An innovative new perspective on art collecting with the Campbell Collective
“If your home is an outfit, the art is your accessories,” reflects Marquin Campbell, designer, painter, and founder of the Campbell Collective. “It is perhaps where your personality and sensibility shows up the most. Not so much in the furniture you pick, but in the art you choose.”
Having studied fashion at the Parsons School of Design in New York, Campbell should know—and dressing a room, office, or any other space with original, fresh, frame-ready artwork is what her collective does best.
“Our end goal is to make collecting as accessible as possible,” adds the Greenville entrepreneur, who built her all-female group of creatives over time, starting with good friends. “From the price point to the fact that it’s all original works on paper—which is very different from any gallery that I have seen out there. The future isn’t big, heavy, traditional art that is left up all decade long. It’s smaller, more accessible works of art that can be swapped out yearly or even seasonally.”
For a classically trained painter whose work is self-described as impressionistic, organic, and whimsical, Campbell is remarkably practical and decidedly innovative as a business owner. Having seen a consumer shift during the pandemic toward online purchasing—of everything, including big items like furniture, sight unseen—she decided to launch the Collective as a virtual-only gallery and marketplace. Each artist’s work may be different, but together, they function as a cohesive body, regularly releasing new originals on Thursdays. The website even shares educational content on how to frame and hang art.
Education and Collaboration at Campbell Collective
“Some of our artists are a little further along in their careers than others, and while some new collectors can’t afford a large painting by them, they can afford a work on paper. So we’re trying to make it easy for people to start or grow their collection,” says Campbell. “I love big oil paintings, but that’s just not how people decorate their homes anymore. The contemporary collector wants a more well-rounded portfolio. Abstracts, collage pieces, pieces with a fresher palette bring liveliness and interest to an art collection.”
Plenty of experience collaborating creatively with well-known local and national brands like Prodoh and Kentwool have helped the talented painter continue to refine the Collective, launch fun new initiatives, and bring joy to homeowners and art enthusiasts everywhere.
“Being an internet-based business, I don’t have direct contact with people; so when I see a collector come back ten, twelve times to purchase from all the different creatives that we represent, that’s so gratifying to me. I know that they’ve found a place where they can find different art by different artists that can live together in their space, and they love the product. When someone writes to us to say, ‘You’ve made it so easy for me to start collecting or to grow my collection,’ I feel like we’ve done a good job. That’s really satisfying.”
