Arts & Entertainment
10 Questions with Birdsey on the Cape's Sue Carstensen
Osterville gallery owner was the first to sell Birdsey paintings in the United States.
10 Questions, Shoot!
Q: What did you dream of being as a kid?
I must have wanted to be a carpenter, because my first memory is of all us kids selling lemonade to earn enough money to buy a Handy Andy tool kit. Everyone wanted one of those tool kits!
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Q: How does your personality play into your business?
I’m a dog lover (I have 4), and I always bring 2 of them into work with me. You have to talk to the customers in order for them to feel like buying a painting, and the dogs are able to get those conversations going.
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Q: At what moment did you decide to open a business?
My husband, Sandy, and I were moving back to the Cape from Concord and I wanted more Birdsey paintings for the new house. At that time, there wasn’t anyone selling them in the US. I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if someone here sold them, and that’s how it all got started.
Q: What inspired you?
Birdsey was having an oil show in Boston, and when he ended up with some work that didn’t sell, we told him that we would take them. Afterwards, we flew to Bermuda and bought a lot of his watercolors, which he is more famous for. For me, his paintings are about boats and happiness.
Q: Describe the biggest challenge of owning a business in the town of Barnstable?
The town regulations. For 29 years I put balloons out on my storefront, and then, in year 30, the town came along and told me I couldn’t put them out anymore.
Q: Describe the best thing about owning a business in the town of Barnstable?
Getting the winters off!
Q: What is one thing you would never change about your business?
Taking my devoted “employees” to work with me everyday—I don’t have to pay them and they never complain!
Q: What is your business’ greatest asset?
All of the wonderful artists that we have. Birdsey paintings are a small part of it now. We have a 94-year-old artist and then some much younger ones. It’s a nice mix.
Q: What is your favorite spot in town?
My house, my swimming pool. I can look out my window and see Joshua’s Pond.
Q: What’s one thing the community should know about you?
That we did not move from our old location on Wianno Avenue by choice, and that our new location, in the red barn behind the kitchen and bath store on Main Street, is well worth finding!
