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Artists gallery reaches out for public support

MICHAEL KELLY The Marietta Times Artist Akemi Matsumoto and volunteer Jim Rapp discuss ways to make the window display more attractive at the Riverside Artists Gallery in downtown Marietta Thursday. The gallery has launched a fundraising campaign to support operations and initiate new programs.

Jim Rapp carefully suspended stained glass images in the Riverside Artists Gallery display window looking out on Second Street Thursday, consulting with artist Akemi Matsumoto on ways to get maximum attention from pedestrians walking by the artist co-op storefront.

“This stained glass needs some exposure,” said Rapp, a gallery volunteer.

The Riverside gallery has been in operation for more than two decades, founded as a cooperative for artists to market their work and also as an interface between artists and the public.

It offers not only artwork ranging from unique and thoughtful everyday objects such as clothing, jewelry and household decorative items to oil paintings and ceramics but also classes in art and design techniques conducted by professionals and events that allow ordinary people to meet and talk to the artists themselves.

There’s nothing else like it in the area, and now the gallery is asking for support. A GoFundMe campaign launched in February has as its goal to raise $15,000 to help gallery operations and to expand its offering of programs.

Madeline Grant, 28, is the newest and youngest member of the co-op. On Wednesday night she was tying up some loose ends after closing hour and reflected on the gallery’s potential.

“I’m the first of what I hope are many new artists to join the co-op, and I feel like Riverside could grow out from here,” she said. “I’d like to see a sort of renaissance, a fresh start with some new programs.”

The gallery is funded through artist membership fees, commissions on works sold, fees for public programs, donations and grants. The grants, she said, are for very specific purposes – the exhibit of art from high school students on display through the end of March is an example.

Riverside has unique value in an area known for the quality of its art, Grant said.

“I’ve worked in private galleries and loved them, they’re very elegant and what people traditionally think of when they think about art,” she said. “But here, this is art that’s not for the elite, it’s for everyone. It’s approachable, you can come in not knowing anything about art, and talk to us, take classes.”

The cooperative basis of the gallery gives it artistic diversity, she said.

“Every artist brings something different,” she said, gesturing at the space to indicate the work on display.

The GoFundMe campaign is not just a fundraising effort, she said, but also a means to let the public know that the gallery depends on its fans for help and support.

“We need to keep the lights on, but it’s not as if we’re shutting the doors tomorrow,” she said. “It’s easy to look at a storefront and assume that the store is doing well, but sometimes you wait until it’s too late to ask for help.”

Co-op artist Betsy Cook said that in past years up to 85 percent of the co-ops sales have been generated by tourists and visitors, but that traffic is not as brisk now. She said some artists have moved to other small businesses downtown as sales venues, and membership has suffered from that phenomenon.

“They’ve taken in artists, and that’s wonderful and understandable, but it’s hurt our membership,” Cook said. She also noted that the economy doesn’t seem to have recovered well locally, and art often goes to the bottom of people’s priority lists in difficult economic times.

Grant said contributions are welcome, but the gallery would prefer participation.

“If you want to donate $20 that’s fine, but by all means do it by signing up for a class. We’d rather teach you something than just getting something from you. Be here with us,” she said.

Art is not merely decorative. A recent study by the National Governors Association, cited by governing.com by the association’s CEO, Scott Pattison, indicates that the arts and culture sector of U.S. industry contributed $763 billion to the GDP. Of that nearly 10 percent was generated by states with greater than 30 percent rural populations, employing more than half a million people.

It is also pervasive in the human environment. From the majesty of public murals down to the pedestrian detail of doorways and license plates, art gives interest to the built up landscapes around us and fends off the perils of monotony.

“Art is a part of our everyday lives, and that communal space of artists is definitely an intricate part of any great community,” said Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce President Carrie Ankrom. “It’s important to preserve the arts for ourselves, for our children.”

Matsumoto’s work in the Riverside gallery is in a modest area near the back of the space. Her canvases are of natural objects, minimal, with curves, orbs and waves that radiate a quiet, serene energy.

“My intention, sort of, is that you feel calm when you walk into a room with my work,” she said.

The gallery’s schedule of events for the next several weeks includes weekly advisory sessions with Virginia Killian, “Go Your Own Way,” for those who need some help with materials and techniques, a class in use of alcohol ink with Cathy Norosky, texture painting with Killian, Ukrainian egg decorating with Anna Vukovic, a photography workshop with Bruce Wunderlich, and felted scarf making with Tracy Leinbaugh of Peach Ridge Fiber Arts.

For those who wish to support the gallery but can’t make it to classes, the fundraising campaign is at https://www.gofundme.com/help-save-riverside-artist-gallery.

Grant has begun a weekly drop-in opportunity, “Coffee with an Artist,” on Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., a casual way to meet artists over a cup of fresh coffee.

“When you’re an artist, like anyone who is good in their chosen field, you better people’s lives without them even realizing it,” she said. “Art is in everything.”

Riverside Artists Gallery

•Membership: 12 artists.

•Location: 219 Second St.

•Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday.

•GoFundMe campaign site: https://www.gofundme.com/help-save-riverside-artist-gallery

Source: Riverside Artists Gallery.

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