[ back ]
Cooperating to form community: Earth Arts Gallery blossoms
(by Elizabeth Martin - September 17, 2008)
Back in July, Earth Arts Gallery opened its doors, becoming the area’s only cooperative, or co-op, art gallery. The small gallery, located inside a uniquely purple-trimmed building on North Beverwyck Road in Lake Hiawatha, is trying to evolve into a local hub for artists and like-minded individuals in the surrounding community.
“We’re trying to reach out to the community,” said Laura Cole, one of the central founders of the co-op. But, this isn’t always the easiest thing to do on a street with little foot traffic and a community who isn’t used to the arts being right next door. “It (art co-ops) is in every single state you go to, but New Jersey,” she attested.
Cole and her husband, Skip, opened up the Center for Clay Art, in the space adjacent to the future home of the Earth Arts Gallery eight years ago. When the space next door became available, Cole and several of her students decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Earth Arts is now 19 members strong after just two and a half months and as such, the gallery is looking for ways to expand their basis of community support and involvement, through events, activities and the strength of the co-op model.
The co-op model
Teaching the community about what a co-op does, is part of the problem Earth Arts is battling. While most people have a good sense of what a traditional art gallery does, a co-op doesn’t work the same way.
In fact, a cooperative art gallery is quite different from a conventional gallery. For one, the artist displaying in conventional art galleries rarely owns them, unless that artist is extremely successful. Conventional art galleries have to be worried about their bottom line, and as such, aren’t able to take many chances on shows that will not be financially successful.
Co-ops, on the other hand, are member owned and supported. An art co-op is a group of artists rallying their efforts towards the same common goal of exhibiting, and hopefully selling, the art that they have created. While they are still for-profit galleries, with each member paying either a monthly fee or renting ‘shelf space’ to be exhibited in the gallery, by unifying together, artists are able to share the costs of exhibiting, studio space and possibly even educational outreach programs into the community. Co-ops are able to give exposure to artists who might not otherwise be able to get exhibited in a traditional gallery.
For example, members of Earth Arts Gallery are given a permanent exhibit space and also will get one of two solo weekend shows per year. Also, since 90 percent of their members are not business people, they are given the opportunity to brainstorm with other members to come up with different marketing strategies for the gallery. This kind of collaboration affords everyone a greater chance for success.
While this may all sound fantastic, co-ops do have their downsides. The chief one being that since it is a group-owned business, everyone’s voice has equal say. This means tough decisions can often be difficult to reach.
Everyone is also required to put in a certain number of hours into the gallery so that it can be open. Cole said this was one of Earth Arts’ biggest challenges at first. Hours and committees might look good on paper, but getting them to work correctly was the tough part.
Community outreach
But, these bumps in the road have been smoothed and Earth Arts is starting to find its rhythm and really focusing on how to get community involvement. Earth Arts will have a booth with pottery wheel demonstrations at Parsippany’s 10th annual Street Fair on Sept. 21. They will also being hosting an Acoustic Circle at the gallery on Friday, Sept. 26 with folk music, complimentary wine and hors d’oeuvres. Additionally in the works is a holiday event in November called, “Soldier’s Angels” to benefit the troops. They will have a sale at the gallery and have holiday cards for people to fill out and send to soldiers over seas.
“This is a very warm atmosphere. A nice, warm comfortable atmosphere for creation,” asserted Cole. And the gallery does invoke a sense of well being. There is nothing pretentious or intimidating about the space, and you feel like you are in the gift shop of the museum rather than the museum itself. Cole points out that you can pick up much the art for sale, and with their reasonable prices, perhaps even purchase something. She credits the gallery with having a “very nice” arts and crafts feel to it.
With 19 artists currently displaying in the gallery, there is a variety of different media and styles on display. While still looking to expand with new members working in new media, they currently have jewelry, photography, pottery, clay sculptures, paintings, glass works and even their own resident dog artist.
Angela Teixeria who works in acrylics, doing these dog portraits, was one of the founding members of the co-op. For her, the co-op has been beneficial already. She has received an increase in commissions from people who would like portraits done of their dogs.
Aside from the financial benefits, Teixeria also enjoys being around “like-minded people” and feeling that she, “could bring my personal style to the group. Anytime you see someone else’s artistic style it is something that inspires you,” she attested.
She also enjoys that Earth Arts is less intimidating than a traditional gallery. She said, “Earth Arts is a more fun and gifty type of a place. Affordable, but still art, still special.”
Rachael Bell, a potter who has been involved with Cole’s studio for about four and a half years, is another one of the founding members of the co-op. She enjoys the challenge and inspiration that comes from having her work on exhibit. And attested that, “Having customers respond positively to my pieces is certainly an added incentive and confidence-booster!”
Similarly, Cole herself thinks, “This is a really great thing for basement artists.” People can become part of a community on either a consignment or member basis.
But, what Cole likes best about Earth Arts is that it allows people, “Such a wonderful opportunity, you can see the process and buy the product. This is not high end, this is affordable.”
And especially at a time when people are concerned about not only prices, but also transportation costs and buying locally for environmental reasons, what better a place to visit.
Earth Arts Gallery is located at 28 North Beverwyck Road in Lake Hiawatha. The gallery is open Monday-Thursday from 5 to 8 p.m., Friday from 3 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed on Sundays. Visit them online at www.earthartsgallery.com or call 972-402-0222.
Staff photos by Demetrius Balevski
Photo 1: Polymer clay frogs and lizards by artist Sandy Lehman hang in the Earth Arts Gallery.
Photo 2: Some of Laura Cole’s own humorous bird clay sculptures on exhibit.
Photo 3: Art work from various member artists on display at the Earth Arts Gallery. Some of the artists with work shown above include: a HorseHair Raku pot by Laura Cole, a dog portrait by Angela Teixeira, sculpture by Carol Carlson, photography by Christopher Paul and a mask by Andrean Bonte. Visit Earth Arts Gallery, located at 28 N. Beverwyck Road in Lake Hiawatha to view more work by these and other artists.
[ back ]
