Today we’d like to introduce you to Teresa Roche.
Hi Teresa, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I have a passion for creating all things beautiful and inspiring. Whether it was in my bridal store, in the theatre, or a dance studio, I found great satisfaction throughout my life in the design process and the final product as a way of personal expression. As an artist working in acrylic, watercolor, and collage, my work is never static and is constantly evolving. A thousand influences converge onto the smallest of strokes or lines in my pieces. On any given section of work, that canvas serves as a tapestry of experiences drilled down into the tiniest of movements.
I live in Greenville, SC just a few steps from my studio, gallery, and textile business. Sixteen years ago, I opened the Art & Light Gallery in the “Village of West Greenville.” My team & I offer creative, inventive, and inspiring pieces that help customers merge affordability with discovery by showcasing one-of-a-kind elements to tell their stories. Thanks to my incredible gallery director, Bracken Sansbury, Art & Light has grown to feature over 50 emerging to established local, regional, and international artists in the gallery and online. With a hand-picked collection of artists, we have just the right piece for those casually buying giftable art, those just wading into collecting, the designers hunting the perfect piece for clients, and the seasoned art collector. Over the last few years, it has been fun to expand our offerings into more corporate/commercial settings, working with the AC Hotel downtown to showcase local artists in its collection and collaborating with Canal Insurance to fill their newly relocated headquarters with local art. In addition to our main gallery, we also feature rotating exhibitions at our Annex in the Flatiron Building and James Beard-nominated restaurant, The Anchorage, both located within “the Village.” We have been able to grow our gallery team to 5 employees this year, which has allowed us to expand the serives we offer. Rounding out our team, new additons include Susan Wienke, director of public relations, and Nichole Rath, assistant gallery director.
Growing up with both of my parents working in textile mills in an area considered the “textile capital of the world,” it was familiar territory to expand into my own textile business, Teresa Roche Textiles. Also, due to having Bracken, at the helm of Art & Light, managing daily operations, expanding our roster of artists, and curating our monthly exhibitions, it has freed me to focus on this new passion. For years the desire to create both fabrics and wall coverings remained nestled in the back of my mind until 5 years ago, when I finally catalyzed that dream into motion. Because the lines between daily life and art are often fluid, my collection of artisanal textiles is inspired at once by my own paintings and, also the smaller things, including the smallest people, in my life—my grandchildren.
I enjoy spaces that tell a story and believe you don’t have to compromise sophistication while employing livable, delight-filled fabrics, wall coverings, or art. Each step of my process begins with, and is based on, some of my favorite original paintings. My inspiration stems from my experiences in visual arts, architecture, design, and travel. And, as usual, punctuated with fleeting moments from my surroundings and everyday life, especially my grandchildren. My unique design process starts with a pristine surface and then I do whatever I can to mess it up: to give it texture, to disturb the surface, and then I work with lines and blocks of color. Art is a direct window to one’s soul. Being willing to take chances and fail in order to end up with something worthy is the key to gratifying work.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Running a business is always a challenging endeavor, especially running three simultaneously. Luckily all 3 businesses and my home are all located within a few blocks of one another. The primary factor to my success is the people who support me daily whether it is my husband, who manages our financials, or the women who spearhead operations in my textile and art business, my small yet mighty team ensures my success. Throughout my years running a variety of businesses, whether my previous bridal shop or growing the gallery, one can always draw from successes and failures to create a beautiful canvas that can evolve over time.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
The fabrications of my life are rooted in the mill villages of South Carolina. Always curious and creative from a young age to later gathering scraps from deteriorating textile mills. The massive buildings that had always been in my life were suddenly abandoned, so I took a camera with me to the empty mills, photographing the structures as they perished. Rolls of thread and bolts of fabric stood, as if a workday had just ended, but the artifacts of the bygone era were fading, stained and moldering. I wanted to focus on the dirt and the softness, the wonder of where they had been. My parents were employed in the cotton mill in the 1950s and ’60s. My father played in the storied textile baseball league and few memories occurred outside the shadows of the cotton mill. The plants began closing when I was a late teen and the place I knew of as “The Textile Capital of the World” systematically ended. I majored in dance and later opened a gallery in a mill village, the neighborhood today is the trendy Village of West Greenville. I wanted to be back in that familiar territory and in something that needed to be revitalized.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artandlightgallery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artandlightgallery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artandlightgallery/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/art-and-light-gallery-greenville
- Other: http://www.teresarocheart.com/ https://www.instagram.com/teresa_roche_art/
Image Credits
Susan Wienke
