Sophie Vander
Sophie Vander from Curatorial+Co started her dream job from her dining room table. In her gallery today, she showcases one-of-a-kind and limited edition works by established and emerging artists and designers from across the globe.
Photography: Nikki Easterbook, Anne Graham & Pablo Veiga
H&F: Hi Sophie, tell me about your journey to where you are today…
Like most people's, my journey hasn't been a direct line. Although I studied to be an art curator and writer at UNSW College of Fine Arts (now Art and Design), I couldn’t get a job. The Australian art scene in the mid '90s was difficult to break into. I didn’t grow up in Sydney and you really needed those 'connections' at the time as the industry was relatively small. So instead I worked as a PA for a custom magazine publishing house where I quickly became editor. It was actually the best baptism by fire - you were thrown in the deep end and very quickly figured out how to smash out time and project management tasks, making quick judgments, and trusting your eye and gut for all the important visual decisions. It undoubtedly set me up to run a gallery, although I didn't know it at the time of course. I'd hire anyone with a magazine or film background now! They can do everything, all at once.
After 20 years editing publications, 10 of them overseas, I came back to Australia knowing that I had to get back to what I was meant to be doing all along - curating. And the only way to do that was to start something myself. Curatorial+Co. was born as an online art gallery 7 years ago, and the only curated online gallery in Australia at the time. I started it from my dining room table and rented a Kennards storage unit, as being full-time in a physical gallery wasn't possible with four school-age daughters! I just had to make it work my way. In fact, as I'd never worked in a commercial gallery, I had to just do it all my way and figure it out as I went along.
When did you first realise you wanted to open a gallery? Was there a lightbulb moment or was it more a slow realisation?
The initial online gallery idea definitely came as a lightbulb moment at about 4am when I was still living in Singapore. I had read about a jewellery company in the US who was doing limited edition drops of jewellery by well-known designers. I thought, I could do that with art. Always original paintings or sculpture, or limited edition works that still had a human touch, like photography or hand-pulled silkscreen prints. It needed to be fresh, unique, and never ever 'art prints' which I believe only devalue the artist's practice. So when I arrived In Sydney In 2015 I hit the ground running.
It wasn't until we were accepted to show at Sydney Contemporary 2019 in their Futures section, that I realised how much I loved interacting with the audience, the current and future collectors, and talking about our artists - I could talk about them forever! They inspire me every day. We'd been doing pop-up shows, but after that experience I knew I wanted to open a bricks and mortar gallery. It took 5 months to find the right space. Then Covid hit, I ummed and ahhed and I signed the lease anyway. We opened in August 2020. Scary, but the best decision I ever made.
What does a ‘normal’ day at the gallery look like for you?
My day starts very early up at 5am with getting kids ready for school, so by the time I get to the gallery I’ve already done 4 hours’ work! My ‘normal’ day could consist of any or all of these: Team meetings discussing our week, whether it be exhibition planning, marketing schedules, artist studio visits, client home visits, or art consultancy proposals due for our amazing residential, commercial or hotel clients.
We'll then have lovely visitors pop into the gallery throughout the day to see exhibitions, or view stockroom works, or collect the pieces they've purchased. We collaborate with designers and stylists, so we'll be collating and packing works for photo shoot loans. Lots of daily website updates with all our glorious new artworks from our incredible artists. I'll be checking in with our artists a few times a week to make sure they're on track for shows, or just a general well-being check. Especially through Covid where so many of them were isolated. Some artists love the isolation, they thrive on It. For others, it's been a difficult time.
Then there's the boring but necessary finance, admin, stock control, legal and insurance, logistics and patching and painting, and building maintenance, which I won't bore you with – we'll keep the impression the art world is super glamorous!
Diffuse & Disperse by Kaitlin Johnson.
‘It was actually the best baptism by fire - you were thrown in the deep end and very quickly figured out how to smash out time and project management tasks, making quick judgments, and trusting your eye and gut for all the important visual decisions. It undoubtedly set me up to run a gallery, although I didn't know it at the time of course,’ says Sophie Vander, pictured with artwork by Theresa Hunt. Photo: Nikki Easterbook
Has art and creativity played a big part in your life?
Art has always been a part of my life - I was born into a great love of art and craft. My maternal grandmother was a maker and a collector. Her home was filled with antiques and objets d'art, paintings and tapestries. She was an incredible needleworker and I've inherited many of her pieces. My mother is a photographer, and also an art collector - just when you think she can't fit another panting on the wall, she'll find a spot on the ceiling! She also owned an art gallery in Brisbane with 6 other women when I was 10 years old, so it was part of my life from a young age, and I learnt to be comfortable around art and artists, and ask questions when interacting with both.
