She helps artists by putting their work on billboards and signs around Charlotte

Wendy Hickey wants to eradicate the phrase “starving artist” from our vocabulary.

Hickey founded Art Public Outdoor Project (ArtPop) Street Gallery in Charlotte in 2014 to give artists more exposure to the community. The goal is to help artists achieve sustainability.

“We don’t speak starving artist at ArtPop,” said Hickey. “We’re here to change that whole stigma and make sure that does not exist.”

A call for artists goes out each September for the following year and the artists are announced in December. ArtPop applicants must be at least 18, have an active artist website, and live in the greater Charlotte area.

How it works

Artists submit one piece of artwork with a nominal entry fee for a blind juried show. Hickey, 53, and a panel of six judges choose 20 artists from a pool of almost 150 to represent ArtPop. Judges rotate every year and always include two ArtPop alumni and a mix of gallery owners, museum staff, and other members of the art community.

Accepted artists include painters, potters, sculptors, photographers and woodworkers.

The 2020 class includes artists Debra Aase-Farnum, Emily Andress, Luis Ardila, MyLoan Dinh, Ashley Graham, Holt Harris, Josh Henderson, Michele Hoffman, Blaine Hurdle, Holly Keogh, Andrew Knotts, Jamie Lucido, Nick McOwen, Isaac Payne, Jacob Pfeifer, Brenda Pokorny, Nancy Jo Sauser, Kristen Sloan, Laurie Smithwick and Ian Wegener.

Since the start of the Charlotte regional program, 130 artists have participated. They see immediate results from participating in the program. After an invitation-only induction program in December, artists feel, “a new-found sense of confidence,” says Hickey.

Changing the view

ArtPop is also changing the view for Charlotte commuters and shoppers. Over the course of a calendar year, 20 billboards across the greater Charlotte area, 32 digital charging stations at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport, 10 uptown newsstands, and four shopping center digital displays show ArtPop artists’ work.

At Northlake Mall you’ll see their artwork on grand-opening barricades — the plywood structures that front an incoming store. Weather permitting, the latest works will appear on Adams Outdoor Advertising billboards the second week of January.

The advertising dollars equal more than $3 million, or roughly $150,000 per artist, according to Hickey. This introduction to local artists leads to people reaching out to buy the artist’s work or commissioning an original.

ArtPop nirvana

When an artist can pursue art full-time, then the ArtPop program has achieved its goal.

“We’ve won when an artist who has a side-hustle going on...(and) is able to transition all the way to full-time artist,” said Hickey. “That’s ArtPop’s nirvana.”

Each year, the program grows. In early January, ArtPop artists will participate in a two-day course taught by Philadelphia-based nonprofit Artists U founder, Andrew Simonet. They’ll learn how to price their work, approach galleries, stay motivated, and get organized.

“It is critical for artists to have foundational business skills so their studios can be sustainable,” said Ladianne Henderson, a 2015 and 2019 ArtPop artist. “ArtPop Street Gallery has begun helping artists who might not have those skills build them through the program’s collaboration with Artists U.”

Henderson, who is a paper and fiber artist, co-owns a Huntersville yarn shop called “Cheers to Ewe.” During the business class, she realized how artists face some of the same struggles. Discovering they’re not alone was one important lesson.

For the second year, a high school student is included among the 20 ArtPop artists. Andrew Knotts, a senior at Charlotte Christian School, receives a $1,500 college scholarship, provided by ArtPop and attorney Charles Everage, in addition to the other ArtPop benefits.

‘Fairy Art Mother’

ArtPop gained 501c3 nonprofit status in 2015. The Arts & Science Council provided funding for the first four years. The billboards along highways and roads are donated by Adams Outdoor Advertising of Charlotte and the digital displays at Ballantyne Village, Rea Farms and Waverly belong to Awedience Media.

The $150,000 budget to pay staff and reproduce artwork for the billboards and newsstands came from the Knight Foundation, Reemprise Fund (through Foundation For The Carolinas), individual donors, and an annual auction. Grants from the Knight Foundation and Reemprise expire at the end of 2019. ArtPop is seeking financial support from corporate and individual donors in the Charlotte region.

More than a year ago, Hickey quit her position as vice president of sales with RBX Media, an Ohio-based company, to be the first full-time executive director of ArtPop.

The unofficial title, “fairy art mother,” was given to Hickey by ArtPop artists.

According to 2019 ArtPop artist Irisol Gonzalez, Hickey just “makes things happen.”

An idea is born

Hickey spent 23 years in the billboard industry across many states and companies. In 2002, while serving on the board of directors for the Pocono Arts Council in Stroudsburg, Penn., she came up with an idea to promote artists with unused billboards.

“I thought, ‘What am I going to do to impact my role as a board member in our local arts community?” she remembered. “The light bulb went off: ‘Wendy, you sell billboards for a living. Why don’t you give artists billboards?’ ”

She proposed the idea of giving artists unsold billboards to her general manager at Adams Outdoor Advertising in Northeastern Pennsylvania. “Go do it,” is the answer Hickey received. She asked artists if they wanted to participate. All they had to do was pay to reproduce their art on vinyl that wrapped around the billboard. When she moved to Michigan for another position with Adams, she set up the program there.

“It wasn’t ArtPop; there was no mission; there was no 501c3; there was just this idea,” Hickey said. “This is where it began speaking to my heart.”

Building community

Before she moved to Charlotte in 2012, Hickey decided to get serious about what she was doing. She met with friends, artists and billboard industry people to determine a name, mission and how to structure the program.

ArtPop was created in Charlotte and in other cities Hickey visited for work. Since 2014, some 14 cities in 11 states have participated in ArtPop.

Today, ArtPop is in six cities across five states, servicing 53 artists. Each program runs like the one here – a call for artists, a juried show with local judges, and specific advertising benefits. But the organization has become strategic with its expansion.

Moving forward, ArtPop determines which cities are best suited by asking if the city is art-minded, can they fund the program and do they have an appreciation for what an advertising campaign such as ArtPop offers.

But it’s the unintended byproducts of ArtPop that have astonished Hickey — the stories people tell about the artwork they’ve purchased and the camaraderie created between artists.

“The community that is being built around ArtPop artists meeting each other and collaborating together – Holy Hannah – it’s beautiful,” Hickey said. “It’s such a kind community.”

Want more arts?

You can find all of our arts season preview stories and calendars in one place: charlotteobserver.com/topics/charlotte-arts-guide.

Want to get more arts stories like this delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the free “Inside Charlotte Arts” newsletter at charlotteobserver.com/newsletters

You can also join our Facebook group, “Inside Charlotte Arts,” at https://www.facebook.com/groups/insidecharlottearts/