{"id":16265,"date":"2025-07-22T20:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T20:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/16265\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T20:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T20:19:11","slug":"collector-samara-furlong-thinks-you-should-buy-art-that-gives-you-butterflies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/16265\/","title":{"rendered":"Collector Samara Furlong Thinks You Should Buy Art That Gives You Butterflies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Annabel Keenan<\/p>\n

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Portrait of Samara Furlong with a painting by Olivia Guterson and light sculptures by Jack Craig. Photo by Sierra R. Aguilar. Courtesy of Samara Furlong.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you purchase something from an artist, their energy is in your space,\u201d collector Samara Furlong told Artsy on a recent call. Furlong is the founder of Buffalo Prescott, the Detroit-based nonprofit residency program she launched in early 2024 that focuses on supporting artists with children, which has given her an intimate window into artists\u2019 experiences. In addition to the residency, Buffalo Prescott acts as an arts incubator and hosts community gatherings, including traditional art events like talks and exhibitions, as well as programs like a pancake brunch and kid-friendly workshops. <\/p>\n

Along the way, Furlong has amassed an eclectic collection that includes painting, sculpture, furniture, photography, and prints. Many of the works she owns are by women artists, often people she knows or has met personally, such as LaKela Brown<\/a> and Lauren Quin<\/a>. Herself a mother and trained artist, Furlong approaches art collecting with the same people-first ethos that characterizes her nonprofit.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Detroit, Furlong grew up around art. Her grandmother was a collector, and Furlong\u2019s childhood was filled with works by well-known figures like Mark di Suvero<\/a> and Alexander Calder<\/a>. \u201cThey are exceptional pieces, but I was always taught to have an intimate relationship with art\u2014that it\u2019s supposed to be touched and loved, not hidden behind a glass box,\u201d she said. Some of her earliest memories of art include playing on a di Suvero tire swing and pretending to feed the frogs and birds on a Diego Giacometti<\/a> table. She also spent hours visiting museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit<\/a> and the Detroit Institute of Arts, where she worked on and off in curatorial and research roles for years. <\/p>\n

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Installation view of candles by Chris Schanck and paintings by Sedona Cohen. Courtesy of Samara Furlong. <\/p>\n

Installation view of paintings by Jo Mesler. Courtesy of Samara Furlong. <\/p>\n

Furlong\u2019s foray into collecting began when she was a child. It first started with keychains, then her grandfather guided her on collecting folk art, and eventually, she became enamored with jewelry. It wasn\u2019t until Furlong became enmeshed in the art world professionally in her 20s that she purchased her first piece of contemporary art. At this time, she was living in New York and working as a sales intern at the megagallery David Zwirner<\/a> before becoming a curatorial intern at the Dia Art Foundation<\/a> while maintaining her practice as a photographer.<\/p>\n

Among the first pieces of contemporary art she purchased was a 2017 print by Cynthia Talmadge<\/a> depicting a dorm-like bedroom from the New York gallery 56 Henry. Furlong visits galleries often, sometimes to buy art and sometimes just to get inspired by what\u2019s on offer and meet the artists when she can. \u201cIt can really make a difference when you meet the artist,\u201d she said. \u201cOnce I was in the back of 56 Henry, and the artist Lakela Brown was there for her show. I hadn\u2019t been planning on buying anything until I met her and thought, \u2018this woman is amazing.\u2019 Developing a relationship with the artist is crucial, because they are giving a part of themselves to you through their work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Furlong is also a regular attendee at art fairs, joining the crowds at events like the Armory Show, Art Basel, and NADA, where she has been particularly successful finding art she loves in recent years. \u201cI buy from NADA a lot actually, most recently a few paintings from [the gallery] Hair+Nails,\u201d she said. Furlong describes art fairs as \u201cthe best place to take a pulse on the market,\u201d adding, \u201cyou don\u2019t have to go to fairs to buy art; there are lots of different kinds of people who attend, including artists and students. It\u2019s a way to see a huge amount of art at once.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Cynthia Talmadge, Promises (Spring), 2017. Courtesy of Samara Furlong. <\/p>\n

