Graphic artist
finds success
in pooch
portraits
by Lorraine Goldman
This is one in a series of monthly columns about Santa Fe's entrepreneurs and the local organizations that help them succeed.
Krista Brooks's business
card is anything but ordinary. Presented in retablo style is a portrait
of a saintly Chihuahua, in a cape, with a dog-biscuit-charm necklace.
The decorative title states that this is “San Canine de Chihuahua,
Patron Saint of the Napoleonic Complex.”
On the reverse of the cards appears “Retro Pets,” and it is
here we meet the whimsical artist. We learn that this is but one of a
series of “Patron Pooches,” graphics created by Brooks with
love, care and tongue in cheek.
How this graphic designer, one-time
waitress, and self-described starving artist created a successful and
growing business is part art, part serendipity, and part WESST corp.
In 1993, Brooks received a BFA in
graphic design from Georgia State and developed a passion for vintage
graphics.
Later, in Albuquerque, she would create vintage-style paintings to hang
on bare walls.
When she came to Santa Fe five years
ago, her day job was waiting tables. A friend, knowing she was a needy
artist, commissioned her to do a a painting of his dog
The result was a salute on wood to
Fergus, the dog:
Jason Suttle, Fergus' owner, loved it, and so did everyone else who saw it, says Brooks.
She realized that there were real possibilities. “I knew it would work but I needed to find the right avenue.” In the meantime, “I was behind on all my bills.” She needed to make a living but also needed time to draw and paint.
It was a real conundrum until she learned from a friend about WESST corp, the Women's Economic Self-Sufficiency Team.
An Albuquerque-based nonprofit with offices in several cities in New Mexico, including Santa Fe, WESST corp's mission is “to facilitate the start-up and growth of women- and minority-owned businesses throughout the state of New Mexico.”
Brooks fit all the requirements of one of WESST corp's programs: earning under 10,000 a year in her start-up, in business at least one year, and “committed to a future,” according to Bette Bradburry, regional manager for WESST corp. In existence for just 11 years, WESST has a range of opportunities for emerging, and frequently struggling entrepreneurs: one-to-one consulting with business experts, workshops on topics of importance to business people, and a microloan fund.
In February 2000, Krista enrolled in a four-month long course (once a week) called MARKETLINK, which, in
Santa Fe, has developed into a program mainly of arts-and-crafts people.
A key to the success of the program is the “collective sharing” of the participants, says Brooks. People stay in touch with each other and with Bradburry, even long after the program ends. The next MARKETLINK course begins Sept. 19, according to Bradburry.
Brooks, in the meantime, is no longer a “starving artist.” Her Patron Pooches prints have been fabulously successful, selling in 30 stores nationwide, including six in Santa Fe and four in Manhattan. Coming up soon: more dogs, as dictated by customers. Also cats and other animals. On Sept. 10, a new Retro Pets web site is scheduled for launch. And soon, Brooks plans to hire an employee to help out in the business that operates out of her small house on Galisteo Street. Brooks is enthusiastic and ambitious, but also cautious, seeking a balance between the retail business and the Web: “I want to control where things are. I don't want to saturate the market.”
Taking things one step at a time, with WESST corp and Bradburry's always available counsel, Brooks presents her view of the future: “I envision this as a very huge business.”
To reach Retro Pets: 983-0422; www.retropets.com. To reach WESST corp: 988-5030.