As a boy, Eric Preisendanz spent his free time creating blueprints for elaborate buildings and homes, with details about elevations and where furniture items would go. Twenty years later, as an art advisor and curator, he pores over blueprints and floor plans for buildings in Philadelphia to map out where to hang art pieces.
Eric’s appreciation for visual expression and willingness to get his hands dirty in pursuit of art dates back to his WMS days, when he remembers dabbling in various art projects in art teacher Laurie Muhlbauer’s class.
“Montessori added to the hands-on, tactile, sensory-based curiosity I’ve always been attuned to,” he said. “It’s why I don’t mind hanging wires on the backs of frames or stretching canvas - it comes with the territory.”
Following his graduation from WMS in 2000, Eric attended Wilmington Friends School, where he began dabbling in art installations and sculpture, and got involved in converting a small bus into a traveling art studio.
After high school, he attended Rowan University, where he studied fine art and sculpture. But two years into his program at Rowan, he realized there were more art opportunities in Philadelphia, and transferred to the University of the Arts, where he earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in sculpture.
Eric’s need to pay the bills won over his initial aspirations to pursue a career in art, and he landed his first job after college as a membership supervisor at the Northeast Family YMCA, where he had spent several summers working as a camp counselor. Through his next job as a building supervisor for Target, he learned about business administration, risk and loss, and the responsibilities that come with business ownership, all of which began to resonate with him.
Five years into his job at Target and recently divorced, Eric was starting to plot his career path back into the arts. Then he was involved in a car accident, which left his car beyond repair (fortunately no one was hurt) and resulted in a cash payout that he decided to use to start his own art exhibition curating business.
