For Andrea Miller, losing her job was the best thing to happen to her.
At 55, she was ready for a change.
“Probably the job loss was serendipitous,” Miller said of her pandemic layoff from the marketing field.
“It didn’t seem [so] at the time, but now looking back on it, I think that really pushed me to go and do something I really wanted to do.”
One day she walked into the former Botanicals Gift Shop in downtown Fredericton and asked the owner if he would ever consider selling the gallery space.
She had no formal background in art, but had grown up with a strong appreciation for local craft and artists.
A deal was soon struck. Miller was the proud new owner of what would soon become The Artisan District.
“It’s much easier to do your job when you love what you do,” Miller said.
She agonized over every detail as she began to set up the store, but it started to come together.
“Each little bit, every time I took a little step, it felt like I was being pulled instead of pushed,” Miller said.
She intentionally retained all the artists who previously sold their work in the last shop, and added on more to curate a Maritime-only art gallery.
Miller includes an artist bio and description of their work next to each display area. She occasionally invites the artists into the shop to make art for a few hours for customers to watch.
“Your store is your artists,” she said. “Without them, there’s just empty walls and shelves here.”
Before she knew it, opening day was upon her.
Two years later, she’s never looked back. Miller said she has a lot of late nights, but it’s worth it.
“It’s just a joyful place to work.”
Runs in the family
Miller credits her family’s support in opening her business, but perhaps her biggest influence is her late father.
He, too, changed careers later in life.
Ralph Miller grew up in Florenceville, N.B., and any breaks he had from the family farm were spent fishing on the St. John River.
He began collecting discarded fishing hooks found along the banks of the river, and taught himself to tie flies.
Before he knew it, local fishermen took note and started buying his flies.
Despite this success, he went on to become a teacher.
But the craftsman’s life eventually called him back, and Ralph opened his sporting goods shop at age 42.
Andrea Miller said the shop was his true passion, and he soon amassed a strong customer base.
“People enjoyed going in and socializing with him. He exuded that love of what he did and people felt very welcome to go in and shoot the breeze with him,” Miller said.
“I think he showed me that if you love what you do, you will be successful at it. You will be able to do it. That stayed with me certainly for a long time.”
Her first artist
One of the first shelves a customer sees when entering the shop holds the pottery of Maria Guevara.
Colourful, detailed mugs depicting Fredericton’s skyline sit among larger plates and dishes.
Guevara had sold her work in the old gallery. When Miller wanted to start asking artists to join her new shop, Guevara was the first call.
“Oh my god, I said, of course, that will be great!” Guevara said.
Guevara said Miller is a great representative of her artists and that she cares to understand the process they each put into their art.
“She’s always asking me, ‘How did you do this?’ or ‘Tell me the process, step by step.’ I feel like she’s understanding my craft,” Guevara said.
Guevara described some relationships between an artist and their gallery as simply dropping off art to sell and that’s it.
But that’s not the case with Miller.
“If you understand how the work is made … it is easier to explain to clients how it was made. And that gives more meaning to the object or the art,” Guevara said.
Similar to Miller, Guevara got into her love of art later in life.
She immigrated from Mexico with her family 15 years ago and decided to attend craft college for pottery.
In Miller, she finds not only a business partner, but a friend.
“Probably we understand each other in that way, and that helps to have this good relationship,” Guevara said.
