Somerville with artist Julie Lehite. Photograph of Somerville courtesy of The Fearless Artist.
Instead of house parties for the neighbors, Somerville brings curators and other art-world professionals together with artists at various events and pop-ups. The Fearless Artist has become a fixture at, one of the country’s biggest art fairs, attracting enthusiastic press and thousands of visitors. One unexpected partner has been the skin-care company Olay, which came into her orbit after Somerville discovered that it had a line of body washes also named Fearless Artist. Rather than getting mad about it, she reached out to the company, and now they’re working on an initiative—funded by Olay—that offers scholarships to aspiring artists.