TalkAbout: Red Dot Collectors’ Panel

Red Dot 2022

We’re pleased to host Katelena Hernandez Cowles, Sarah Luna, and Chris Tomlinson for a panel discussion on collecting, moderated by Kristen Force of Ellis Force Art Partners.
Aspiring and emerging collectors welcome! This event will illustrate how and why others build their art collections. Panelists will discuss their path to collecting, highlighting both the highly personal and routine aspects of purchasing artwork to feature in their homes.  

Register using the form below.

About the Panelists

Sarah Luna is a contemplative artist, art collector and spiritual psychologist. Luna embraces creative expression as a spiritual practice, through which she creates ethereal images that invite contemplation and reflection. Fascinated by both the seen and unseen, her work explores light, energy and essence. As a collector, she is drawn to an eclectic range of works that delight, nourish and inspire her.

Katelena Hernandez Cowles’ current bodies of work focus on the comforting impact of love songs, love letters, and “piropos,” seductive Mexican compliments; a line of padded and sugar-based comfort clothing items and accessories; and mass-deployable comfort strategies for those displaced from their homes by natural disasters, economic catastrophe, and war. In addition, Ms. Cowles has served as the Head of Education at the Austin Museum of Art; as an independent curator and exhibition designer; on the Boards of Trustees for ArtL!es magazine, Women & Their Work (including a term as President), and The Contemporary Austin museum, as well as numerous support and selection committees for the Austin Museum of Art, Mexic-Arte, the City of Austin, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Chris Tomlinson has written commentary about money, politics and life in Texas for Hearst Newspapers since 2014. In 2021, the Texas Association of Managing Editors awarded him columnist of the year, and the Headliners Foundation named him Texas’s Star Opinion Writer. He’s authored two New York Times Bestsellers, “Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth” and “Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name – One White, One Black.” Before joining the Houston Chronicle, he spent 20 years with The Associated Press reporting on politics, economics, conflicts and natural disasters from more than 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Kristen Force has over 12 years of experience in the post-war, contemporary and emerging art market. She spent over 5 years in post-war and contemporary art at Christie’s New York as a specialist and special projects manager. During her time at Christie’s, she oversaw a series of charity auctions held in collaboration with the Leonardo Di Caprio Foundation, David Zwirner, The Clinton Foundation, and contemporary artist Takashi Murakami. Following her time at Christie’s, she was a senior member at Ordovas, a London-based 20th century art gallery. She holds a BA in International Communications from Texas Christian University, an MA in Modern and Contemporary Art history from Christie’s Education, New York and an MA in Art and Politics from Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is an accredited member of the Appraisers Association of America. A native Texan, Kristen moved to Austin in 2019.