Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis Raby
Hi Dennis, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always been a creative person for as long as I can remember. My first creative career was as a musician which culminated in an endorsement deal with Washburn guitars and an Indy record deal in L.A. Ultimately, a repetitive-motion related injury to my left hand made it impossible to perform at a professional level.
By age 40-something, I found myself searching for another creative outlet after playing guitar was off the table. While working a day job, I started learning how to make stained glass art and after developing some skills, I bought a kiln and a torch and started making fused glass art. This I preferred over the stained glass medium as it allowed me additional creative freedoms due to the difference in the mechanics of creating a finished piece.
I began selling my works at local markets and online. Living outside of the Orlando area near the east coast with my wife and two daughters, we often visited the little old-timey, artsy town of Cocoa Village. I thought I might open a little glass-art shop there and began keeping an eye out for a small shop to become available.
I received a text from my wife one afternoon while at work. She, along with my two young daughters were walking around Cocoa Village and noticed that a shop in a great location within the village was available for rent. The challenge was, it was much larger than what I needed for myself. I thought, “Well, I know lots of artists. Maybe I can still make this work.”
I opened that store, Green Circle, back in 2015. We are now, to the best of my knowledge, the largest group of local artists in Brevard County, FL. This year, I opened a second location about 90 minutes from Cocoa Village in DeLand, FL. DeLand is another little artsy town where Green Circle is being welcomed by the local community. We are just getting started there, but our future is looking bright.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
We have had just two serious hurdles in the nine years we’ve been open. Like most businesses, running a local art business is, like the old saying goes, harder than it looks. Local art galleries tend to be of high-value to the local community that they reside in, but operate on modest profit margins. So unexpected disruptions in revenue can be a challenge.
The first was the Covid 19 epidemic. Many of our fellow galleries did not survive 2020 due to the severity and duration of the interruption to projected norms. Eventually, things improved and we at first survived, and then began to return to normal.
The second is an ongoing challenge: rent. I have said for quite some time that the biggest threat to our galleries is the annual rise in rent. Ironically, when artists move in to a community and set up shop, it’s often because it’s an economically depressed zone. Successful art shops ad a lot of value to a shopping district due to the inerrant charm and uniqueness of the business. This makes the shopping district more memorable and appealing to its patrons which further supports additional businesses. Sadly, the artists eventually get priced out of the very shopping district they helped to make thrive.
After 9 1/2 years, rent has become our biggest challenge. For this reason, I am considering purchasing a building to house our much beloved local art gallery.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Green Circle is a art gallery focused exclusively on local artists/artisans where I am an artist/owner. If I had to name just one thing that immediately sets us apart from other galleries, it is the variety of mediums. Often, when one imagines what might be inside the doors of an “art gallery”, images of walls covered with paintings come to mind.
While we do have some wonderful artists who have chosen the mediums of oil, water or acrylic paintings, we also have several other artistic mediums on display. As I have stated, I am a glass artist. Additional mediums you will enjoy at Green Circle include wood workings, metal art, ceramics, upcycled/repurposed works, resin art, stone art, candles, and jewelry.
When you enter a Green Circle store, you’ll receive a warm, “Welcome in.” from one of our artists and then they’ll let you enjoy the shop on your own terms; no pesky “salesperson” following you around. They are however, happy to help you if you need them. There are pleasant, mild scents from the handmade candles nearby and wonderful 1970’s singer-songwriter themed music playing songs you are sure to remember.
Both Green Circle locations have a classroom at the rear of the shop. After a hiatus brought on by the covid pandemic, we are currently beginning our various art classes for both adults and youths again across various mediums.
Up next for Green Circle is creating a 501c3 non-profit arm that will focus on integrating further into our local communities. Some of the ways we can leverage our strengths to support local causes include before and after school art programs, senior activities programs, and young/disadvantaged artist development. Additionally, we’ll be looking to purchase a building to provide a permanent, stable home for our enterprise.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I believe that pursuing a career in the creative arts requires a higher than typical level of risk-taking. To me, how much risk I was willing to take was directly correlated to how much I truly felt that I HAD to pursue my love for music. I mean, a few years after high school, my wife and I bought an old rusty van, packed it with everything we owned, drove from Chicago to L.A. and lived in a rehearsal studio because I HAD to play guitar.
Even though my career in music didn’t result in global fortune and fame, I am proud of my accomplishments, the music I created and performed, the people I met, the life I’ve lived. It made me who I am today and many of the skills I rely on today were born from that period of my life. I would do it all again. For anyone interested, I have some of my music posted at Reverbnation.com/chronicaudio – there is nothing there for purchase. Just some songs I composed and recorded.
If one is to take a lot of risks, it helps to also be creative in thinking when it comes to opportunities. Here are two examples:
1. At that time, there was no Internet or home studios. You really needed a “major label deal” to have the best chance. The challenge is, they were very tough to get into. So, I bought a camcorder, and began producing a video aimed at answering the question for other up and coming artists, “Should you move to L.A. in pursuit of a record deal?” Under that premise, I got into A&M records, Epic records, SBK records, and a couple others that I don’t recall. I learned a lot from getting in and speaking to several A&R reps.
2. Band rehearsal space wasn’t cheap and none of us had much money. So we saved up, leased a long-vacant warehouse, and built out some interior rooms which we rented to other bands. That provided a free space for my band, and a little extra money.
These days, I’m farther along in life than I was in those days, and have a lot more to consider before taking a big risk. Having said that, quitting my day-job with a wife, two young daughters, and a home mortgage to open Green Circle was still quite the risk, even though by then I had the luxury of my wife having a career to help provide,
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/GreenCircleArt
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/GreenCircleCocoaVillage
- Other: https://facebook.com/GreenCircleDeLand
Image Credits
Dennis Raby, Jennifer Starcher
