How Litsa Spanos Connects Artists and Art Lovers

Photograph courtesy ADC Fine Art

Art Design Consultants’ Fine Art Gallery in the West End is all about the reveal. At 13,000 square feet, the former popcorn-factory-turned-gallery/sales showcase/event space is unassuming at first. “Once you get inside here, it’s a big wow moment,” says founder Litsa Spanos.

Spanos founded ADC more than three decades ago as an art consultancy firm. Having called multiple spaces home before finally opening at 1013 York Street, she’s connected dozens upon dozens of clients with working artists from across the globe in her career. Their artwork can be found everywhere from homes to healthcare facilities to corporate offices.

Photograph courtesy ADC Fine Art

Before entering the West End gallery, visitors are greeted by a vintage door that carries a piece of Cincinnati history: It once belonged to the first African American Mayor of Cincinnati, Theodore M. Berry. It’s a clever reminder that inclusivity and approachability form ADC’s foundation.

A good many of ADC’s public events are women-focused, including the New York Fashion Week-esque Wearable Art Fashion Show on September 26. The show will feature prominent Cincinnati women walking the runway alongside professional models to pair dresses with artwork and will also include experiential activities like dip-dying your own accessories.

Photograph courtesy ADC Fine Art

Other fall events at the West End space include artist gallery shows by Brittney Uehlein and Katie Zhestkova on October 3, Girl’s Night Holiday Shopping Soiree on November 13, and Art Comes Alive Artist Meet and Greet on November 14.

The author of Secrets of the Art World: Getting Real About the Process, Business, and Selling of Your Work (2017), Spanos is passionate about giving working artists the exposure and the business tools necessary to build careers around their talents. She isn’t a fan of the term “starving artist.” “What we can do to help each other grow and build each other up has been one of the things I’ve worked at throughout my career,” she says.

Spanos is also passionate about helping both artists and art buyers understand the inherent value of artwork and about demystifying the art-buying process. “It’s not about what you know, it’s about how you feel when you see a piece of art,” she says. “It should instill a feeling. Even if you don’t know anything about art, when you come in and walk out of ADC, you will be inspired. That’s the number one goal.”