Renowned for its comfy coffee shops and small locally owned businesses, Sugar House is the perfect place for the art lover. An abundant array of galleries scattered throughout the area are enough to keep an art enthusiast busy for hours.
One such gallery is owned by Scott Waters, who created the Artistic Framing Company and the Sugar House Gallery. Waters started his business six years ago. Since then, he has seen growing success each year.
The artist currently being featured in his gallery is Sarina Villareal, an acrylics painter employed by the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art. Villareal is a figurative painter whose body of work is concentrated abstractly.
“Sarina was going to do a full floral abstract show here at first,” Waters said. “But then she ended up being scheduled to do a show with the Utah Arts Festival Gallery at the same time. So the show turned into a floral abstract figurative show. A few pieces are nudes with an abstract flair.”
Also featured in the gallery are solid works done by local artists who brought their work to Waters in hopes of being showcased.
“When I first started out with my gallery, I used to put callings for artists on artistsofutah.com, but now artists come to me with their work,” Waters said. “I’ve definitely seen my business grow a lot.”
Waters has collaborated with gallery owners and merchants in the Sugar House area to create the Sugar House Art Walk, which occurs the second Friday of each month. Patrons are encouraged to walk around and visit galleries and merchants concentrated on the blocks on or near Highland Drive and 2100 South.
“Salt Lake is full of great artists,” Waters said. “But the market of selling the art is a rather soft market. People are more apt to go to RC Willeys and buy artwork than they are to spend the same amount on an original piece of artwork.”
However, for those who do start purchasing original, locally made artwork, Waters has a warning — it’s addicting.
“Once you start buying original, rather than commercially made art, you’ll never be able to go back. My home is littered with original works of art,” Waters said. “I think that once people start to buy these, they realize just how cool it is to purchase things that have no copies and are completely unique.”
According to Waters, there are also drawbacks to being an artist who sells their work.
“I think the pure goal of any artist is to create something that’s extremely personal to them that other people can connect with,” Waters said. “You’re not making it to create a spot in society, it just happens. But then when you want to make a living off of your art, you have to cater your art to what people want. It sucks, but that’s what business is. I always ask artists, ‘Do you want to make art or do you want to sell art?’ ”
In order to draw more people to his art house, Waters runs one particular artist’s work for two months at a time, while most galleries will run a show for three months or longer. It’s his way of keeping things fresh and interesting for art lovers who frequent his gallery.
Waters’ advice to those who wish to pursue entrepreneurship, art or any technical skill, is practice and dedication. “Owning a business is tough,” Waters said. “It’s my whole life. I don’t get to go home at the end of the day and be done with my work. I have to worry about a lot of things you wouldn’t have to worry about if you worked for a corporation. But I love it.”
Waters not only owns the Sugar House Gallery, but he also does many different types of framing for clients with custom, acid-free materials. “It took me years of practice to get good at framing,” he said. “There’s a misconception that the only way to success is through a degree. I think a degree is very useful, but what really matters is where you spend your time. I encourage everyone to practice what [he or she is] passionate about and to practice it well. Challenge yourself. You never know — you might end up owning your own business one day.”