Hidden Gems: Meet Daniel Pfalzgraf of WheelHouse Art

Today we’d like to introduce you to Daniel Pfalzgraf.

Hi Daniel, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Art began professionally for me after I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Murray State University and moved to Atlanta. But really, art has always been a part of my life. It runs in my family. My grandfather painted, my father painted, and between my three siblings and myself, three out of the four of us went to school for art.

Art is something that I’ve always loved. I love making it and I love looking at it. Art gives an endorphin bump when you find joy exploring it. It’s also something that benefits us in so many other ways, expanding how to see, think, and feel about any number of things. Learning how to make art develops your ability to imagine what’s possible, and how to creatively problem-solve.

Art teaches you aspects of psychology, geometry, chemistry, and engineering among other things, and it teaches you how to utilize all these different studies and tie them into one grand package. Sadly, I think fewer people are interested in art today than in the past, something that’s exacerbated by massive budget cuts to arts and humanities in our education system and public institutions.

That has made sharing art experiences with others that much more important for me. So, that has essentially become my life’s mission — to grow the love and appreciation of contemporary art with more and more people.

I started my mission by creating some crazy, immersive art installations. I wanted to give viewers a new experience with art, creating something that had an initial draw or pop to hook them in, then keeping them there by providing deeper meaning and experiences that would go beyond the surface for them to spend time exploring, regardless of how much experience they may have looking at contemporary art.

While in Atlanta, I worked for a large gallery, initially as an installer, then as a media coordinator. I would pre-place artwork in the galleries, the owner would come in and adjust to how he wanted everything to go, and then I would hang it. I eventually got good enough where he would make very few if any, tweaks to how I arranged the artwork. He started letting me “curate” the artwork in the restrooms, down hallways, and in other small spaces.

Working so closely with artwork by so many artists and laying out exhibitions like this really got me into the curating. I found that whatever I wanted to do and say with my own artwork, I could do even better with other artists’ work.

It took me two years to create enough of my own artwork to build an exhibition, but if I curated shows by other artists, I could put together as many shows a year as I wanted, I could do multiple shows per year. And not only that, but other artists could say and do so much more than I could with my own artwork.

Family pulled me back to Kentucky, where I eventually got a job working as a preparator at the Speed Art Museum, then left to be director of media services at B. Deemer Gallery, did some independent curation, and became gallery director at the green building gallery, then became art curator at the Carnegie Center for Art & History, a museum in New Albany, Indiana.

Working at the Carnegie Center really was an extraordinary experience. Really high highs, and some lows, but overall, there isn’t a thing I would change. I am proud of the work I was able to do there, raising the level of the art experience for that community by bringing in work by some amazing artists that hadn’t been shown there before, like Fahamu Pecou, Kerry James Marshall, Niagara, Robert Pruitt, Sonya Clark, William Wegman, and Dread Scott.

And I raised the experience for local artists whose work hung alongside the nationally and internationally renowned artists I brought in. I was also able to get the region’s first public art skatepark built, the New Albany Flow Park.

While I worked at the Carnegie Center, I went back to school to get an MBA. I felt if I wanted to make more of an impact in the art community, then I needed to expand my professional experiences so I could either be the director of an art organization or own my own art business.

In the summer of 2022, my opportunity arrived when I got a call from Brenda Deemer. Brenda owned B. Deemer Gallery, where I worked previously, and she told me she was ready to retire and asked if I’d be interested in buying the gallery.

Brenda built a successful gallery from the ground up that was a mainstay of the local art community for over 30 years. If I was ever going to leave a stable career in a museum to own my own business, I wouldn’t ever find a better opportunity than that. So I took over the business and rebranded it WheelHouse Art.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Some things have been smooth, other things have not.

Some of the transitions were difficult. The market in Louisville is so much smaller than in Atlanta, so when I moved back home, it was difficult to find work. I had to work at a Home Depot for a brief period before a position opened up at the Speed Art Museum.

I have a very clear memory of an old high school classmate seeing me there with my orange apron on and bust out laughing in my face because I was working there. That was rough, but I knew it was temporary. Another difficulty stemming from that movie was how much it set me back professionally. It would be nearly 10 years before I would earn in Louisville what I made when I left Atlanta.

