JENNY HUTCHINSON

2021 STARTUP ADK PARTICIPANT started to wonder if she could make a career of her art. “I sold quite a few works and they were to people I didn’t know,” she said. “At the time, I thought, ‘OK, this is a fluke,’ because art sales are not something you can rely on; you just hope for the best.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT JENNY HUTCHINSON AND HER ARTWORK AT WWW.JENNYHUTCHINSONART.COM AND ON INSTAGRAM AT @JENNYHUTCHINSONART.

Her next exhibition — in 2018 at Lake George Arts Project (in the years since, she has joined the institution’s board) — had the same outcome.

“From that point forward, I was on a two-year cycle: I’d make a body of work and sell a body of work. It remained consistent so I knew it was time to jump in,” she said.

Hutchinson can’t yet rely entirely on the income she earns as an artist and consultant, so she has a “day job.” But in a step toward that day, she and her husband in 2019 bought a Glens Falls home with a large barn, in which they created a wood shop and art studio.

The 100-year-old barn is a passion project for the couple. “It was an ice house, an ice delivery center for the city back when they had ice boxes,” she said. “That was in operation until the 1940s when, since refrigerators came in, the family who lived here closed the business.”

The barn was kept in the family of its original owners for three generations, then used as a garage and storage space until Hutchinson purchased it. A hand-carved sign found during renovations led to the couple affectionally referring to the barn as “Joann,” the name of a family member of the property’s original owners. “We have an office set up to do consulting work, I can do shows here, I’ve had collectors over to review work and interested gallerists come to review the works,” Hutchinson said.

“I’m in here much of the time, now that we’ve invested both our finances into creating a space outside our house and our time into building a studio,” she said. “That investment made it more serious and changed the trajectory of how much of a business it was.”

Fun Fact

JENNY HUTCHINSON IS ON SUNY ADIRONDACK’S VISUAL ARTS COMMITTEE AND WAS AN ADJUNCT INSTRUCTOR AT SUNY ADIRONDACK FROM 2012 TO 2016, TEACHING DESIGN AND DRAWING CLASSES.

“That job really helped prepare me for my future as an educator because I started interacting with students from all different backgrounds — students still in high school taking classes, students who were moving on from high school and those who were continuing their education,” she said.

“The students within the classroom were much more varied than at a larger university or college where you would particularly have students majoring in art, but a lot of SUNY Adirondack students were taking art classes as electives. You have to be prepared to meet all students where they are.” www.adirondackwormfarm.com

Bill Richmond didn’t have to search far for a business opportunity, but he did have to look closely at his rural Kingsbury property.

In 2019, Richmond opened Adirondack Worm Farm, a business that offers curbside composting services and sells all-natural fertilizer.

“I don’t like to waste,” said Richmond, a retired public relations executive. “We have 40 acres, a barn and tractor. We’re not set up to do traditional farming work, but I wanted to do something that makes a useful impact and limits waste.”

He bought a pound of red wigglers five or six years ago and got to work learning about the species of worm (there are more than 9,000). “These are a different kind of worm than people see after a rainstorm on the sidewalk or in their driveways,” Richmond said.

In fact, red wigglers are one of only a handful of worms used in vermicomposting (similar to traditional composting). After consuming food scraps, they create vermicast — also referred to as vermicompost — the nutrient-rich worm castings (read: excrement) used to boost soil and plant health.

“The amount and type of materials red wigglers can consume and turn into useful soil is incredible,” marveled Richmond, who drives as far north as Lake George, south to Moreau, west as far as Queensbury and from Whitehall to Cambridge in Washington County picking up