{"id":1467,"date":"2011-02-18T04:54:45","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T04:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15bytes\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2025-11-10T08:45:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T15:45:53","slug":"karl-pace-and-martha-klein-another-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/karl-pace-and-martha-klein-another-look\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl Pace and Martha Klein: Another Look"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carol Fulton takes a closer look at Karl Pace and Martha Klein, who were one of the couple’s featured in this month’s special feature on artist couples and who will be having an exhibit opening this evening. Photos by Bill Fulton<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt has never been agonizing or anything less than pleasant to work together,\u201d says artist Karl Pace about making and selling art with his wife Martha Klein.\u00a0 Many artists work together, but Pace and Klein also sell together, on the art festival circuit as well as local shows. This is a second marriage for both of them. They share an addiction to documentaries about artists, love gardening, and have really enjoyed traveling together for 11 years doing the Art Festival Circuit around the Western part of the U.S. It wasn\u2019t something you could just breeze into \u2013 there\u2019s a lot of pre-planning, applying to the festivals, packing the truck, setting up and striking the booths, figuring out pricing, how to do the credit card thing, how to get to the venue, where to stay at a reasonable price. And of course there\u2019s making all the art to take to the festivals.<\/p>\n

Martha used to co-own a craft cooperative in downtown Salt Lake City, back when she worked in textiles. She says there were about a dozen members and inevitably there was tension, competition, anger. So when she and Karl decided to go on the Festival circuit, she put a lot of thought into how to make it work.\u00a0 They pro-rated everything, keeping track of their expenses, how much each made in sales, so the person who made more in sales paid more of the overall expenses. They always had two booths, but made sure they were next to each other. The cost\u00a0 of getting there would be the same, just the booth would be extra. \u201cWe\u2019ve always kept our finances separate, but we\u2019re one. We are kind of an \u2018us,\u2019\u201d says Martha. Both of them have won several awards at festivals, including a few \u201cBest In Show.\u201d That\u2019s no mean feat considering the number of participants at any given venue.<\/p>\n

The only disagreements the couple runs into are about what art to buy or trade to hang in their house. Things are quickly resolved — Karl, with tongue in cheek, says, \u201cI just let her have her way\u201d and Martha laughingly adds, \u201cBecause I\u2019m right.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple met years ago in college, where both were\u00a0 pursuing degrees in English, but lost contact for many years. At present Martha works as an editor for graduates\u2019 programs at the University of Utah (not as a teacher, as was mistakenly stated in this issue\u2019s article on artist couples). Karl started out with an ad agency and now does market research. Both of them gradually made their way into the art world, so that when they met again they still had a common, though new, interest, art. They are sensible about it \u2026 \u201cYou\u2019d better figure out how you\u2019re going to support yourself if you\u2019re not in the highest echelons of successful artists,\u201d say Karl. Martha adds, \u201cThe only downs are financial, so as an artist couple you must sit down and reassess your goals often.\u201d\u00a0 Excellent advice for all of us from folks who seem to have it all figured out.<\/p>\n