Is there a common misconception people have about your job?
Owning your own gallery is amazing fun, honestly. But you have to work really hard to make the fun happen! We appear to be swans - drifting through the gallery space talking about beautiful artworks - but underneath there's a million things that had to happen, all at the same time, to make that moment successful. There's a lot of logistics, it’s very physical - moving works to and from everywhere, a lot of lifting and carrying! There's the people management - whether that's working with different personalities and expectations of your artists, to marriage counselling clients when they can't agree on which work they like! There are so many moving parts. The elves don't just magically hang the works overnight unfortunately.
“Owning your own gallery is amazing fun, honestly. But you have to work really hard to make the fun happen! We appear to be swans - drifting through the gallery space talking about beautiful artworks - but underneath there’s a million things that had to happen, all at the same time, to make that moment successful.”
‘Art has always been a part of my life - I was born into a great love of art and craft,’ says Sophie Vander. Photo: Nikki Easterbook
Kangaroo Island by Amber Hearn.
What did you study at school – do you think it’s influenced how you work today?
At high school art was my thing, and I was lucky enough to have an exceptional art teacher in John Honeywill - a successful practising artist himself. He solidified my decision to pursue art in my life, but I always knew I didn't have the drive to be an artist myself. I'm not disciplined or clever enough. But I knew I what I liked and could spot the gems a mile away.
What keeps you interested and inspired?
Our artists! They are a constant source of inspiration, amazement, shock and awe! If you surround yourself with creative people there will be an endless source of stimulation and surprise. Life will never be boring.
How do you balance the work/life juggle?
Ahh, that old chestnut. There is no balance, only anxiety! There are moments when it works but it’s orchestrated. I started the gallery in an online format so that it allowed me to be at home for my four girls wherever possible. It was only after they all entered high school and were more independent that I was able to take the leap to open the physical space. And Covid actually did our family a favour as my husband is now home more often, and he’s very supportive. But the mother guilt is ever-present. Getting home in time to make them dinner at a decent hour is hard. In a perfect world I would have a daily yoga practice and personal chef. Ha! Unlikely in my near future. But the trade-off is my girls see what a strong working woman looks like. Which is what I had in my mum too. So they see that and are hopefully inspired by it.
How do you identify an emerging artist?
There has to be an immediate moment of awe or intrigue. Honestly, it’s immediate for me. I know as soon as I see the work that it has either potential or is already successful. Mostly I act on that immediately, other times I have sat too long and the artist is picked up elsewhere. So I have learnt to trust those immediate instincts. In fact, my whole business is based on it.
Who are 5 emerging artists we should be watching and what makes them stand out?
As most of the artists in our stable are emerging it’s going to be hard to pick just 5! I’m going to be in trouble, but here goes… Morgan Stokes – in a world of digital oversaturation, Morgan’s sensitive, tactile works offer a moment of contemplation. Katrina O’Brien – one of the most intuitive, naturally talents artists I’ve ever met. Her works are an extension of her body and personal narrative. She ditches the brushes and paints with her hands instead so that the movements on the paper are so deeply personal. Her works bring me to tears. Aleisa Miksad – an emerging ceramic artist whose work defies gravity! Her spikey, coiled, porcelain vessels have the most incredible personality for inanimate objects. Isabelle de Kleine’s contemporary surrealist works explore distorted reality and perception, particularly of the female form. And Mitch Cheesman is an early emerging artists whose work I can’t wait to see develop as he continues to explore the impasto still life and gritty interiors he’s been experimenting with recently. Oh, and he’s a poet too.
What’s the most important piece of advice you would give someone turning their dream project into a full-time job?
Say yes and work it out later. Dive in. When you’re starting out you don’t always know what will become the most important key to your success. Talk to strangers – you never know where their knowledge can lead you. It’s often the chance meeting that uncovers your biggest advocate or missing piece of your puzzle.
What’s coming up for the gallery this year?
So much fun and inspiration! We don’t stand still for long at Curatorial+Co. We have Sydney Contemporary Art Fair in September, then a Melbourne pop up at the end of the year. Exciting exhibitions by our extraordinary artists in our Redfern gallery space too. We are continuing to curate some incredible art consultancy projects, which is a fast growing arm of our business. Working with hotels, commercial developments, gardens, public art and private residences to place works is super exciting and what I personally love to do. Artwork in a gallery is great, but it’s not till its placed in its forever home that it truly comes alive.