Portrait of Samara Furlong in front of an artwork by Beverly Fishman. <\/p>\n

She also commissions work directly from artists. For Buffalo Prescott, Furlong had artist-in-residence Shaina Kasztelan<\/a> create colorful designs for free safe-sex and Narcan kits distributed through the nonprofit\u2019s mutual aid program, \u201cCasual Safe.\u201d Furlong also commissioned a table from furniture designer Christopher Schanck<\/a>, whose studio space Buffalo Prescott took over when the artist was moving. <\/p>\n

Beyond these personal connections, Furlong lets a range of factors guide how she buys art, starting with what she calls \u201cthe flutter effect.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s something my dad taught me as a kid. It\u2019s basically the feeling when something hits me, and I have a visceral reaction,\u201d she said. \u201cI think of this as starting with the heart.\u201d When she saw the Cynthia Talmadge piece, Furlong was drawn to the colors and the work\u2019s \u201cplayful aesthetic linking to a more uncanny reality,\u201d she said. \u201cThe visceral reaction really links to the flutter effect.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Shaina Kasztelan, \u201cCasual Safe\u201d kits. Courtesy of Buffalo Prescott. <\/p>\n

Interior view of the studio at Buffalo Prescott. Courtesy of Buffalo Prescott. <\/p>\n

After the heart, she is drawn to art that she can\u2019t stop thinking about. \u201cWhen this happens, the work is in my brain\u2014it\u2019s stuck and all I want to do is know more,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t have to come from an intellectual place: If you feel something and you can\u2019t get a work out of your head, that might be the right piece for you.\u201d Part of knowing more is understanding how an artist made the work, she added: \u201cWhen I can\u2019t figure out how something was made, I am immediately drawn to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for new buyers learning to cultivate their tastes and navigate the industry, Furlong emphasized the importance of being hands-on with discovery. \u201cAsk questions and spend time looking up art and artists,\u201d she said. For direct access to artists, Furlong suggests going to open studios, which are typically free, public events organized by art schools, nonprofits, and residencies. Individual neighborhoods might also host similar programs to highlight their artist communities. <\/p>\n

During these events, visitors can see behind-the-scenes and learn how art is made, view new pieces and works in progress, and get to know the artists themselves. \u201c[Open studios] are like being a kid in a candy shop\u2014there\u2019s creativity everywhere,\u201d Furlong said. Among the open studios she visits are those of academic programs like Yale University and Cranbrook Academy of Art<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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Installation view of a painting by Sara Nickleson painting and a table by Chris Schanck. Photo by Sierra R. Aguilar. Courtesy of Samara Furlong. <\/p>\n

Portrait of Samara Furlong. Courtesy of Samara Furlong. <\/p>\n

Furlong also suggested becoming familiar with the art market to better understand aspects of buying art, such as artwork pricing. While it might seem intimidating at first, doing some research is \u201cnot as daunting as it might seem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cArtsy is a perfect database to quickly get a sense of prices without having to dig through auction results. It\u2019s useful to feel confident in what you buy and an easy way to track how an artist\u2019s prices evolve over time if you do end up buying a piece.\u201d One of the artists Furlong supported early in their careers is abstract painter Lauren Quin. Furlong purchased a small study and then, over the years, watched Quin\u2019s career grow, her vibrant, kaleidoscopic work earning her a spot in museum shows worldwide and gallery representation from global powerhouse BLUM, which recently announced its closure<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Beyond the financial support, Furlong explained, buying art sends the artist a positive message. \u201cSomething that I don\u2019t think people realize is how crucial it is to support artists,\u201d she said. \u201cWhether a piece is $500 or $50,000, buying a work of art could make the difference as to whether that artist continues to have a practice. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not just buying something you want to live with\u2014you\u2019re sending a message of support and validating the artist\u2019s career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Annabel Keenan Portrait of Samara Furlong with a painting by Olivia Guterson and light sculptures by Jack Craig.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,14272,356,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-16265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-ca","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-collector-profiles","14":"tag-design","15":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}