When Area 61 gallery opened in 2009, it started with the founding partners, David & Rudd, who needed a place outside of their workshops to show and sell their handcrafted furniture and woodwork. We could only afford rent in the revitalizing southside district and embraced the energy to bring the community together maintaining the diversity and eclectic tone set by CreateHere, a local economic development project with a five-year mission to rejuvenate the area and fill the empty spaces. Its model later evolved to other such community projects like the Co. Lab and Glass House Collective.
Realizing the gallery had substantial wall and surface area, Keeli pitched in and reached out to other local artists they had met at AVA (Association for Visual Artists), 4 Bridges Arts Festival, and the Chattanooga Market. Artists were asked if they wanted to show and sell at Area 61. They in turn taught us some things about running a gallery, working with artists and referred other talented artists to the gallery when additional space became available (and until the space was full floor-to-ceiling). David, Rudd and Keeli — we learned the gallery model by instinct from previous retail experience, nonprofit and other marketing experiences, artist input and by the seat of our pants — from our gut and intuition. Our parents taught us respect and the golden rule, and the artists we attracted shared these character attributes. Diversity decisions were always about the mixing of mediums and art styles, not the artists themselves.
Rudd and David really only wanted to create in their workshop, not manage artists and wall space. Keeli left her corporate job and came on board full time to merchandise, remix, and communicate more among the artists. Being approached weekly by talented local artists, but no more available space to show their work, she’s continually maintained a waitlist and made the decision to represent local artists (and immediate surrounding area artists) at Area 61 to focus on our community. Artists came and went, and as space became available, Keeli based her decisions to add to the mix from a wait list of local artists who had approached her and solely on their work style - reaching out to those artists whose mediums didn’t directly compete with the styles already represented by the gallery. We hosted the work of a local area artist of color in the space until life and opportunity led him in other directions. During our 8 1/2 years on the Southside, only two artists of color approached the gallery about being represented and were wait-listed only due to lack to wall space. We always wanted the gallery to be welcoming to all and art to be accessible for all. We have clients of all cultures, color, ages, walks of life and from all over and we intentionally offer a wide range of price points so anyone can collect a piece of local and handmade.
With time, Keeli began to get outside of her small business bubble, joined other arts organizations to advocate for local artist opportunities and attended more local arts events again. We all got to know more of our local artist community outside of the gallery and more of color. When the decision to move the gallery from the Southside to the City Center was made to reach more of our out-of-town buyers, more space was available so wait-listed artists were approached to see what they had available, if they still had interest in the gallery and if they wanted to participate in the new business model. Many artists had moved on to galleries in other cities, and were engaged with city or nonprofit sponsored public spaces creative opportunities as our city embraced what artists and creatives could bring to the table in building community.
Our new gallery space build out took two years. We quit approaching artists from the waitlist to see where we’d be at reopening to ensure the 20+ artists who committed to our move for those 2 years would have first priority to show their work. At opening November/December 2019 and now post COVID-19, we are surprised how quickly the new space - double the square footage - became full. We still maintain a waitlist and encourage any local artists to submit images of their work, online portfolios or social media sites for style reference, along with their full contact information via the website contact form. When opportunities to remix the space arise, we will reach out to artists whose work complements and doesn’t compete with the current mix to see if the artist is still interested and has availability.
As for our personal views on racial injustice and equality during this dynamic time of change, we are Chattanooga natives and feel that actual movement to do better, be better in areas of humane treatment, equal access and justice for all for our city/county residents is overdue. We’ve seen waves of frustration and requests of our leaders on these same issues many times. We have attended downtown protests, marches, council meetings, reached out to local agencies, and council members to see how the next steps for action can be taken so momentum isn’t lost this wave and we do not return to the status quo. We fully support the asks of divesting and reinvesting — reallocating budget funding for equal access, YFD and other community building social and transportation services for Chattanooga and Hamilton County’s black and brown communities. We hope too that the county works diligently to meet the asks for better educational opportunities for all our residents. We continue to be enlightened about years of injustices, from the Ed Johnson trial by mob and subsequent lynching(s) to the continuing mistreatment from deep-rooted (misguided) beliefs and generations of hate. We are thankful that Chattanooga is more united than ever to no longer tolerate these actions and the numbers of us who are committed to seeking remembrance, reconciliation, unity and positive change grow daily. We are in and hopeful that Chattanooga will be better and lead based on our area’s needs and build stronger communities together.