Hi. My name is Ron Gafron, and I’m the new face at WorkingArtist.  After a good many years creating and handling all of the chores that go along with running a small software business (know these days as a   “MicroISV”, ie, “Micro Independent Software Vendor”), artist Kathryn Townsend decided that it was time to get back to her artwork fulltime.  Enter me.  I’ve spent my career primarily as a technologist in the financial services industry.  All that stuff you’re reading about right now in the papers about banks? Not my fault, honest :-).  Along the way, I also spent a good deal of time as a nature photographer. Actually tried to make a living at it for awhile; very tough business; wasn’t able to give up my day job.  More recently, I’ve been working in clay, more specifically, porcelain art tiles.  In the land of clay, I am a relative rookie, to be sure, but I’m learning.

About a year or so ago, I left my job in banking to pursue the life dream of having my own business.  The Internet has opened up a host of new sales channels for artists, and I wanted to be one of them.  So, I put together a laundry list of things I’d like to include in my new business.  It included things like getting back to selling my images as stock and fine art, getting to the point of being able sell my ceramic work, and providing related services like fine art prints of artwork, etc.  On my list also was an idea that I had about writing some software to help artists manage their businesses.  I had done some research and found that there weren’t really that many software packages out there that were specifically aimed at artists.  A pretty small handful, actually.  And so, along with the other things on my list, I started working on a design for such a software system.  I periodically checked to see what the other vendors were doing as a way of vetting my design ideas.  Last June, I was doing such a periodic review when I came across a note on the WorkingArtist website from Kathryn saying that she was planning on retiring from the software biz to get back to her artwork and she was looking for someone to take over WorkingArtist.  Well, to say the least, I was shocked, but not so shocked that I didn’t drop her a quick email to introduce myself and find out more.  Over the course of the next month or so, we traded a lot of emails, discussing WorkingArtist, where it was, and the potential for the future.  In mid-July, I flew out to Washington State to meet with Kathryn and talk in more detail.  In the end, Kathryn decided that I would be the one to take over WorkingArtist.  We also put in place a one year transition plan, during which I’d be taking on more and more of the business responsibilities, with Kathryn there to provide advice and support along the say.  We’re a few months into that transition period now.

After spending some time seeing the future potential of WorkingArtist, I decided to put my other plans on the back burner for awhile and concentrate on WorkingArtist pretty much full time.  I’ll still be working on my photography and ceramic work, but WorkingArtist is for all intents and purposes my full time gig now.  And I better make it work, because my wife really like getting the bills paid!

So, that’s me.  I’ve got plenty of experience in a lot of areas of computer technology as well as the Internet.  That’s different than saying I’m some sort of “guru”. There are so many areas of expertise in computer technology that it’s become, in my opinion, less important to have that knowledge at the tips of your fingers than it is to know where to go to get the information.  I’ve got enough experience in the business side of the arts to have a fair idea of what kinds of things are needed, and at least what kinds of questions to ask.  I know enough to know that there are nuances to working and selling the different art media, and that will play into the future plans for WorkingArtist.

Any Questions?

I’ll have quite a lot to say about WorkingArtist in the days and weeks ahead.  Please stay tuned.

Ron