Meet Randall Garrett | Artist, Gallery Owner, and Mentor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Randall Garrett and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Randall, what do you attribute your success to?
One of the things I learned from working in a community college setting for twenty years was to focus on student success. Whatever I did there, whether it was delivering a lesson in class, organizing an exhibition in the art gallery, or just being available to listen, the ultimate goal and reason I was there was to deliver value to the lives of the students with whom I interacted.

This focus has carried over to my work as an entrepreneur. As a gallery owner, I developed this mission statement: “Our mission at Plush Gallery is to support emerging artists, to bring the best of their work to a receptive audience, and to encourage artist empowerment and career building strategies.” By becoming clear on the purpose of my gallery, I have been able to offer initiatives such as our Super Fresh juried exhibition, and the recent Emerge art fair, with a focus on supporting the careers of the artists with whom I work.

In our recent art fair, we hosted an artist roundtable, looking at how to grow one’s art career, and a panel discussion on support for emerging artists. We offer an award of a solo exhibition to the winner of our annual juried exhibition, as well as a one year mentoring award to a selected artist from our art fair. These initiatives have helped to grow the audience and reach of my gallery, because they come from a place of service to my community.

The same goes for my work as a creative mentor. I have taken those lessons learned as a community college instructor, and applied them to my new business, where I work to help my clients achieve personal growth through a focus on creativity and self-expression. Many people are shut down around their expression, whether it be in finding and speaking their truth, in sharing and connecting authentically with others, or in accessing the creative spirit within. This relegates many of us to feeling somewhat unfulfilled in terms of our potential for living a purpose filled life of authentic expression. My work as a creative mentor is to support my clients in overcoming these challenges.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
In my thirty plus years as a professional artist, I have learned to let art take me deeper into life itself, to help me grow in my own awareness and presence. That I don’t have to look far for a subject, because art, just like life, is all around me.

An example of this would be my piece, “Eating, Drinking,” from 2013. Upon a substrate of flattened out beer cartons, recycled from receptions at my gallery, I made a performance painting in which I recorded the imprints of my own activity while eating a meal and drinking tea. The resulting artwork shows my foot and hand prints as I engaged in the basic actions of eating and drinking.

This approach to art goes hand in hand with mindfulness, with bringing deep attention to one’s ordinary activities, things like washing the dishes or sweeping the floor. All of these can grow one’s presence, and as an artist, serve as a foundation for your work. The teachings of Zen monk Thich Nhat Hanh brought me to an understanding of meditation and mindfulness, of how everything we have is already here, right in front of us. So, in my art practice, I try to focus on what captures this attention in my immediate environment, no matter how mundane it may seem. And the closer I look, the more I see myself in the world around me.

I have an upcoming show in Oaxaca, which will be titled “Tianguistopia.” A tianguis is an outdoor market, which you can find just about anywhere you go in Mexico. These environments are rich in sensory experience, with itinerant vendors selling all manner of goods: a great variety of foods being cooked and eaten, music played, barbers cutting hair, basically a microcosm of the whole community on display. It’s a perfect way for me to explore everyday life in the context of immersion and spectacle, and to get to know myself better in the process. I’ll be bringing the installation to Dallas later this year, so art lovers in the Metroplex will get a chance to see it as well.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We’d start off the day taking a little drive south to Cedar Hill to visit the Dogwood Canyon Audubon Center. Upon arriving, we’d say ‘hi’ to Adam George, the Center Coordinator for Community Programs, who’d give us some tips for hiking the beautiful wooded mountainside there. Next we’d head back to Oak Cliff, and drop by Peaberry Coffee, to savor one of their delicious iced lattes. Our next stop would be at the historic artist run 500X Gallery, in the Tin District just across the Trinity River in West Dallas, where we’d visit with Derrick Hamm, Nora Soto and the crew, and see some cutting edge work from their group of independent artists.

From there, we’d make the drive west to Fort Worth, to stop by Arts Fort Worth and see one of the numerous exhibitions they host in their beautiful space in the Fort Worth Cultural District, and then take a break at the Basement Lounge, to hang out with owner Jesse Meraz, where we’d sip a craft beverage while enjoying the tastefully appointed decor and art shows there. Lastly, we’d drive back over to Dallas late evening to catch a set from hip hop DJ Altoon C on his way back from SXSW to play his regular Lofi Dallas residency.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As a lifelong reader, I will share a couple of books which have been influential in my development as a person. The first one is “The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life,” written in 1956 by Canadian born sociologist Erving Goffman. In this little paperback, the author looks at the way we interact socially with others, breaking down these interactions using concepts from theater and performance. Goffman showed me that I can take control of my self-perception, and influence how others see me as well, by growing in the awareness of my self-presentation. This is communicated through how I present myself socially, in my work as an artist, and is a concept I share with my mentoring clients, as well.

Another book that influenced me as a young artist was “Robert Rauschenberg: The early 1950s,” by Walter Hopps. This book was written to accompany an exhibition of his works at the Menil Collection in Houston, in 1991, which I saw just as I was beginning to develop my art as a graduate student at The University of North Texas. It deeply influenced my development as an artist, showing me that whatever I did, whatever I made, whatever I produced, was my art, no matter how mundane or ordinary the subject matter. That my art was not something distinct or separate from life, but rather was an integral part of my everyday existence. The book gives numerous examples of how Rauschenberg worked with ordinary materials, situations, and experiences to create his art, a lesson I have taken to heart in my own career as an artist.

Website: https://www.randallgarrett.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therandallgarrett/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randallgarrett/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/randall.garrett

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/therandallgarrett

Other: Email: therandallgarrett@gmail.com Gallery: https://www.plush-gallery.com/

Image Credits
Randall at Plush Gallery – by Masa Song Tianguistopia flyer – by Cristo Bautista / ComboCo Randall w/snake – by Adam George