Building Art Community and a Space of Her Own with Cassandra Buck, Fine Artist and Owner of Clover & Rose
Collider is passionate about sharing the stories of Rochester entrepreneurs and small business owners! We recently chatted with Cassandra Buck, who is an artist, curator, and business owner, about her experience with finding and building art community in Rochester as well as opening her own art and vintage shop.
Photo contributed by Cassandra Buck
Cassandra Buck, full time artist and owner of the local vintage and art shop, Clover & Rose, always knew that art was what she wanted to pursue in life. Like most young, aspiring artists, she was met with opposition. Art isn’t a career, there’s no money in it. Rochester born and raised, in a family with little money to spare, Cassandra grew up feeling embittered toward Rochester and the lack of opportunities for a young artist like herself.
“After high school, I decided to go into art education because I really enjoyed working with kids and knew there would be some stable jobs in teaching. ”
She pursued her art education at Winona State University where she met and married her husband. After graduating from college, though she initially had no intentions of returning, she moved back to Rochester with her husband for the sake of jobs and stability. Cassandra started teaching art to middle schoolers and did so for the next seven years. She loved teaching, and was good at it, but ultimately Cassandra knew that working under education administration wasn’t for her. She saved her pennies, looking forward to the time when she could pursue art more fully. Eventually, on more or less mutual terms, Cassandra and teaching parted ways.
Shortly thereafter, Cassandra learned about the local art group, C4, and in doing so, found the art community that she had been longing for.
“I found C4 and realized that there was actually a whole community of artists and like minded people in Rochester that I didn’t know about. So I jumped in headfirst and got involved.”
Her involvement in C4 would later inspire her to start an artist cooperative, Gallery 24.
“C4 was kind-of winding down, but it had connected so many groups of creative people together. I was inspired to work with a group of artists to open a space where we could facilitate professional development, group critiques, and teach each other. It would also be a place where artists could sell their work and teach art classes to the public. I decided that it should be a non-profit for the sake of making classes low cost and accessible to anyone. I wanted to create a space that I wish I had access to when I was a young artist. So I got my artist friends together and asked them what they thought. We all decided to go for it.”
Gallery 24 was a success and helped the Rochester art scene and community grow immensely. Cassandra found herself doing a lot of community organizing, running the art programming at Forager where she also worked as a server part time, along with managing Gallery 24, her own art, and a young family.
Though she was pleased with what was being accomplished there, the time eventually came for Cassandra to pass the leadership of Gallery 24 into other hands. “I came to a point where I decided that I needed to focus on myself, my family, and what was best for my art and my practice.”
As Cassandra started thinking more about what it was she wanted for herself, the idea for Clover & Rose was born. Along with large-scale fine art pieces, she also made jewelry and did embroidery. Her various art and crafting pursuits, paired with a longtime love of vintage and thrifting she inherited from her mother and grandmother, sparked a desire for a space of her own.
“I knew I wanted to create my own space. So I just started daydreaming and keeping a mood-board for what I wanted it to look and feel like. I wanted to mix my art with vintage, have other artists sell their work there, and in a way mash up all of the creative things going on in my brain.”
As with many small businesses in Rochester, space was immediately an issue. Cassandra thought small and got creative.
“I didn’t have a space, but I did have a little breezeway that connected our house to the garage. It’s super tiny. But I decided to give it a try and put together a small collection of art and vintage to fill the space. I was only open a couple of days a week and I’m sure my neighbors thought I was crazy. ‘What is this lady doing with a weird little shop in her house?’ But somehow it worked.”
Some time later, Cassandra was approached by another local business owner, Vy Thorng of Hidden World Vinyl Records, who asked if she would be interested in sharing his space in the Lowertown Neighborhood. She ran the numbers, and decided that between some wild hodgepodge of sales, art programming revenue, money from serving, and grants, that she could make ends meet and make Clover & Rose a reality.
Photo by Corrie Strommen
Today, walking into Clover & Rose, you are immediately greeted by the warm light of vintage lamps and fixtures, and plants can be found on any available surface not covered with local art and jewelry. A long rack of vintage clothing takes up one wall, and furniture and glassware find their homes throughout the delightfully quirky shop.
“It’s been a slow build,” Cassandra said. “After growing up with almost nothing, having my own space is huge. I have to remind myself of how far I’ve come to create this space. It keeps me motivated to continue creating.”
Cassandra curates a beautiful collection of art and vintage. “I’m open to anything that fits the vibe of the space. I also think it’s really important to support emerging artists who maybe don’t even realize that they should be selling their work.”
Photo by Corrie Strommen
Cassandra is an accomplished fine artist who often shows her work at the gallery level. She has had work in both solo and group exhibitions featured at Winona State University, The University of Minnesota, and at the Austin Art Works Center, as well as in private collections, Rochester businesses, and the Ridgewater College permanent collection in Willmar Minnesota. Despite these accomplishments, she still needs to function on an entrepreneurial level, taking on commission work to help make ends meet. A constant challenge is marketing herself and her work.
“There always needs to be a balance. If I only do commission work and put off the pieces that I want to work on, I feel off kilter as an artist. But I also need to do commissions and promote myself to pay the bills.”
Cassandra’s advice to other aspiring artists and small business owners is to start small and build slowly from there, making sure that you’re supported and ready to take all the baby steps it requires to get your idea off of the ground.
Outside of creating her art and running Clover & Rose three days a week, Cassandra is busy with her home and family. They love local eats, are understandably biased toward the food at Forager, and also love Pho Chau, Bleu Duck, and Chesters. Cassandra enjoys reading, thrifting, relaxing by listening to records, and loves canoeing with her husband when they can get away.
In many ways, Cassandra, as an artist, business owner, and mother seeks to create a space, art community, and a city that she wishes she had when she was growing up in Rochester, to build a place she is proud to raise her children in and call home.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read Cassandra’s story! If you find value in this content, please consider donating to help Collider continue amplifying the voices of Rochester entrepreneurs. You can also learn more about Cassandra’s art and Clover &Rose by clicking the link below!
Article by Corrie Strommen, Director of Community at Collider.
