Meet Jamie Howard

We were lucky to catch up with Jamie Howard recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Jamie with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

While I now understand that there really is no such thing as an art emergency, it has taken many years to rachet down the urgency, passion, and single-mindedness that comes from a lifetime of being an entrepreneur. My husband and I met in college, where he was studying sculpture and metals and I was earning a degree in journalism. By the end of our schooling, we had a plan to start a foundry and get in on the manufacturing side of the art industry–a way to facilitate his art, but not be starving artists. We ended up buying an existing, small foundry in the tiny Texas town of Bastrop in 1999 and began the great adventure of being not just self-employed, but also a small employer. Reality hit quickly, and a stubborn and often prideful unwillingness to fail resulted in many late nights to early mornings, extensive personal sacrifices, heated exchanges and hurt feelings. But through it all, we never missed a payroll for our staff, kept our vendors paid, and our clients pretty darn happy.

We learned what it was like to be responsible for a family long before we had children. We had employees, who gave us their all and were counting on us to make the business work. Our artists trusted us with their livelihoods, where a sub-par product or a missed deadline could result in the loss of their much-needed sale. Beyond that, these were our friends, our family, and we refused to let them down.

This commitment to our people has always been the driving force behind every decision. If working into the night or missing a kiddo’s dance practice meant the difference between success and failure, we made the sacrifice–especially in the beginning.

We have owned our foundry for more than 25 years now, and in 2023, we took another leap of faith and opened Found Fine Art, a retail gallery featuring the sculpture produced at our foundry as well as original stone carvings, paintings, fine jewelry, and curated art supplies. This new venture is strengthened by the insight and wisdom that comes with time and experience, but it is still driven by our desire to do our best for our people. The difference now, is that “our people” goes beyond our staff, vendors, and clients, to the local community as a whole. Located in the heart of our historic downtown, our company is part of how you experience our town, and we take that responsibility very seriously.

So, we encourage you to slow down, contemplate the art, and enjoy your visit to our gallery. Meanwhile, we will be working urgently behind the scenes to make it a magical experience, because we have a lot of people counting us to ensure that it is. And that is just how we like it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

As a gallery director in a small, Texas town, and in light of my background in foundry/fine art manufacturing, I have made education a central focus in our space. Many of my days are spent sharing the bronze casting process with guests, explaining the many talented hands that had to engage in order to bring this artwork from concept to reality. We have slideshow presentations, demonstration pieces, and sample art supplies for those adventurous enough to try their hand at making something. In addition, we designed our space to feature a live artist studio, in which our represented artists are frequently found working on their newest creation or sharing with guests about their artistic journey, inspiration or techniques. We firmly believe that by better understanding the art, artist, and process, guests will experience a higher appreciation for our art and the art in the world around them. That is the mission.

We also want to honor the makers. Whether we are exploring an artist’s sculpting or painting prowess or expanding on the labor and skill required for bronze casting, we celebrate the people having the creative vision and doing the hard work.

Finally, we hope to inspire non-artists to take action on their own creative aspirations. Because of our affiliation with the foundry and its host of artists, as well as our network of amazingly talented painters, jewelers, stone carvers and fabricators, we are uniquely equipped to help someone bring their dream to reality. We are glad to facilitate sculpted or painted portraiture, fabrication projects, custom jewelry, as well as individual or commercial art commissions. If you can dream it, we can make it.

We invite you to stop by the Found Fine Art (912 Water Street, Bastrop, TX 78602) Tuesday through Saturday 10am-6pm or check us out online at www.FoundFA.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook at @foundfineart or on Instagram & TikTok at @foundfinearttx.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I am not sure if it is taking on this latest endeavor or simply a result of getting older, but this has been a year of introspection and growth for me. During this time, I am really valuing and working on improving my discipline, humility, and compassion. Here is why:

Discipline- I am tired of putting out fires. I am channeling “Smokey the Bear” and trying my best to prevent wildfires from disrupting my purpose. I have found that discipline is the way. Slow and thoughtful execution of any task means I don’t have to circle back to it and keep stomping out embers left unresolved.

Humility- Oh the sweet peace that comes with not having to be perfect. Knowing that my worth does not diminish with each mistake; accepting that I will make bad decisions, and taking comfort knowing I will have an opportunity to make it right; this is freedom.

Compassion- Applying the same grace I just gave myself to others when they don’t do what I would have them do. Realizing that we are all just trying to do the right thing with the tools we have available to us, has been an enormous blessing.

I still need reminders frequently, but I am loving this journey and the person I show up as in the world because of it.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

My current challenge is a simple one, but it has a huge impact. In my previous positions, I have had personal, one-on-one relationships with a relatively small number of clients. Now that I have stepped into retail, I meet so many people each day, have many similar conversations, and it is a real challenge to keep straight who I have met and what was discussed.

I have explored customer relationship manager software (CRMs), notes in my contact lists, and spreadsheets as solutions, but I think I will be best served in taking an honest and old-fashioned approach to this one.

1. Begin each interaction with humility, acknowledging my mistake when I introduce myself to someone for the third time or forget a spouse’s name or profession.

2. Be present during each visit. Actively try to listen and retain what is happening, rather than letting my brain be pulled toward what I should be doing instead, if that other guest has a question, or whether I hit send on the email I wrote 3 hours ago.

3. Work on re-training my brain to prioritize remembering people and their stories. I know the tried and true methods of repeating names out loud and visualizing the person/name/conversation, so now I just need to do it!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://FoundFA.com
• Instagram: @foundfinearttx
• Facebook: @foundfineart

Image Credits

FoundFineArt