Creating Art and an Arts Scene
Which do you think is more difficult? Building your own handmade business or developing an entire arts community? Let me introduce Laura Hutchcroft, a talented woman determined to do both! Laura lives in Boone, Iowa, a small town with a population of 12,500 people. She moved there to be close to her daughter and grandchildren.
Photo courtesy of Inteplei Studio
However, Laura has hasn’t always been a small town, Midwestern gal. Her story really begins in Montana, where she used her degree in marketing and management to direct events at the Big Sky Convention Center. Among the many events she oversaw, it was always the art shows she loved best.
So, it was not surprising when Laura opened her own retail space and adorned her window with items she created using repurposed materials turned into lamps, candlesticks, and even flowers. The best part was that everything she made always sold quickly. As her skill evolved, so did her interest in the materials she was using, and she began to focus on jewelry made from unconventional materials.
Photo courtesy of Inteplei Studio
There is no doubt Laura is both an architect and a conservationist. Today her jewelry is primarily inspired by the unconventional materials she chooses. Each year, she researches four or five new materials, experiments with how they interact, and then designs her next collection. The result is mid-century modern jewelry, which is fun, striking, and easy to wear. Go to inteplei.com to enjoy it all.
Photo courtesy of Inteplei Studio
Laura sells her jewelry to shops nationwide by showing her work to retailers at national trade shows. She sells on her website and is very serious as a retailer herself. When she moved to Boone about five years ago, one of her goals was to find a building in which she could live, have her studio, and finally, a shop to sell her work. She bought a 1,200-square-foot building and worked relentlessly to renovate it into her dream.
One of Laura’s passions is spreading her vision that the arts can revitalize an entire community. With her advocacy, the city created a new Arts Commission and began a concert series on the first Thursday of each month. Like many small communities, Boone has a lot of vacant downtown buildings, and very recently, Laura fell in love with one built in the early 1900s. It is a large, three-story building complete with an open staircase. She calls her decision to purchase it both “exciting and terrifying.”
The key element in her plan is the middle floor, which she is leasing to other artists as studio space. She knows how difficult it is for makers to find affordable workspace in a collective that offers the support necessary for success. Laura wants the first floor to offer a fun environment, perhaps a nice restaurant, and she has already opened a shop where the artists’ work can be sold. Finally, she is drooling over the prospect of living on the top floor, which is very large with 15-foot ceilings, a mezzanine, and a loft. By removing the metalwork on the front of the building, she will expose dome-shaped windows spreading tons of light.
It’s a tall order for one woman in a small Iowa town but based on her past successes and a firm belief in the power of artistic vibrancy, she is confident. Meanwhile, she is also developing her new collection of work to show at the winter trade shows in Philadelphia and New York. My hope is that in a future column, we can show you how this determined artist succeeded in making Boone, Iowa, an arts mecca!
About the Author
Diane Sulg
Diane Sulg is executive director of CRAFT and founder and co-chair of American Craft Week (ACW). She is a handmade advocate who provides valuable information in her one-day seminars titled “All About Wholesale” at wholesale shows throughout the United States. Diane is the former owner of Maddi’s Gallery, in Charlotte and Huntersville, North Carolina.