The last challenge was my quest to grow as a leader in the art community. There are only a dozen or so art curator positions in the Louisville area, and I was fortunate to have made it to that level professionally. But there are only maybe half as many director positions at art exhibiting organizations.

I interviewed for a few director positions when they opened up, but didn’t get hired. That was a very difficult, bitter pill to swallow. I realized in order for me to make the impact I wanted to, then I would have to do it myself, and not wait for anyone else’s approval to move ahead.

My biggest struggles have been related to getting opportunities. Once I got the chance to do something, though, it was relatively smooth sailing, because I work hard and I do good work. I really feel that at every stop that I’ve taken along the way I left in a better place than it was before I started there.

I have had some very humbling experiences throughout my journey. Some of them I’ve dealt with better than others, but I’ve always kept my long-term goals in sight, and always moved forward towards them. If I’m given the chance, then I will produce great work.

We’ve been impressed with WheelHouse Art, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
WheelHouse Art is an art and service provider. We do everything we can to make art experiences as easy and enjoyable as possible for people. If there are any barriers someone may have kept them from participating in art experiences, then we want to do whatever we can to eliminate those barriers.

First and foremost, we are a contemporary art gallery, representing nearly 50 artists, maintaining roughly 600 works of art in our inventory. We promote artists and host exhibitions in our gallery that run around six to eight weeks each, usually one main exhibition in the front gallery and six or so smaller collections of work by other artists.

If there is a client looking for a specific work of art, we can help them find it. If we don’t have what they’re looking for in-house, we can often find work by other artists and galleries for the clients. If someone needs framing for their art, we can do it. B. Deemer Gallery developed the reputation as one of the premier custom framers in Louisville, and we’ve continued that work at WheelHouse Art.

Our staff has over 80 years of combined experience in framing. If someone needs help installing artwork in their home or office, we can do that. If someone needs their artwork packed or crated for shipping, we can do that. We can help with artwork pick up and deliveries locally and regionally. We even offer some secondary art market sales.

If there is something we don’t do in-house, like art appraisals or restoration, we work with partners to get it done on behalf of our clients. We are also currently working on launching an online NFT art gallery, too. We really want to be able to help artists in the Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Tennessee regions reach larger markets than they can individually in their own hometowns.

Marketing and selling both physical and digital work online is an important way we can help get artists’ work seen and sold throughout the US and beyond. All the work we do is done to grow the art market and community. We want to help more people open their lives to more art, and we want the artists in this region to be able to grow beyond their own backyards.

Risk-taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I am definitely all for taking risks, with a couple of caveats. A distinction that I’d like to make is that there’s a difference between risk-taking and reckless abandon. So my first caveat is fully understanding your abilities and the consequences of the risks before you take them.

A life lesson skateboarding has taught me is to know my limits, and when I can push beyond those limits. Reckless abandon is learning how to ollie a skateboard one day and attempting to ollie down a flight of seven steps the next day. Risk-taking is learning to ollie one day, ollying off a curb the next day, then doing two steps, three steps, and so on working your way to bigger and better things.

There’s a risk of learning to ollie down seven steps, and you’re going to hurt yourself while doing it, but it’s mitigated when you’ve done it on a smaller scale and use that past experience to reduce the risk of injury when trying something new.
My second risk-taking caveat is if you are naturally a risk-taker, then I believe it’s important to have more risk-averse people that you trust in your life to help keep things balanced. My wife is not a risk-taker, but she has always known and supported my dreams to operate my own art organization/business.

She would not have been in favor of me leaving a very stable position at a museum to start a new business from scratch. We have a family, I have to be a provider, and the success rate of new businesses, especially art businesses, is not great. When a well-established business with a significant history became available, however, she was very supportive of my move to buy the gallery.

Likewise, at the gallery, I really value the council I get from my office manager when I consider any large investments. She is much more fiscally conservative than I would be on my own. I have to recognize my own limitations and take her recommendations into consideration for the long-term health of the business.

I am continuously working to grow and expand the business and I like to take every opportunity that becomes available. It can be difficult holding myself back sometimes, but I am fortunate to have really good people around me who I trust immensely.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: https://wheelhouse.art/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wheelhouseartgallery/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WheelHouseArtGallery
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/WheelHouseArt_
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXzUc_xnbrDJ0y8RoBqUeIw
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/wheelhouse-art-louisville

Image Credits
WheelHouse Art and Mickie Winters Photography