Business Capability Statement Cindy's Artbeat LLC
Business Capability Statement
Cindy’s ArtBeat is a Single Member LLC specializing in retail sales of Art Materials, gifts, and hosting arts & crafts classes.
The business began in 2009 as a very small retail shop in the back of Bill Teeple’s teaching studio inside Iowa Contemporary Art Gallery in Fairfield, IA. Over the years, what started small began to enlarge as the majority of professional, student and hobby artists discovered the little shop. In 2018, Cindy moved her store to a new location on the north side of the Fairfield, Iowa town square, in collaboration with the local professional framing shop owners. She expanded the retail business, began servicing an artists’ collective that shares the space, selling artisan products and gifts, and acts as Curator of the Henderson’s Gallery. The result of building relationships with a multitude of artists and art appreciators in the entire Southeast Iowa region and beyond has produced a venue that is enjoyed by and useful to so many.
Cindy is not just an owner of a business. She is an artist who has experience creating art using a variety of media; and thus provides educational services to her customers. She has many skills from her work history prior to starting this retail business: Bookkeeper, corporate secretary, typist, ad builder, volunteer swim coach, music director, founding board member of the Fairfield Cultural Alliance, and community activist. Business managing and teaching come easily to Cindy. Whereas the store has been owner-run and managed for the entire 11 years in existence, a host of artisan volunteers flock to help because this beautiful venue is precious and loved by all. The following artist testimonials may provide the best picture of the value of the store, and the competence of the owner/manager.
Testimonials (continued on P.2):
Cindy Ballou’s art store is so much more than an art store. It’s a rallying point for the artists in Fairfield and the surrounding region. I think of Cindy as the mother of the local artists. She not only serves their art supply needs (at very reasonable prices for a bricks and mortar store), but she is a moral support for them, an organizer for them, and always ready to help in any way she can. Expanding to a store front on the square will give her the opportunity to make her special services even more available and accessible.
Her art store on the square is part of a group effort to turn Henderson’s Frame Shop into a multifaceted art space with artists’ displays and a classroom to go along with the art store and the frame shop. This will add one more important element to the already well known Fairfield art scene.
-- Bill Teeple
Owner, Bill Teeple Fine Art
Director, ICON: Iowa Contemporary Art Gallery
Testimonials continued from p.1:
The arts are very valued in our town. (We could be described as a town of art lovers, and art makers.)
One of the reasons for this value is that art contributes in a significant way to our economy. Region 12 of Iowa (our region) always has a high number of entrants in statewide art competitions.
It makes perfect sense that we have a thriving art supply/frame shop right on our downtown square, our Cultural District, where we have a high volume of traffic. We presently don't have any business that fills this much needed niche.
In my opinion, this store will continue a framing tradition and expand it in a way that benefits all.
-- Denyce Rusch
Fairfield Cultural Alliance
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Fairfield, IA Cindy’s ArtBeat is an essential full-service art supply store with more to offer than just supplies. It’s also a meeting place for artists, where ideas are shared and encouragement is offered. Each time I’ve visited her store, Cindy has always been ready to field any question concerning the variety of paint, mediums, drawing supplies and supports that one can work with. Many times, more nuanced considerations of archival conservation are also fleshed out by Cindy, and the encouragement she provides is priceless. Her store is an example of the stark difference between just ordering products online versus a real, tangible location that a working artist can find as a place of support for their practice. Cindy’s Art Beat is artist-owned, artist-led, and artist-fed.—
--Michael Rutherford
Founder and Editor of Painter’s Bread.com
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If Dick Blick or Jerry's Artarama were distilled down to the best most essential art supplies for the money, they would become Cindy's ArtBeat. Cindy has a passion and genius for finding great product lines for artists. She is highly intelligent and quite talented as a realist painter. She is lovely and personable. Cindy quickly becomes a friend while also being a highly effective art supply resource.
-- Leagh Janell, Oil Painter, Fairfield, IA
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Cindy’s Art Beat is a unique Fairfield perk. Going to Iowa City for materials is a half-day shot. Add in the cost of gas, parking, maybe lunch and a speeding ticket, just to get there -- and then find what you need is out of stock because U of I art students beat you to it!
Online ordering is convenient but - voice of experience here - online color charts and product descriptions are useless and “overnight shipping” is a term subject to relativistic time dilation.
Just go to Cindy’s....
-- John Preston, Iowa Artist
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"Having Cindy's Art Beat so near to home (I live in Pulaski, near Bloomfield IA) has made my life as a Professional artist so much easier. Cindy is willing to shop around and find the best deal on art supplies, then keep these items in stock when I or my students need them. When I'm painting on location in Southern Iowa, I ALWAYS refer people to her store. There is no other retail outlet like hers in 100 miles of where I live."
Gin Lammert http://ginlammert.com/