Which was the first piece that made you feel like a collector?

The very first piece I got that I felt was real art was this screen print by Yuki Nakamura. She had had some beautiful large installs at the gallery next to the frame shop, then had a show with cheap prints. I ran and got one for $20.

How have you found quality work on a limited budget?

This portrait, “Attempted Murder,” by Chris Crites, was the first piece I ever got from a gallery with a payment plan. It was only $400 or $500, but I paid it off over three or four months. A bunch of these other works were trades. I was working in that frame shop for about five years, and during that time, I made about 50 websites for artists, galleries and arts organizations. There are probably 20 or 25 pieces in the apartment that are traded, either for a website or for a piece of my own work.