In February, you can buy this photo framed and matted for under $99 (if the Gallery founders want it, of course)
Tomorrow, I’ll get to go to Glens Falls and hopefully photography some of the remarkable people who are helping to put together a new kind of art gallery, Gallery 99 which will get a temporary home in the renovated Empire Theater Building on North Street in downtown Glens Falls. The name comes from the fact that all of the art sold will be $99 or less. I will be offering the above photo, taken in Glens Falls, framed and matted, along with some other Glens Falls photos and some notecards.
Maria is working with the organizers to plan the gallery and choose the art. I’m just taking photos, hoping to capture the experience of three very talented people putting together a new kind of gallery. Gallery 99 was inspired in a small way by the Creative Union/Affordable Art Show Maria, Christine Nemec and I put on in Dorset. The idea was to rethink art and pricing in order to reconnect with people who want and need art but can’t afford most conventional gallery art. Artists will offer their work for less than $100, and Gallery 99 is looking for good stuff to sell. I think it’s a great idea and I can’t wait to take photos of this process.
More tomorrow. Art is important and somehow, people have become disconnected from it and artists are struggling to find audiences. My belief is that creative people have to get creative about the way they make and sell their art, in order to begin rebuilding a market for art and culture. In many case, I started selling my photographs as notecards and Maria converted some of her quilting ideas into potholders. New ways of presenting our art for people struggling to buy it. This approach is an individual choices for artists, obviously, as each artist has to figure out how to make a living. I think Gallery 99 is a brilliant idea, and Maria and I are both excited to be a part of it. We know some of the people involved, and they are enthusiastic, impressive and very experienced. Stay tuned.