At Knowhere Art Gallery, founders Ralph Groce, III and Valerie Francis are trying to do much more than sell art. They are trying to save the world.
According to Ralph Groce III, when he told his wife and business partner, Val Francis, that he wanted to call their brand Knowhere Art, she gave him a look that is seared on his brain forever. “He didn’t spell it for me,” Francis explained and laughed. “So basically I’m thinking about the word no and no is not very inviting, not very welcoming.”
But the Know in Knowhere is, like everything else this couple does, intentional around knowledge. In fact, the brand was conceived from their shared belief that knowledge equals enlightenment. With Groce as the brand’s Global Head of Enlightenment and Francis as the Global Head of Knowledge, the two set about bringing their mission to fruition through the opening of two Oak Bluffs art galleries: Knowhere Art Gallery, which opened in 2019, and the Center of Knowhere, which opened in 2020.
Like knowledge, the concept of enlightenment is also firmly rooted in the mission of the brand. According to Groce, “We are using this platform to inform people, to educate people, to invite people into a space where we challenge conventions and offer them the opportunity to see the world and themselves, their values, intentions, and desires, through art. And then walk away from that experience somehow changed and hopefully enlightened.”
While Francis has been the face of the galleries since their opening, Groce is as intrinsically involved. “The birth of Knowhere really does stem more from Ralph’s vision and impetus and he continues to be a guiding force in the platform,” said Francis. “We together, as a pair, vibe off of each other and that helps shape the directions that we’re taking today.”
It was their pairing that convinced Groce that opening the galleries and creating the platform was a direction the couple should take. About 20 years ago when Groce tried to start his first business, he was unable to get it off the ground. “There is $82 trillion per year doled out by venture capitalists,” explained Groce, “and less than 1 percent of that goes to businesses founded by women and people of color.” However, he said that though his business suffered catastrophically from this very thing, he would do it again. “If I had the chance to do that over again, ten times out of ten, I would do it, because it was such a valuable experience in terms of shaping my outlook. And one of the things that I walked away from that with, was that I wanted to start something that someone could help me with, as opposed to being a kind of lone wolf, if you will. Valerie’s background in art was perfect.”
Even though Groce’s background is in tech and Francis had never run a gallery, art has always been something at the center of their lives. “We now have spent 20-some-odd years collecting art. I love to write and I’m a huge music aficionado, and I’ve seen how those things can help people see the world differently and challenge conventions and bring people together.”
Again intention has been critical to the success of the Knowhere brand. “Steve Jobs says one of the important things about running a business is to be very clear, not only about the things that you do, but the things that you don’t do and won’t do. And that is equally, if not more, important than the things that you do,” said Groce. So while there have been many exciting opportunities for the galleries, the couple always makes sure that every opportunity, interesting and exciting or not, aligns with their core values and core mission.
One opportunity that exemplifies the core values and mission of Knowhere is their partnership with the Boston-based Artists for Humanity. This non-profit works “to bridge economic, racial, and social divisions by providing under-resourced urban youth with the keys to self-sufficiency through paid employment in art and design.” According to Francis, “We hired them to design our logo as one step in the direction of trying to get to know them. And when we did that, we decided that our first exhibition in July of 2019 would be focused on Artists for Humanity.”
After discovering the organization, Francis and Groce decided to work with AFH to create the look of their brand. According to Groce, “One of the beautiful things about that organization is that it doesn’t matter if the students have any artistic background or any artistic ambitions. There’s something for them to do. And in doing something, they discover something about themselves, about the world around them, about their own self-worth and value and where and how they can contribute.” Groce has now hired AFH to create the cover for his forthcoming book “We Have Nothing to Lose: A Dark Optimist’s Call to Action” — a title inspired by a sermon he heard Rev. Otis Moss III deliver at Union Chapel in 2021.
Since Knowhere’s first opening in 2019, the two galleries have gone on to host exhibitions every summer that amplify enlightening narratives and elevate both emerging and mid-career artists. In 2021, the gallery took its mission and artists off the Island to Art Basel Miami Beach and the SCOPE International and Contemporary Art Show with new works by LeRone Wilson and Charly Palmer. Knowhere Art has shown consecutively at Scope since then.
