‘A is for Artist’ is more than a name, it’s a statement of purpose.
Calling it an “art” gallery might suggest that creation exists independent of creator.
Perhaps that’s why a new Winslow venue bills itself as “A is for Artists” – because it’s not just about the work, but those who bring it into the world.
“I really wanted a gallery here that looked at it from the artists’ point of view,” said Jessica Osborn-Turner, the gallery’s board president.
A glass artist herself, she has run for-profit galleries in Arizona and Idaho, but sees the new venture – a co-operative, in which artists will run the shop, nurture each others’ talents and get an unusually healthy cut of the proceeds – as a higher calling.
“This is different, it has a purpose,” Osborn-Turner said. “It’s about supporting artists, and making sure they can survive on what they do.”
The gallery opened last week in the new Seabreeze building at Bjune and lower Madison. Hailed by its founders as a welcome link on downtown’s steady crawl toward the harbor, the gallery gleefully bills its location as “91 steps south of Winslow Way.”
The space enjoys abundant light and opens onto a courtyard behind the building, where sculptures will be displayed in the warmer months.
About 12 artists are ground-floor members, and the co-op hopes to have around 40 in the stable at any given time.
“We’re looking for every medium,” said artist and co-op member Sally Prangley, “as long it’s got an edge and is intriguing, and isn’t something we’ve seen again and again and again.”
Some artists, like metal smith Ann Briggs and fine jeweler Connie Castellano, are familiar names from studio tours and the farmers market.
Other artists currently represented include Gerald Wright (wax “encaustic” paintings), Gerald and Rosemarie Dowell (watercolors), Lynn Hollister (fibers), Susan Vanderwey (jewelry) and Anna Huoy (pastels), talents hailing from around Bainbridge and North Kitsap.
Some of the names are still unfamiliar even to Prangley, who serves as the co-op’s marketing director and is herself a veteran of the Bainbridge arts scene since 1987.
“To me that’s very good,” she said, “because it means we’re becoming a venue for artists who’ve wanted representation but haven’t had it.”
Prangley’s own work is prominent, droll creations that infuse such playful elements as vintage game pieces into functional items like clocks, book ends and wire basketry.
Osborn-Turner works in the slumped and fused glass medium, while her husband Ian Turner paints wildly colorful, animal-themed canvases.
But just providing display-case space isn’t the point of A is for Artists.
The co-operative plans to offer health insurance to members, and ferret out grants for seminars and career and artistic development. Today’s glass artist could become tomorrow’s watercolorist with the right inspiration.
“We don’t want to box the artist in to what they’re juried in with,” Osborn-Turner said. “It’s about exploring and playing.”
There’s also the matter of lucre, which while it may not be the source of the creative impulse, certainly helps sustain it.
Co-op members will enjoy an 80-20 split of revenues off the sale of their works, far better than they would see at many commercial venues.
Also, the gallery’s website will offer more “gifty” items like T-shirts and coffee mugs.
Already, the melange of color and texture around the space conjure light-hearted comparison to the wares of Bon Bon, a confectioner that recently hung out a shingle in the same building.
“It’s kind of like the candy store next door,” Prangley said, “but visual candy, in a way.”
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O is for Open
A is for Artists Gallery hosts a grand opening, 5-9 p.m. Friday at 123 Bjune Drive, “91 steps south of Winslow Way.” The celebration will feature live music by Cajun band Whozyamama and catering by La Belle Saison. Contact: 842-2434 or www.aisforartistsgallery.com.
