show will have even better shopping than this year. Save some play money for the shows because you never know aht you will see that is fabulous. The experience will be rich and rewarding. If you don’t you will be stuck with amazon only then worse vendores next year, maybe not worth going.
This is the greatest struggle for all small business and the reason we moved to Charleston in 2020. Our business has enabled us to see a hundred small and large towns all over the US and they all have one thing in common that Charleston does not. All of them have big sections of retail space on main street that is closed down , vacant and shuttered small businesses gone. All the towns begin to look the same Walmart , Walgreens, McDonalds, Gap, Bed Bath and Beyond. Corporate choices, predictable and boring filled with product selected by a boardroom serving first, the shareholders. Not you. They don’t care about you like a small business does , A small business reveres you and lives to serve you with effort, care, creativity and imagination. They literally want to make your shopping experience exciting.
U.S. Towns all over the country are ravaged with the casualties of big corporate America there are closed up Hardware stores , Lamp Shops, Boutiques , Art Stores , Galleries , Dive Shops , Sporting goods Stores , all the small local stores that you love to shop in , rich with imagination…they are gone . But not in Charleston .Charleston loves and embraces the small local shop , the personal attachement to the goods that are made with love . We saw that in out travels and knew , it was where we needed to be.
To survive America’s biggest challenge with retailers , we moved and work hard to present a beautiful shopping experience for our beloved shoppers who put food on our table. On Weekends after noon , I set up my easel in Mount Pleasant Mall and paint live demonstrations , working nad discussing color theory , or edge , composition or values thta make a great painting. That pivot has enabled me to meet with the people looking for something special. Another challenge ofr many shoppers is saying” I don’t know if it will look good on my wall” so as a small business service , if you send me a photo of your wall , I will make a photo of your wall with the canvas art you choose scaled to size, in place so you can see your room finished !
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Iam a coastal artist .Water is in my soul. I have been sailing on the Chesapeake Bay my whole loife , since 5, going to the Beach , and traveling to coastal destinations around the world. For 20 years I celebrated making tretro travel poster style art about the getaway , resorts , towns and destinations where people go to get away. Since 2020 I have been focusing painting more traditional landscapes coastal Lifestyle art celebratiing the low country and the magical places I have been fortunate to have seen in world travel. What sets me apart from others is my subconscious desire to paint joy, I am a Christian artist who has been blessed with the talent of art the Lord gave me and I cherish that gift , it is a responsibility and has become my ministry to make art that brings joy to people. It reminds them of special times , memories they make with loved ones . The colors are always happy and upbeat and people might not know this but I am colorblind,. Learning color theory is a deep difficult lifelong study for me . I have accomplished a lot of success thanks to many teachers and recently training thta I do online. Another thing that makes me different is I paint in a lot of mediums and with different visual voices . I belive the subject will tell you the style in which to paint it. For example , wildlife tends to be tighter , more detailed where some land scapes beg to be impressionistic. I love to see brushwork. I also paint in a digital environment too with a tablet and digital airbrush. I have many corporate clients too as I worked in Advertising for 15 years before I painted professionally. I design powerful logos thta connect with the company’s ideal client. I design Magazine ads and Illustrations. I just like creting .Although i have no musical talent to create , my expression is in making playlists of eclectic and micro slice genres. I have a channel on Spotify : Patrick Reid O’Brien. and my current fave self made playlist is “Coolishly Smitten”
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
I see the industry of art and painting going unfortunately …more corporate as the digital whales swallow an crush small business. American retail used to be a ladder where you could go from one to two three employees then 5 then 8 etc.. sadley , today the business model ofr growth seems solely , come up with an idea , raise capital , push digital , and scale with funding. Organic growth in a brick and mortar marketplace is …a dinsaur? Except in the booming resort and vacation destinations like …Charleston , wher i am so blessed to live . Hopefully great care in leadership will preserve the small business charm of Charleston, we don’t need another Target. You can go anywhere else to get that.
Pricing:
- From $45 to $100 I sell some lkithographs on paper. They are gift and light Decor and fit a stock frame 12 x 16
- From $149 to $469 I sell Framed Giclee Reproductions on canvas. These are powerful compositions and look very much like originals
- At $1250 I have massive 40 x 60 Master reproductions on canvas framed as Single panels or cut into a tryptich for architectural impact. These pieces make a wow statement
- Original paintings and commissions Acrylic on Canvas range from $2500 to $5900 depending on size .I do a great deal of custom commissions where people want their favorite spot , or a pet , or portrait.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mytownart.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mytownart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/patrickreidobrien
