SPOTLIGHT
Grethchen Jones, Business Advisor for Creative Entrepreneurs & Weird Specialty (#154 on UAW Map)
Can you tell us a little bit about what you do? And how long you’ve been in your current position. I am a strategic business advisor for creative entrepreneurs, and my approach to my work unlocks my client’s authentic vision by connecting who they are with what they create (i.e. medium, product, practice) for holistically sustainable, embodied success. I’ve been in business for 7 years, working primarily with female entrepreneurs operating businesses at many different scales and within a wide variety of creative industries including fine & decorative art, an array of design mediums, writers, directors, etc.
Beyond my 1:1 work, I host a monthly ‘Gertrude Stein’ style Salon in Tivoli, NY at my studio space. The Salon is my Members-Only Community cultivating creative communion, providing inspired, intimate access to entrepreneurial creative women in business. Through bringing like-minded (female identifying) individuals together, my aim is to build a community of values-driven creative and cultural entrepreneurs based in the Hudson Valley who wish to lift up and support each other beyond our regular meeting places.
Use three words to describe yourself: I’m an all around Aesthete, Intellectual & Empath.
What brought you to the Hudson Valley/Catskill Mountains? My husband grew up here in the mid-Hudson Valley, I grew up in rural/ski country in Colorado… This region marries my loves of creative cultural and nature in a bucolic setting that is inspired and grounded + I love that Im just a quick train away from the vibrancy of NYC.
What do you love about your job? I love that I have forged a career that supports the creative community I came from/am a part of. I love that I can blend of therapeutic counsel and creative problem solving into something that allows me to be of service in a meaningful way. And I appreciate that my clientele yearn to integrate their values into their work, making meaningful impact that goes beyond creating beautiful things.
What exciting things do you have planned for UAW? Two brilliant female artists will be collaborating with Weird Specialty Studio this year…
I'm delighted to showcase Seattle, WA based artist Melissa Messer for a Weird Specialty studio takeover. Melissa’s work centers color-forward figure painting, as she describes her work as “if Rothko’s daughter were obsessed with form.”
Alongside Melissa’s work inside the studio, local artist (and Weird Specialty Salon Member) Amanda Russo Rubman.
Best place near you to get: all in Tivoli, because this artist enclave is the shit!
Breakfast? Tivoli General for their iconic egg sandwich
Lunch? Club Sandwich for the Tuna Reuben
Dinner? Giobatta or The Corner + a night cap at the new Bad Times Bar
What’s your favorite local store? Tivoli: Available Items, Strega Flora & Corner Store / Hudson: Ipsum, Behida Dolic, Nikki Chasin & Freaks &, Alder East / Kingston: Red Owl, Kingston Consignment, Everywhere-Shop, FUller Markets pop-ups
What’s your favorite art/creative space to visit? Keeping it regional/local, because that’s part of why I love it here… LOVE the Academy, Foreland & The Campus, Available Items, Verse Work Shop, Hinterland, Art Omi & Storm King, MASS Moca & Dia Beacon and of course - Stoneleaf Retreat.
What is one tip for people experiencing UAW for the first time? Take some time a few weeks ahead to curate your own special hit list. There is so much to see and experience you won’t have a meaningful experience if you try to see everything. Figure out what you love and where that is being shown and dbl down on them. Also, support your local food/bev & hospitality hubs because their influence will make a long weekend of creative enrichment even more delicious!
What is a fun fact about you that might surprise people? I won project runway (season 8) in a previous life.
Now for the speed round! Pick one or the other:
Valley or mountains? Valley here, Mountains elsewhere
Car or train? train
Walk or hike? Walking hike
Sun or snow? Sunny snow days
Indoors or outdoors? Both when beautiful
Diner or restaurant? restaurant
Market or shop? Both
Clear or clouds? clear
Sunglasses or hat? Both
Abstract or realist? Both
Contemporary or modern? Both
Sculpture or painting? Both
IRL or digital? IRL
Look or listen? Both
See or feel? Both