Arlette Tebele was always a talented artist. In the past, Arlette didn’t always have the nerve to show her art to the world. The uncertainty of whether or not people would react positively to her work typically put her on edge.

One day, Tebele decided to confront her fears and post one of her works on social media. She got such positive feedback from people almost immediately. Not only did people like it, they wanted more of it for themselves. This is when Tebele’s career path took a turn for what she never would have expected. Her style of art could be categorized as a combination of pop art and street art.

A piece by Tebele featuring the well known comic strip characters, Cavin and Hobbes.

While attending The New School (Parsons) in New York City, she began giving art lessons and was hired as an art teacher in Magen David Yeshivah. On top of that, Arlette was selling her custom art to people that requested it.

During her time in school, Arlette made a name for herself in the art world. After she graduated, Arlette began to take note of the opportunities for her career in art that were rolling in and hustled as hard as she could to assure she seized each one.

Tebele's mural painted on the exterior wall of a building in NYC.

When she was just starting out, Arlette’s uncle knew someone that had bought a rusty old building in Bushwick, NY. He felt that it didn’t quite fit in with it’s artistic surroundings. It was then that her uncle suggested that his friend hire Arlette to spruce it up. She jumped on the opportunity and painted a beautiful mural in New York City for all to see. It’s colorful and innovative style brightens up the city street.

Arlette was also given a once in a lifetime opportunity to open up her own gallery in Manhattan. A friend came to her one day with a proposal. He had a dusty space in Soho on Bowery street that he was having a hard time renting out because prospective lessees couldn’t see the potential. He came to Tebele with the idea to clean up the place, make it look nice, and she could use it as her studio for low rent.

Another mural painted by Tebele located in NYC.

At this amazing location, low rent is not something that really exists so, although she had to get her hands dirty, Arlette hustled to get it done. Around that same time, Arlette became a new bride and was also busy planning her engagement party and wedding. She knew this meant she just had to work harder and didn’t let anything slow her down.

She cleaned the place, hid all the hanging wires, and repainted and furnished what was now her new gallery. Arlette also created multiple new pieces to sell out of the gallery as well.

Tebele's art gallery on opening night.

“It was a crazy hectic time,” said Arlette of her start up, “but I was enjoying it. I made sure to stay present in the moment and reflect on my life and the great opportunities.”

The renovations of the gallery took one month to complete.

At her gallery’s opening night, business was booming. Even Bill De Blasio, Mayor of New York City, made an appearance and posted it on his social media. Arlette managed to sell a lot of paintings on opening night and the future seemed promising.

Another piece painted by Tebele hanging in her gallery.

Unfortunately, the following month wasn’t as successful and Tebele didn’t understand why. In such a great location with so much foot traffic and with all of the new attention she was getting, Arlette wondered why she was not making the sales she expected.

Soon, her twin brother visited from Israel and quickly realized why she wasn’t doing as well as she should. Arlette had the prices up right beside her paintings. He said that people might be a little intimidated by the prices and it would benefit for her to take them down. This would allow prospective buyers to have a chance to fall in love with a piece before they can even think about the expense. Arlette quickly heeded her brothers advise and saw an instant improvement in sales. She is now doing great and gets customers from around the country as well as internationally.

Arlette's brother viewing a piece by the artist in her gallery.

Once or twice a week, Arlette hosts events in her gallery to increase income and foot traffic. She signs on different artists to show their work in the space next to hers and hosts launches for new brands and businesses as well as lunch parties and networking events. Arlette recently hosted a charity event for the Propel Network and in the coming weeks will have a toy drive for the coming winter holidays.

“My favorite part of the job is making things that make me happy and then putting it out there and seeing people really responded to it,” said Arlette of her exciting and unique occupation.

Tebele had a lot of advice to offer an aspiring artists as well.

1. If you love what you do, keep creating what you love to create, like me. People will see your passion through your art work.  

2. Accept that there's going to be ups and downs and don’t let the ‘downs’ keep you down because there's another ‘up’ waiting around the corner.

3. Take the time to find your style and do so by trying all different types of art and using different mediums to create.

To see more of Arlette Tebele and her art, follow her on Instagram @arlettetebleart, visit her website, or stop by her gallery located at 276 Bowery, New York, NY.

Frieda Schweky

Frieda@sephardic.org

Frieda Schweky is Sephardic.Org's official community events reporter. For inquiries and to get involved with our site, please contact Frieda via email.