About Thoughts on Art
I'm Christine O'Donnell, the writer behind Thoughts on Art. This blog was started in 2019 as a place for my personal thoughts and writing about art. It was a space for ideas that didn't have a home elsewhere. I've been busy in the intervening years with a variety of distractions, meaning that writing has been intermittent. If you read my biography below, you'll see that my professional pursuits in the arts are varied and certainly do keep me busy! Beacon Gallery, my original commercial gallery, existed in physical form, from 2017-2023. While juggling parenthood during COVID I started (and then completed) a Master's Degree in Art History (2020-2022) and appraisal program through International Society of Appraisers. (This was probably around the time I had a bit less time to post?) My largest focus from late 2022 though 2024/5 has been shifting my exhibition space and my curatorial efforts to ShowUp, which replaced Beacon Gallery. I encourage you to check out what we are doing there to support artists and the community through thoughtful creative placemaking and pivotal programming that provides support to underrepresented artists' careers.
I've also found a home for my professional practice writing (e.g. writing about the business of art) with Very Private Gallery, based in Madrid. Run by Mo and Greg, they are a fantastic organization that supports artists looking to bring their work to the next level, particularly with their online presence. They also support the back end of this blog, ensuring that I'm thinking about SEO and the look and feel of the site. Greg also designed the homepage. It's a fantastic relationship that is the definition of what a partnership can be when everyone is willing to show up and put in the work. I highly recommend considering working with them - check out opportunities for businesses here.
About Christine O'Donnell
Christine O’Donnell is the writer behind Thoughts on Art, and is also the founder and Executive Director of ShowUp, a nonprofit contemporary art space in Boston, MA. She is a curator, art historian, art writer, consultant and lifelong educator. To all she does, O’Donnell brings her knowledge of the commercial art world (having been the founder and director of Boston’s Beacon Gallery), as well as her decade spent as an educator, her time working in advertising/marketing, and her 12 years living in France, Hong Kong and Singapore.
A graduate of College of the Holy Cross, with a B.A in French, O’Donnell speaks fluent French and conversational Spanish. Additionally, she holds an M.A. in Teaching from Tufts University, and an M.A. in Art History from the U.K.’s Open University. Her Master’s thesis focused on artists’ grassroots organizations and American museum critique in the late 1960s and early 1970s. She also studied at Harvard Business School in 2024-2025 as part of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative’s 2024 Upswell Forum Cohort, a program which supports social impact leaders working in communities of color.
O’Donnell has juried exhibitions for Tufts University’s New Ventures Creative Arts Entrepreneurship prize, the New England Sculpture Association, The Attleboro Museum of Art, The Boston Society of Architects, Boston City Hall’s Boston City Employees National Arts Program, the Fay Chandler Emerging Artists Exhibition, the Hopkinton Center for the Arts, and Artscope Magazine’s Artist Feature. O’Donnell has also been an invited speaker at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA), the School of Museum of Fine Arts (SMFA), the Newton Art Association (NAA), the New Art Center and Harvard Education Portal & Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE). O’Donnell’s skills as an art management consultant are sought out from as near as the New England Sculptors Association and Temple Gallery NYC, and as far away as ArtsActivism Papua New Guinea and galleries in Melbourne, Australia.
As part of O’Donnell’s international scope, she is a partner at Very Private Gallery in Madrid, Spain. She is also a member of the Advisory Council at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (ICA), a member of the Association of Women’s Art Dealers (AWAD), and a member of the Boston Art Dealers Association (BADA). She is also on the board of the Arlington International Film Festival and the Boston Art Review magazine. Additionally, she trained as an appraiser with the International Society of Appraisers. She was also a member of the Newton Cultural Council from 2018-2020 where she was influential in refining and standardizing the granting process, as well as co-led the organization’s branding, website and social media launch.
O’Donnell balances her career with an active family life in the Boston area, with her husband and two school-aged children.
Christine has been honored to be featured on the following podcasts and series:
Very Private Gallery: How much is my art worth? Art Appraisal and pricing tips
Catherine Orer's The Artist Entrepreneur, September 21, 2022, Building Strong Relationships with Galleries
Fine Art Insights with Michael Rose, Sept 29, 2021 A conversation with Beacon Gallery owner Christine O’Donnell