By Kristine Stevens
April 3 will be a day of celebration for the folks at Desotorow Gallery at 2427 De Soto Avenue. From 7-9 p.m., this nonprofit organization will host an opening reception for its first anniversary exhibition, “One for the Row,” which will run through April 8.
Reception guests will be treated to cupcakes as well as 18 works of art.
“Because this show features work by a group of artists who had rented the space for a solo or group exhibit over the past year, there will be a wide range of disciplines and genres – including painting, photo, printmaking and fiber art,” Stevie Herendeen, Desotorow Gallery director of marketing said.
The exhibition will feature work by Ian Aleksander Adams, Alison Behr, Ashley Cole, Jim Collins, Michelle Cornejo, Mike Dowley, Kyle Ford, Kendall Glover, Beth Heppenstall, Zach Hixson, Eun Lee, Chelsea Parker, Michelle Repici, Anna Ryan, Lis Scarpace, Ashleigh Spurlock, Bevin Valentine and Kay Wolfersperger.
While some of the artists have ties to SCAD, like printmaking professor Eun Lee, Herendeen points out that “Desotorow Gallery is not affiliated with SCAD, so we find artists from not only the nearby schools, but also from the community and across the country to exhibit work at the gallery.”
According to Herendeen, there were 28 exhibitions held at either the Desotorow Gallery or its sister, the TruSpace Gallery, two doors down the street, during the first year.
“This [number] includes solo, group, and juried shows,” she said. “In addition, there were two separate craft shows, Junk in da Trunk, held as an open-air market in the street in front of the galleries last year.”
The opening reception will be held in conjunction with the Starland Arts District First Friday event.
“Every first Friday [of each month], the businesses in the Starland Arts District try to host events simultaneously or just stay open late in an effort to bring more people down to this area of town,” Herendeen said. “Because we are not located downtown, we do not get much foot traffic that is expected with similar organizations. Spreading the word and reaching patrons and artists continues to be a challenge for the gallery.”
The founders of the gallery are: Ai-ling Chang, director of programming, Kate Lewis, director of administration and Herendeen. Even though none of them has opened a gallery before, they were motivated by the need for affordable exhibition space and the lack of free public educational programming.
“Due to the college [SCAD] and the growing and thriving cultural environment in Savannah, there is a huge population of artists living and working here,” Herendeen said. “While there are plenty of galleries in Savannah, they are either too difficult to break into or too expensive for artists to rent for an exhibition. We also found that most of the galleries in the city take a percentage of the sale of artwork – something Desotorow does not do.”
“We realized that artists were increasingly asked to pay upwards of $1,000 to rent a space for an exhibition, which as artists ourselves, we thought was outrageous,” she continues. “We decided to offer a lower fee, which includes not only use of the space, but also our services to assist the artist in installation and promotion.”
Desotorow Gallery also offers free open critiques and career training designed for artists and hosts an annual high school juried show, “Young Artists Showcase.”
Gallery hours are Sunday through Wednesday, 2 p.m.-5 p.m.; Friday, 2 p.m.-5 p.m.; and Saturday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. For more information, call (912) 335-8204, e-mail info@desotorow.org, read the gallery blog at blog.desotorow.org or visit www.desotorow.org.
