The Business of Art
This entrepreneur has found a way to combine her love of art and her knack for business.

By Ellen Jensen

Entrepreneur:    Brooke Morehead
Company Name:
    Prairiebrooke Arts
    7900 Santa Fe Drive
    Overland Park, KS 66209
    (913) 341-0333
    www.pbarts.com
Type of Business:    Art gallery, framing service, corporate art, event hosting
Year Founded:    1990
Number of Employees:    10
Keys to Success:    Hard work, doing something that I love, and working with my husband, who is my partner in marriage and business.

As a birthday present to herself 14 years ago, Brooke Morehead resigned from a national design company to start Prairiebrooke Arts and embarked on a new career: entrepreneurship. Although leaving behind a steady paycheck and benefits for the great unknown was a scary proposition, failing was not an option.

Now Prairiebrooke Arts is a thriving art gallery and framing business in downtown Overland Park, and she and husband Mike have just opened Prairiebrooke Gallery, an expansion gallery in south Overland Park in the Deer Creek area. Mike is in charge of the finances; the CFO, he joked, because in reality, he does whatever needs to be done.

“I cannot believe how fast the time has gone,” Brooke said, recalling the mixed feelings of freedom and fear. When she struck out on her own, Brooke didn’t have any business training, so she had to fly by the seat of her pants.

“If there were agencies offering mentoring services for small business owners at that time, I didn’t know about them,” she said. “You just jump in and do it. You figure out a way. I didn’t know enough to hurt me. I figured, ‘What’s the worst that can happen?’”

Self-Discovery
Brooke said she drew from her past experiences in those early years. Although she earned a degree in English education, she had been working with art for 11 years, with a national direct sales company that specialized in art and home furnishings, and secured a sales position. She later became director of sales.

After being a cog in someone else’s wheel, she decided she wanted control over the product.

“If I am selling something, it has to have value and integrity,” she said.

Office Interiors
When she made the leap of faith to open her own company in 1990, she had to learn many aspects of the business, including the framing operation. She invested in equipment and found framers. In the beginning, she leased about 600 square feet of space in Mike’s insurance office. She didn’t have a retail gallery, and the framing was done off-site. She started out doing commercial work, serving the art needs for corporate, professional and institutional interiors.

“We portrayed the image at eye level, Brooke said. “It’s a visual marketing package. The artwork gives visitors an impression of who that company is, or who they say they are.”

The company mostly uses reproductions but also some originals and fine art. One of the things she loves best about the commercial business is the satisfaction of seeing a successful collaboration with customers as their office spaces come together.

Brooke said when she works on a corporate account, she will do some fact-finding to determine the company’s budget and tastes, such as whether the decision-maker prefers abstracts or landscapes. Usually, the colors already have been established.

“We are the final touch,” Brooke said. “The bow on the package—the final detail that ties it all together—the professional business image.”

The Gallery
Although the commercial work was rewarding and was the foundation of a stable business, Brooke wanted more. Beyond a basic appreciation of the artwork, most employees and clients do not have any idea where the artwork comes from.
“I was tired of the anonymity,” Brooke said. “I wanted a storefront window so that people could see the beautiful things that we have and be drawn in.”

In 1997, she got her wish. She moved Prairiebrooke Arts to its current location, opened the gallery and began to offer consultation, design, production and installation of framed art for both corporate and residential interiors.
 
A Slice of History—and a New Beginning
Rumor has it that in World War II, the building was used to store bomber seats that were hung from the high ceiling. Later, it housed Andy Klein Pontiac, followed by Wally’s Firestone, and then Dobbs Tires. In the back was a five-bay garage, which they were told was the first five-bay garage in Kansas. Brooke said the building was used as an appliance store at one time, and then it was vacant for a while, and water got in, causing the ceiling to sag.

“Basically, it was a grease pit,” she said. “We had to take up two layers of carpet, one of which was orange shag, and two layers of linoleum.”

When the Moreheads renovated the building, they tried to retain as many of the original structural elements as possible. They had to pour a new floor, but the trusses are original, as is the brick, which has been regrouted. The windows, doors and awnings are new. They had to power wash the unfinished wood barrel ceiling because at some point, there had been a fire.
The modern elements, such as the floor, lighting, tables and even the artwork, are reined in by the old building with its history, which still permeates the space. The juxtaposition makes for a beautiful, comfortable and inviting place to spend time, which is why the gallery is such a popular place for events such as cocktail parties, rehearsal dinners and anniversary parties. Scout troops and school groups have even come to tour the building.

Mike knew the space was going to treat them well from the start. He recalled the first day the gallery was open. Megan, their daughter, and one of their employees, Julie, were greeting visitors at the door. Julie had invited her brother Brian and a friend to come, and when they arrived, Brian was introduced to Megan. When Brian left, he reportedly told his friend that he had just met the girl he was going to marry. They did marry, and now the Moreheads have two granddaughters.

Great Expectations
In addition to the gallery and commercial business, Prairiebrooke Arts offers framing services. Each member of the framing staff has custom-framing experience, with the ability to handle all types of artwork, from the most delicate to the most high-end tasks, including museum-quality preparation and high-end designs such as custom-painted finishes, gold leafing, French details and hand-finished designs.

The couple gives a lot of credit to their employees for the company’s success. A priority for them has been to hire good people. They have high expectations for their employees, and those expectations have paid off. Seeing the success of their employees as they develop client relationships is a great source of satisfaction.

“We try to instill our culture—how we want our business to be—in our employees,” Mike said. “Customer service is a priority, and we have received many compliments from customers about our people; that makes us proud. If one of our employees leaves us, I would like them to say ‘I grew in that job. I’m better prepared for my life now.’”

Just as they have high expectations for their employees, they also have high expectations for themselves. Although the Moreheads love their downtown Overland Park location, the time was right for expansion.

“This is comfortable and familiar, but comfortable and familiar isn’t growing,” Brooke said.

At the end of October, they celebrated the grand opening of Prairiebrooke Gallery at 13300 Metcalf in south Overland Park. The new gallery provides a challenge by allowing them to serve a whole new demographic, and it even allows them to bring another member of the family on board. Their daughter Megan recently began selling part time at the new gallery.

Despite the south gallery, it’s definitely not a case of out with the old and in with the new. In fact, the Moreheads recently bought the Prairiebrooke Arts building at 7900 Santa Fe, which is one of the oldest buildings in Overland Park.

“We are vested in downtown Overland Park,” Brooke said. “It took a lot of work and money to get this building fixed up.”
Brooke said one of the most wonderful things is to hear an offhand, indirect compliment. She said one time she was in a store check-out line and heard a woman in front of her talking to a friend about this beautiful artwork she had bought at Prairiebrooke Arts.

“That just makes all the work worth it,” Brooke said.

“If I had it all to do over again, I wouldn’t do anything different, except maybe I would start my business about three years earlier,” Brooke said. “But, really, things tend to happen at the right time, so perhaps the timing was as it was supposed to be.”

Ellen Jensen is the managing editor of Kansas City Small Business Monthly.