What’s been going on? Where to begin… A lot has been going on, lots of changes…
In short, since I returned from the San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts show in February I’ve basically turned my world
upside down…and inside out. I feel as if I took my world as I knew it, turned it upside down and started shaking
everything out of it. When this year started out for me I knew that it was going to be a year of change, but I had NO
idea how much change it would end up being. All I knew when I started this year out is that I wanted to be happy this
year. I’ve made some major, life-changing decisions in the past few months. The changes that are a result of these
decisions impact my personal life, my professional life and also my environment. Once I made the first decision and the
first change, the following changes started in motion as if they were a row of dominoes stacked next to each other,
once you push the first one it’s a chain reaction and that’s sort of what happened. I sadly ended a 4 year relationship
in February, and as a result of this change I started looking deeper into the rest of my life. I’ve lived in the Denver and
New Mexico area all of my life and I thought that a change of scenery might be nice. I am also completely frustrated
with my new job that I started last November. I work in Telecommunications for a living and it’s been a roller coaster
ride the last 10 years, a lot of it good, but the last few years with all of the layoffs and mergers and bankruptcies it’s
really put a sour taste in my mouth for the whole industry and working in the area of that industry that I currently am
working is really challenging and not very emotionally rewarding. The communications industry has been good to me
and provided me with a nice income for the last 10 years, but it’s not about how much money you make, it’s about your
happiness, and I am just not happy with my job. My job has been taking up all of my time and mental energy this year
which caused me to be able to focus less and less of my time on my website and my African Arts discussion group.
Those areas are what really keep me going mentally, so I decided I needed to make some further changes.
When I was at the San Francisco Tribal and Textile Arts show in February I had a nice discussion with Jean-Baptiste
Bacquart, art dealer and author of the wonderful book “The Tribal Arts of Africa“. We talked a little about how he got
into the Tribal Arts business and we talked a little bit about the Tribal Arts “business” in general and the various levels
of dealers and collectors. He said that when he left Sotheby’s to go into business for himself it was very scary. He said
that initial first step leaving the corporate world and going out on your own is a big one and you wonder what you’re
getting yourself into, but he said it can also be very rewarding even though it can be a lot of work. He asked me when I
was going to make that step and go out on my own. I told him it was something I would like to do someday, but it was
most likely a few years down the road. There was a lot that I had to work out before I could even think about making
that big of a change in my life I told him. He said that when the time was right it would happen for me.
Well, when I got back to Denver and the changes started in motion…that ‘few years’ has now turned into a few months.
I grew up in New Mexico and I have lived in Colorado for the past 18 or so years now. I love it here and I have a good
life and good friends but I’ve always wanted to experience another part of the country or another part of the world.
Originally when I started thinking about what I wanted to do I thought seriously about moving to Africa for a while. I
know people in several parts of Africa who have houses that they don’t use all of the time and I thought maybe it would
be good for me to just sell everything I owned and move to Africa and spend some time exploring it. The idea sounded
fun but I needed to come up with a more realistic plan. I’ve always wanted to live on the East Coast, there are so many
things going on in such a close proximity and it’s always had an appeal to me, but more so in the last few years since I’
ve really pushed forward with my passion for African and Tribal art. It seems that every time I turn around there is a
new exhibition opening somewhere on the East coast or something else exciting happening that I’d love to be able to
just pick up and go to. The one city on the East coast that has always had a draw for me is Boston. I don’t know what it
is about Boston that appeals to me, but for some reason it has always been a place I thought I’d like to live. I’ve never
been there so this attraction seemed strange. In the past couple of years I have gotten to know Bobbi and Tim Hamill
(Hamill Gallery in Boston) a lot better and they have become very good friends of mine. They are two of the nicest
people you’ll ever meet. I talked to Bobbi about what was going on in my life and told her that I was considering leaving
Denver and was considering moving to Boston. I can’t remember exactly how the conversations went, but when I finally
made up my mind she said “I think this will be FUN!”. They have been incredibly supportive in this decision and I am
very thankful. I only know a handful of people in the Boston area so this will be a huge adjustment for me. The thing I’m
not looking forward to is packing everything up for the move, THAT will not be fun!
I’m heading out to Boston for my first time (April 13-15) to check things out and hopefully make this whole thing a little
more real in my head.
What will I be doing in Boston?
Well, my plan is to move to Boston in June, I’ll officially be there by June 18th. I’ll be quitting my job in Telecom and
plan to devote 100% of my time and energy to African art when I move out there. The past few months I’ve only been
able to devote less than 5% of my time and energy, so I’m really looking forward to the change and I have a lot of
different ideas that I plan to put into motion. I’m taking that first big step and going out on my own and I’ll be doing a
combination of things once I get out there.
I’m going to start off by focusing on doing consignments from people. I currently have around 100 pieces of various
quality on consignment from a collector in the US. I’ve included some of these pieces in my November and February
sales, as well as my April sale. When I get out to Boston I will be helping another collector sell some pieces from his
collection, and I’m also going to try and work with a few other people who have contacted me as well. I’d like to start
working with people to start culling their collections and I’m currently putting together a plan for this. It’s often easy for
a lot of people to keep buying things, but it’s harder for them to refine and cull their collections because for a lot of
people it’s not so easy for them to sell things once their collecting focus changes. Another one of my plans, and it’s in
the very initial stages, is to set up an online auction site here in the US that has a specific focus on Tribal art and
nothing else. There are a few in Europe that have a specific focus like this, but nothing really in the United States and I’
d like to change that. I’ll still be selling things on my own, things from my collection and things that I buy specifically to
sell. My hopes are to steadily increase the quality of the things that I sell over the course of this next year, I’d really like
to bump it up a few notches. I’m working with someone else in this regard and hope to start offering some interesting
and unique objects in the fall of this year, so stay tuned for more information about this. I also work with people to find
specific objects that they’re looking for. I keep lists from various people of objects they want and I work with various
sources (dealers and private collectors) to locate these objects. I enjoy putting together a selection of objects that I
think are the better ones out there in their type and price range and then working with people to pick the one that
works best for them and their collection. So, if you’re looking for something specific just let me know!
I will also be launching a NEW website called "Rand Ningali African & Tribal Art" shortly after I get out to Boston. You
can read a little more about it by CLICKING HERE.
That’s about it for what’s been going on, but I think it’s enough!
Moving, changing jobs and the ending of a relationship are all listed among the top most stressful life events, so, why
just change one when you can change all 3 at once, right?
Cheers!
RAND
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