Collector Samara Furlong Thinks You Should Buy Art That Gives You Butterflies

“When you purchase something from an artist, their energy is in your space,” collector Samara Furlong told Artsy on a recent call. Furlong is the founder of Buffalo Prescott, the Detroit-based nonprofit residency program she launched in early 2024 that focuses on supporting artists with children, which has given her an intimate window into artists’ experiences. In addition to the residency, Buffalo Prescott acts as an arts incubator and hosts community gatherings, including traditional art events like talks and exhibitions, as well as programs like a pancake brunch and kid-friendly workshops.

Along the way, Furlong has amassed an eclectic collection that includes painting, sculpture, furniture, photography, and prints. Many of the works she owns are by women artists, often people she knows or has met personally, such as LaKela Brown and Lauren Quin. Herself a mother and trained artist, Furlong approaches art collecting with the same people-first ethos that characterizes her nonprofit.

Born and raised in Detroit, Furlong grew up around art. Her grandmother was a collector, and Furlong’s childhood was filled with works by well-known figures like Mark di Suvero and Alexander Calder. “They are exceptional pieces, but I was always taught to have an intimate relationship with art—that it’s supposed to be touched and loved, not hidden behind a glass box,” she said. Some of her earliest memories of art include playing on a di Suvero tire swing and pretending to feed the frogs and birds on a Diego Giacometti table. She also spent hours visiting museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Detroit Institute of Arts, where she worked on and off in curatorial and research roles for years.

Furlong’s foray into collecting began when she was a child. It first started with keychains, then her grandfather guided her on collecting folk art, and eventually, she became enamored with jewelry. It wasn’t until Furlong became enmeshed in the art world professionally in her 20s that she purchased her first piece of contemporary art. At this time, she was living in New York and working as a sales intern at the megagallery David Zwirner before becoming a curatorial intern at the Dia Art Foundation while maintaining her practice as a photographer.

Among the first pieces of contemporary art she purchased was a 2017 print by Cynthia Talmadge depicting a dorm-like bedroom from the New York gallery 56 Henry. Furlong visits galleries often, sometimes to buy art and sometimes just to get inspired by what’s on offer and meet the artists when she can. “It can really make a difference when you meet the artist,” she said. “Once I was in the back of 56 Henry, and the artist Lakela Brown was there for her show. I hadn’t been planning on buying anything until I met her and thought, ‘this woman is amazing.’ Developing a relationship with the artist is crucial, because they are giving a part of themselves to you through their work.”

Furlong is also a regular attendee at art fairs, joining the crowds at events like the Armory Show, Art Basel, and NADA, where she has been particularly successful finding art she loves in recent years. “I buy from NADA a lot actually, most recently a few paintings from [the gallery] Hair+Nails,” she said. Furlong describes art fairs as “the best place to take a pulse on the market,” adding, “you don’t have to go to fairs to buy art; there are lots of different kinds of people who attend, including artists and students. It’s a way to see a huge amount of art at once.”

She also commissions work directly from artists. For Buffalo Prescott, Furlong had artist-in-residence Shaina Kasztelan create colorful designs for free safe-sex and Narcan kits distributed through the nonprofit’s mutual aid program, “Casual Safe.” Furlong also commissioned a table from furniture designer Christopher Schanck, whose studio space Buffalo Prescott took over when the artist was moving.

Beyond these personal connections, Furlong lets a range of factors guide how she buys art, starting with what she calls “the flutter effect.” “It’s something my dad taught me as a kid. It’s basically the feeling when something hits me, and I have a visceral reaction,” she said. “I think of this as starting with the heart.” When she saw the Cynthia Talmadge piece, Furlong was drawn to the colors and the work’s “playful aesthetic linking to a more uncanny reality,” she said. “The visceral reaction really links to the flutter effect.”

After the heart, she is drawn to art that she can’t stop thinking about. “When this happens, the work is in my brain—it’s stuck and all I want to do is know more,” she explained. “It doesn’t have to come from an intellectual place: If you feel something and you can’t get a work out of your head, that might be the right piece for you.” Part of knowing more is understanding how an artist made the work, she added: “When I can’t figure out how something was made, I am immediately drawn to it.”

As for new buyers learning to cultivate their tastes and navigate the industry, Furlong emphasized the importance of being hands-on with discovery. “Ask questions and spend time looking up art and artists,” she said. For direct access to artists, Furlong suggests going to open studios, which are typically free, public events organized by art schools, nonprofits, and residencies. Individual neighborhoods might also host similar programs to highlight their artist communities.

During these events, visitors can see behind-the-scenes and learn how art is made, view new pieces and works in progress, and get to know the artists themselves. “[Open studios] are like being a kid in a candy shop—there’s creativity everywhere,” Furlong said. Among the open studios she visits are those of academic programs like Yale University and Cranbrook Academy of Art.