RiNo's NINE dot ARTS doubling staff as art-consulting firm takes off

Martha Weidmann and Molly Casey started NINE dot ARTS in December 2009 after their previous employer, Denver-based art consultancy McGrath and Braun, closed their doors.

 

"They were hit hard by the recession, like everybody else," says Weidmann. So the duo bought some of the company's contracts and struck out on their own.

 

Three years later, NINE dot ARTS is four employees strong, not including contractors and interns, and looking to double to eight by summer 2013. Weidmann says the company is looking to hire three project managers and one art consultant. 

 

"Basically, we curate art collections for corporations, new-build healthcare facilities and boutique hotels," says Weidmann. "We help them develop an art program that relays their message and their brand."

 

Recently completed projects include SpringHill Suites Denver Downtown on the MSU Denver campus, decorated entirely with works by students, staff and alumni, and a number of corporate offices. "There's a huge market for connecting artists and companies," says Weidmann.

 

Currently underway are projects at the Marriott Renaissance that's slated to open in the historic Colorado National Bank at 17th and Champa streets in late 2013 and the Exempla Saint Joseph Hospital at the old Children's Hospital location in Uptown. "Art can humanize a healthcare facility," says Weidmann of the latter, slated to open in 2014.

 

The company is named for the nine-dot puzzle, says Weidmann. "The way to solve the puzzle is to make four straight lines connecting all nine dots without lifting your pen from the paper. The only way to solve it is to go beyond the box" -- which is a metaphor for the company's philosophy, she notes. 

 

Weidmann says RiNo is the perfect neighborhood for NINE dot ARTS HQ. "It's a little rough around the edges, but there are a ton of really creative people here."