Over decades in the entertainment industry, Mary-Louise Parker has accumulated an eccentric art collection. The actor, best known for her starring role in Weeds and the new Stephen King adaptation, The Institute, first was drawn to black and white photography. One of the first big purchases she ever made was a Sally Mann photograph called “Virginia at 6.”
She now has art from thrift shops and junk stores along with a Willy Ronis photograph that Whoopi Goldberg bought her. Her favorite piece came from the set of Fried Green Tomatoes, the 1991 movie she starred in; it’s a painting depicting a woman Parker describes as “a hiccup away from being embalmed.” She’s added pieces to her collection little by little, even displaying art by her own children.
“There was something to me in understanding that [art is] what you respond to, and it’s what makes you happy and what changes your day when your eyes rest on it,” Parker tells us.
Parker and Gillingham. Tina Turnbow
Now, Parker, alongside her close friend of decades, television producer Nikki Gillingham, is hoping to make collecting art more accessible. The duo launched Parker + Gillingham, an online gallery selling pieces by female artists from a host of diverse backgrounds and walks of life. For each purchase made on the site, the gallery also makes a donation to a charity of the artist’s choosing. The goal is to provide a venue for artists often overlooked in the broader art market.
“What we really hope is that it’s not just a place where you go and make purchases,” Gillingham says. “We hope that it can be a place where people can explore and find new and exciting businesses that are run by women or are benefiting underrepresented communities.”
The pair finds these artists in a variety of places. There are some that Gillingham and Parker have wanted to spotlight for years. Others they found out about through friends and family—someone’s child with a hidden talent, an elderly friend with a lifelong passion—and a few artists now submit their own work to the Parker + Gillingham site. Parker has also been known to troll social media (or even senior centers’ websites) for artists; Gillingham will then email or direct message them about coming on board. The current slate of artists ranges in age from early 20s to late 70s and hails from ten countries including Ghana, Iran, and Pakistan.
The Parker + Gillingham site. Courtesy Parker + Gillingham
Gillingham, an Emmy-nominated producer who worked on The Masked Singer and Stand Up to Cancer, has always been interested in art. She comes from a family of artists, including her grandmother, mother, and sister. She herself began drawing in 2018 after years of thinking she “couldn’t draw a stick figure,” she says.
“I loved art but I was very insecure about it. I never felt like I had the pedigree—I didn’t feel like I was welcome in the room, even in a gallery,” Gillingham says. “I would always look in the windows but I was too embarrassed to walk in.”
This feeling was part of the spark behind Gillingham’s initial idea, selling pieces from female artists at a wide range of price points. “We wanted it to feel like everyone’s gallery,” Gillingham says.
She and Parker have been friends for decades. They met, Parker notes, because they had “a rock band in common,” meaning they were dating members of the same music group. They speak with the ease of a duo who can finish each other’s sentences. Gillingham came up with the initial idea for the gallery but, she notes, “It was Mary-Louise who came in with this elevated initiative and mission that made it more than just a marketplace.”
Parker spends much of her time on philanthropic work. During our conversation, a timer went off, indicating that an apple pie she was baking was ready to come out of the oven. Gillingham explained that Parker auctioned off a homemade pie in a fundraiser for the Girl Scouts of America, and now the lucky winner was cashing in on the big prize. (“I tried to get it; I was outbid,” Gillingham laughed.)
Aura Pure, a piece by Jennifer Baker who sells her work on Parker + Gillingham. Baker is a recent cancer survivor whose work, the site says, “emerged from her personal journey through darkness toward light.” Courtesy Parker + Gillingham
Now, Parker + Gillingham is in full swing, having launched this March after two years of preparation. They hope to continue to grow their slate of artists, while also nurturing the individuals they have already—and sell art that can grace first apartments alongside Ikea furniture just as well as it suits an established collector’s walls.
“Our little motto is art has no borders. Everyone can be touched by anything,” Parker says. “For a lot of the world right now, everything has to be put into categories and sides have to be taken and so forth. And art eclipses that.”
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