Both Groce and Francis see the Island as an incredible place to showcase art, since there are few places in the world where you have an audience from such a broad range of places. However, this year Knowhere went international as part of the prestigious bi-annual Venice Art Biennial. The 60th bi-annual exhibition was titled Stranieri Ovunque — Foreigners Everywhere and Knowhere Art was invited to participate in the European Cultural Centre’s “Personal Structures Exhibition” that “draws attention to current issues, from a global vision focused on the environment and social realities, compared to more intimate and genuine reflections.”
The Knowhere Art exhibit, “A Common Thread That Binds Us,” is not just the title of the exhibition that Knowhere Art held, it also encompasses the mission of the Knowhere brand. For their exhibition, Knowhere included four African American women artists, Alison Croney Moses, Maria-Lana Queen, Adana Tillman, and D. Lammie Hanson whose work shows us our shared connections through the cycle of life: creation, existence, and transition.
Moses’s wooden sculptural shells reflect creation and convey the essence of how identity is shaped as life emerges. Queen’s paintings build on this exploration of identity as we explore individuality and reflect on our lineage and ancestors through her use of mosaics and symbols. Tillman continues to investigate the passion of existence through her dynamic quilted panel of hand-dyed fabric and embroidered elements that depict the richness of human characteristics. Finally, Hanson’s work brings us to transition with a methodically created piece of goldpoint that serves as the artist’s reinterpretation of metalpoint inspired by Da Vinci’s technique. The piece also includes indigo to symbolize evolution and asks us to reflect on the beauty of impermanence.
Francis and the artists traveled to Venice in April and Francis’s excitement is still palpable, especially when she discusses the artists who will be on Island for Knowhere’s “Venice on the Vineyard” show. “Adana Tillman and Maria-Lana Queen are artists that we’ve shown on the Vineyard before,” said Francis, “And D. Lammie Hanson’s work was priceless for the conclusion of the life cycle. And Alison Croney Moses is out of Boston. She’s a RISD grad who came as a referral. Alison’s work is amazing. She actually creates shells out of wood that’s laminated and pieced together. And she allows the natural curves of the shell as well as the forming of the wood to just organically kind of take shape.”
When Groce and Francis embarked on this journey, the fact that Francis’s background was not in curating was never seen as an obstacle. In fact, they saw it as an opportunity to practice another one of their shared beliefs: FITFO – which stands for Figure It The F*#k Out. Groce credits FITFO for the success of everything he and the brand have done. “I remember saying to Val at our first exhibition in 2019 when she was fretting about curating because she’d never curated. I said: ‘FITFO.’ And if you’ve seen the show in Venice she curated, that is just exactly what she did. To see it in person is jaw-dropping, heart-stopping. It’s unbelievable. And to then witness the reaction of others who walk into the space and are completely taken aback by what they see and the impact it has on them, that’s FITFO. She has a black belt in FITFO now.”
The success of this partnership is not just built on FITFO. “At the end of the day, respect is always at the center,” said Francis. “It helps us figure it out together. And even if we don’t necessarily agree with each other’s side, trust and respect allows us to go with the other person’s point of view. We know that every argument isn’t to be won. Sometimes you just trust and go with it.”
“Trust is a super important thing for me,” Groce echoed. “I trust her judgment. I trust and respect her decisions. She may not do it the way I do it, or the way I would have done it, but that’s the power of diversity. I don’t want a bunch of little mes running around doing things the exact same way I would have done it. That works up to a point, but it’s never going to take you to that super next level. Knowhere, for instance; Val probably wouldn’t have come up with that, but I did and she trusted me. In Venice, you saw the very embodiment of exactly what the vision and mission state. And so she trusted me with the vision and mission, and I trust her with the execution.”
It makes sense that Francis and Groce want that trust and respect to be felt by all who come in contact with Knowhere Art. “It’s the same experience that we want our guests who come into the gallery to feel. They are greeted with warmth, respect, and the space to feel comfortable and ask any questions. There is a welcoming and hopefully a trusted feeling to the space. The art world isn’t necessarily known for that, but we try very hard to hold on to the principles that have gotten us so far. They are who we are as people.”