Citizens Bank Chairman Dean Mann knew just to whom to turn for help attracting customers and talented employees to the institution's new Overland Park branch.
The branch at 8101 W. 135th St., is one of dozens of financial institutions along the busy commercial thoroughfare. But Mann knew that the likes of Phil Starke, Kim Casebeer and Gary Lee Price-three of his favorite regional artists-could help make it stand out from institutions competing for the same clients and employees.
You can always bank of good artists, said Mann, one of a growing number of small business leaders who view art as more than wallcovering.
Working with Paul Dorrell, an art consultant who owns the Leopold Gallery in Kansas City, Citizens Bank spent nearly $90,000 on art for its new branch-$35,000 for several interior pieces, including landscapes by Starke and Casebeer, and the rest for two exterior bronze sculptures by Price.
It's impossible to be specific about how the art investments will affect the bottom line, Mann said. But those who question whether the bank will reap a return on its art, he said, should consider these facts:
Art also can increase the enthusiasm and productivity of those on the payroll, said Bob Cattanach, a partner with CW Associates LLC, the leasing and management firm at Corporate Woods in Overland Park.
With an increasing number of businesses embracing that belief, Cattanach turned to Brooke Morehead, owner of Prairiebrooke Galleries in Overland Park, after Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co. recently vacated 62,000 square feet in Building 70 at Corporate Woods.
When Lumbermens moved out, we were faced with re-leasing 60 percent of the building, and we needed to upgrade and modernize the common areas, he said. A big part of that was the artwork that Brooke assisted us with finding and installing.
Artwork in common areas of Class A office buildings remains somewhat rare, Cattanach said, and so for an investment of a few thousand dollars, CW Associates was able to differentiate Building 70 through art.
That has helped attract three new tenants despite the glut of competing space, he said.
The cost of dressing a business for success depends on myriad factors, including the size and type of the business and the message it wishes to convey, Morehead said.
But minimally, I would think, the art budget for a small office of five to 10 people should be $2,500 to $3,000, though that doesn't have to come all at once, she said.
For businesses on tight budgets, Morehead recommended spending most of the art budget on a few more valuable pieces, such as custom-framed originals or limited-edition prints, for the lobby and conference room.
Purchases for less visible areas can be delayed, she said, or businesses can use inexpensive reproductions, at least initially, to stretch the budget down the hallway.
Pete Ehrlich, owner of the Art Source & Design franchise at 7379 Quivira Road in Shawnee, said it may be counterproductive for some businesses to decorate too lavishly.
If you walk into your vet's office and see original art, you might think, "They're making too much money," Ehrlich said.
For such businesses, Art Source & Design can provide a striking decorative piece of custom-framed art for as little as $300.
For businesses such as law firms that want to project more affluence, however, Ehrlich's business also offers pricier limited-edition prints and originals, which he said a surprising number of people can identify as such at a glance.
Whether business clients select prints, originals or a combination, Morehead said, her business can add sophistication to the installation by tying the pieces and the rest of the interior together through custom matting and framing.
A skilled designer generally is needed to help select art and frame moldings, Ehrlich said, because untrained buyers, left to their own devices, can get too "matchy matchy."
Dorrell agreed and extended the warning to cover some designers.
In his recently published book, Living the Artist's Life, Dorrell noted that many designers are too concerned with matching paintings with the colors of carpets and fabrics.
They don?t seem to understand that a painting is a window into another world and that you don?t try to match a window with anything, he said.
Mann said he tapped Dorrell as his art consultant as a result of seeking windows onto Kansas for the Citizens Bank headquarters in Fort Scott about four years ago.
I wanted Kansas artists, and I was referred to Paul Dorrell, he said. He represents some great regional artists. Phil Starke is one of my favorites. We have two of his paintings in Overland Park and two at Fort Scott, and I have one in my home.
Like Dorrell, Morehead said she does a lot of crossover business with people who buy for their business and then their homes, or vice versa.
In 1997, Morehead and her husband, Mike, opened their first gallery and frame shop, Prairiebrooke Arts, in a historic building they renovated in downtown Overland Park. To tap into the booming office and residential markets in south Overland Park, the Moreheads opened a second location, Prairiebrooke Gallery, in August at 13300 Metcalf Ave.
With its business split about 50-50 between commercial and individual sales, Prairiebrooke Galleries has become one of Johnson County's largest art dealers, with 11 employees and about $1.2 million in annual revenue.
Dorrell, who makes 70 percent of his sales to business clients, has built a national reputation by representing Lawrence sculptor Jim Brothers, whose works include the several larger-than-life soldiers at the new National D-Day Memorial.
But Dorrell and Mann turned to Utah sculptor Price for the Citizens Bank project.
Price's Cartwheel Kids sculptures help project the image of a family-friendly bank, Mann said, and his Synergy, featuring arms clasped together in a six-sided design, symbolizes the bank's emphasis on working together with small business clients.
Those sculptures are limited editions. But Dorrell said a commissioned piece doesn?t necessarily have to cost more than a piece already in existence.
One of Leopold Gallery's specialties, Dorrell said, is helping clients commission artwork that tells their unique stories.
At DeBruce Grain, Inc.'s headquarters in Kansas City's Briarcliff development, for instance, Dorrell has place works that interpret grain elevators in blown glass, stainless steel, and oils.
Call it just one more way of differentiating the corporate wheat from the chaff.