Evalyn Daniel-Putnam is behind the art at some of Orange County’s poshest hotels.
Her Laguna Beach-based Daniel Fine Art Services Inc. helps hotel owners find art,sculptures, paintings, handcrafted vases, mosaics,for their guestrooms, front desks, ballrooms, hallways, lobbies, outside areas and
elsewhere.
In the past three years, the company, founded by Daniel-Putnam 23 years ago, had about
$7 million in sales. It employs eight people.
Local clients include the Montage Laguna Beach, Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach and The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel.
Across the nation, Daniel Fine Art Services has adorned The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites in Los Angeles and several Four Seasons.
More Educated
Hotel owners “now are far more educated about art and take a personal interest,” Daniel-Putnam said.
She can work directly with hotel owners or developers. But mostly, she works with a
project’s interior designer.
At the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, which was renovated earlier this decade, interior designer Pamela Anderson called in Daniel Fine Art Services.
Anderson is a partner of Anderson Miller Ltd., an interior design firm with offices in Chicago and Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
On projects such as the Ritz-Carlton, An-derson describes the needs and dimensions of the spaces. Daniel Fine Art Services then selects the artists and puts to-gether pieces to choose from.
“It’s a nice business relationship,” Anderson said.
In the end, the hotel owner buys art and ser-vices from Daniel Fine Art Services.
The company buys art directly from an artist or through galleries. Daniel Fine Art Services focuses on upscale hotels. It doesn’t lease art, as some art consultants do.
Orange-based Crussell Fine Arts leases and buys art for corporate offices.
Daniel-Putnam said she determines whether the hotel is budget minded or interested in boosting its cachet with fine art and notable artists.
“Neither is a negative,” she said. “One is to decorate and the other is to support art.”
Daniel Fine Art Services taps artists from all over the world, including Ireland, Greece and Laguna Beach.
“If we love their work, we’ll say, ‘Send something to us,'” she said.
Or Daniel-Putnam will travel to see bigger pieces of art.
“I’ve flown to New York because it was impossible to ship it,” she said.
Malibu artist Jon Krawczyk does large abstract bronze sculptures and has supplied art for about five projects in the past three years for Daniel Fine Art Services.
The company will describe the budget and the space, he said. Then Krawczyk makes something or recommends an existing piece.
The work comes sporadically, he said. Daniel Fine Art Services buys the pieces from Krawczyk, usually at a discounted price, and then marks it up for sale to the owner.
Daniel-Putnam started out as an artist in high school. During the summer, she painted boats for boat owners.
She studied art and business at Scripps College in Claremont, a private women’s college. She graduated with the idea of opening her own business. But first she worked for a local art consultant.
Her Break
She got a break when a college friend asked her to help find art for a project. Soon, she discovered hotels.
Guestroom art has become elaborate at luxury hotels, she said. At Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa in Las Vegas, Daniel Fine Art Services brought in large handmade mosaics to adorn
the walls.
The challenge is in creating a new look for each hotel.
In Anaheim, Daniel Fine Art Services is
working on two projects that are across the street from each other: the Hilton Anaheim and Anaheim Marriott, each with some 1,000 rooms.
“They can’t look anything alike,” Daniel-Putnam said.
One of the most difficult projects was the Montage. Laguna Beach, like others, has a public arts program that requires developments to dedicate 1% of construction costs to art.
Her client was the Montage’s developer, Phoenix-based Athens Development Co.
The city wanted more Laguna Beach artists to be represented at the resort.
“It’s hard to tell a developer what to do,” she said. “You have to consider the community’s needs with the ownership’s needs.”
In the end, “We did a good job of balancing,” she said.
