Hello Eugene and Surrounding Friends!
Why start here with the Gallerista
Diet? Because we have spent half a year getting ready to open, are a week
away and my Curator, the brilliant Robert Canaga, says that is what I am
(unintentionally!) on -- a mixture of excitement, adrenaline, the busy work of
starting a new career, a new business, and following my bliss. More about
that later. Anyway, the whole thing is making me physically littler and
littler, so small you can hardly see me, but for the most fun of reasons.
Right now I am so excited and bubbly my friends are calling me Ms.
Champagne! Every day an adventure, meeting and working with the most
fantastic people, and having been in the most amazing art classes for over a
year now... Creativity x 100, as my friend Carla Axtman put it (an amazing photographer
herself!)
Yes, as a girl I did a lot of art,
and as a teen I so wanted to go to art school. I went to a small high
school located in an old frat house on the Case Western Reserve Campus, and
walked by The Cleveland Art Institute every day. I would stop and stare
with true longing. But at that time, I was not solid in the way I see so
many high school kids today. I didn't have the courage of my dreams.
Later, I followed many other wonderful dreams, first studying and then
teaching philosophy, then a career switch when my three boys were little to
become a psychotherapist which I did for two decades, and now not so much (to
me) a reinvention as an evolution: doing art and owning an art gallery.
I go no further before I tell you
that this gallery is not about my own art. Our mission:
Sharing exceptional
contemporary artists, art,
and art education
with the world community.
To that end, I would like to share
with you our represented artists, from all over Oregon. Eventually we do
hope to present artists from other states, other parts of the world, and we
will do "calls to artists" periodically. But I could not be more
proud of this group:
Lillian Almeida, Robert Canaga, Jill
Cardinal, Kirk Lybecker, Renee Manford, RandyOrtiz, Michael Orwick, Sarah
Sedwick, Angelita Surmon, Randall David Tipton, Jeff White
We are thrilled by the truly warm
welcome from the Eugene/Springfield art community, as well as Portland's,
Ashland's, and beyond. I never realized the kindness of the arts
community, until I began taking art classes. And now, as a gallery owner,
it has delighted me. It is our hope to be the best, contributing, supportive
members we can be of this exceptional group of artists, art lovers, galleries,
museums, and all of you. Already, we have been given so much; so much to
give back. We do hope to reach all of Oregon and (to infinity and)
beyond.
Follow this blog for photos of the
gallery as it was under construction, tidbits about our artists, ourselves
(what makes our own socks roll up and down in the art world and in life!)
and much more. If you would like to support us, share this blog and
our facebook page (see below) with your friends. Above all, stop in and visit us and the artwork! And finally, for now,
our first events and our contact info:
Soft opening: Monday, April 1,
11-5. This is a quiet opening but friends and family welcome to visit!
Do! After Monday our regular hours are Tuesday - Saturday 11-5 or
by appointment. Evenings and weekends will hold extraordinary events, from
one day art classes (calendar to be published soon) to an ongoing Art History
Lecture Series (by UO/LCC faculty and other experts) to tributes to the
non-visual arts, to all sorts of things. The Gallery is available for
events; do get in touch if you are interested.
Grand Opening Open House:
Saturday, June 1, 4-8 p.m. Catering by Rye!
Yours in gratitude, Amy
Amy Isler Gibson, Owner and Manager
(amy@tgatws.com)
321 Mill St., Suite 6 (3rd &
Mill; street parking pls.)
Eugene, OR 97401
w: 541-844-1668 f:
541-844-1348 c: 541-729-0551
