Welcome to Embrace Creatives
Enhance your living and work space with quality, original artwork.
Finding original artwork you love enough to live with can be as tricky as finding the right person to live with.”
Most people do not know exactly what they’re looking for or how to go about pinpointing the perfect match.
- Where are all of the local artists?
- What artwork fits best with my style, size restrictions and budget?
- How do I mix different pieces together in one space?
- Is the artist reputable and experienced?
- Who can help me find the best artwork?
Welcome to this special place, built around a personal passion: uniting people and professionals searching for fabulous artwork with handmade products handmade by professional artists.
Quality, original art on Embrace Creatives is expertly crafted by some of the top artists across the country – people who infuse their soul into their work. Just as you’re searching to connect with the right artwork, they want the pieces they bring to life to be appreciated and well cared for.
I developed Embrace Creatives to match you with the right artwork and bring artists’ creations to people who love them. Artists want their artwork to find you, and you want to find their art, so let EC save you time, uplift your life, and OM… ease your mind.
Andrea Bogart
Founder/CEO/Art Advisor/Artist
Embrace Creatives, LLC
The first thing people tell me after we speak for the first time is that they love my passion. That warms my heart because as an introvert I’m uncomfortable talking. I guess, though that when I shift the focus to what I enjoy, helping others and Embrace Creatives, I shine.
I grew up in a fun and creative family with two younger siblings, a fashion model Mom and dentist Dad. My youth was spent outside being a tomboy, but more often, alone in my room creating whatever I could with whatever I had, Leggo homes filled with paper furniture, knitted Barbie new clothes, and tiny loom weavings. Mid-U of M Art School, I packed up and moved to New York to study fashion design at FIT. Graduated then worked in the fashion industry, first in design then in merchandising when I realized I needed to know how business works to succeed.
My time with Perry Ellis Portfolio Menswear and as the Director of Merchandising and Operations for Isaac Mizrahi was amazing! Supporting their operations and working the fashion shows was stellar but raising my children became my focus so I left the industry. When my children entered their teenage years, I headed back into design as a jeweler selling my artisan work through Bloomingdales, East Coast galleries, and Henri Bendels. While hanging out with my peers, I found that many didn’t have a strong sense of business and were struggling to make money from their own creations. At that time, I decided to empower others through art business consulting.
Since 2007, I’ve been guiding, speaking, and educating artists throughout the country and enjoying their own successes! Moving back to metro Detroit from New York/New Jersey in 2014, I jumped into the creative economic development space doing my part to help propel the redevelopment of metro Detroit. Hundreds of creative entrepreneurs have been educated via my programs and I’ve grown a national following of 2,800 artists and industry professionals.
In 2017 I launched Embrace Creatives as a creative networking site, like a LinkedIn for creatives. We gained members, over 700 and it was going well but something was missing. I was trying to help everyone (2D, 3D, fashion, and jewelry artists – artists with minimal sales) and that was taking its toll on my psyche.
When COVID 19 hit, felling galleries and retail, a took a long hard look at EC – it’s successes and failures. After much contemplation and research I decided to concentrate on the interiors industry and artists with a history of sales – bridging the gap between collectors, industry professionals and reliable studio artists, I launched Embrace Creatives in January, 2021. Meeting brilliant, passionate, and great artists while showcasing their art to buyers is a dream come true, and every single sale brings me extreme joy.
In addition to running EC, I am the Manager of the Detroit Center for Design + Technology, the College of Architecture and Design at Lawrence Technological University.
My paintings have been exhibited in Metro Detroit, New York, New Jersey, Virginia and Pennsylvania and hang in private collections. My art jewelry art has garnered press, including the premier fashion trade publication, Women’s Wear Daily, The Gem Trade Association, National Jeweler, the Retail Jeweler, the Chicago Sun Times, and more. As far as business empowerment, I’m thrilled to have been able to guide others through; I Am An Artist art group; WXYZ Channel 7 segment: How to Turn a Hobby into a Business; Battle Creek Community Foundation Art Business Workshop Series, Battle Creek, MI; Michigan Watercolor Society Annual Meeting, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Fashion Hackathon , Detroit, MI; Prosper, Oakland County article: Local Artist is Transforming Lives Through Creative Development Training; Florine Mark’s Remarkable Women Interview (podcast); Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Panel Discussion at The Wright Museum, Detroit MI; DCDT Design Accelerator Pricing Class Speaker, LTU/Detroit Center for Design + Technology, Detroit, MI; Success Summit, ADC Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; The Runway, Lansing, MI; Detroit Garment Group, Detroit, MI; Ponyride, Detroit, MI; and Erie Arts & Culture, Erie, PA.
What Embrace Creatives Stands For
Our mission is to become the premier, online showroom for space and place, offering consumers and interior professionals a quality experience and a diverse range of original art and design crafted by high integrity artists.
VISION STATEMENT:
Embrace Creatives is igniting an empowerment movement for artists by providing them with potential sales through an online art & design showroom, business education and growth tools, and networking events.
EC believes that merely connecting artists to opportunities isn’t enough.
We must also prepare them to build healthy businesses and relationships that increase their self worth, preserve their artistic integrity, and generate real revenue.
Embrace Creatives seeks to create a diverse, hi-integrity, and structured environment that celebrates both the adventure and playfulness of creativity as well as the professionalism needed to run a successful enterprise.
TENETS;
Be respectful. Before we take action, whether on our platform or out in the world, we check all angles to make sure we’re supporting and empowering our users with those actions. Everything we do affects those that engage with us so no decision is too small.
Be discriminating. Yeah, empowerment is important but we are also a business that has to generate revenue and move forward. EC cannot help everyone, nor should we try.
By setting strict curatorial standards, we’re not enabling artists who may not be “there yet”, and we’re respecting our buyers’ needs; professional vendors who can help their projects run smoothly.
Be helpful. Wherever possible, guide artists to studio and/or business support either inside our EC company or via other organizations. EC believes that all artists are valuable, no matter the stage of their development or success.
Instead of saying “nope” and pushing those that are not accepted away, we will do our best to introduce them to a helpful path and offer art business events each year. It’s up to the artists to walk the path and do the hard work.
Be transparent. EC does not exist without buyers and sellers so we tell our users as much as possible to help them make good decisions.
Giving everyone who joins us the opportunity to help our company make meaningful decisions that may also affect their growth gives them a seat at the table and shows respect.
Be human. EC never wants to be “invisible cogs in the background”. Founder, Andrea Bogart speaks personally to artists and buyers and so do our volunteers. We want to grow a community and we can’t do that if our users can’t connect with us, personally.
The EC team will never be too “big” or “important” to listen to our users’ needs and challenges and happily celebrate their successes. We will not take ourselves too seriously while we act professionally and in good faith to help move EC and our users to greater heights.
Be fun! Who the hell wants a boring, corporate art & design showroom? Not us! Business can be intense and tedious at times so EC will bring playfulness into our company, platform and events as often as possible.
Join us as a Collector, Buyer/Trade or Artist!