Aesthetic Anniversary: Artist-run In-Town Gallery celebrate 40 years

Gay Arthur, left, and Victoria Pearmain prepare the space for In-Town Gallery's 40th anniversary celebration.

Jenny Kirkpatrick has been an artist most her life.

What she hasn't been is a marketing director, a salesperson or a docent -- until she became a member of In-Town Gallery, that is.

Kirkpatrick, a painter, joined in 2010, becoming one of 36 local artists who not only showcase their work in the gallery, but also manage every aspect of the nonprofit organization. From sweeping floors to purchasing toilet paper, from physically setting up new exhibitions to manning the cash register, each member works several hours each month to keep the organization up and running. Oh, and also to keep the gallery stocked with fresh art.

"It's a well-run business where each artist does a job and is an important part of the group," says Fitzpatrick, who also is the gallery's marketing director.

And they've been doing it successfully for 40 years, making In-Town one of the longest-running cooperative art galleries in the country. The gallery will celebrate its anniversary tonight with a video and photograph display from its early years as well as an opening exhibition of work by its two newest members, painter Nadine Koski and jewelry maker Carol Ott.

"We, as members, own and operate the gallery," says photographer Virginia Webb, who has been a member since 1999 and is now president of its board of directors.

She joined because it she thought it was a "superior opportunity" to show and sell her work. "And it has proved to be the case."

"This is a collection of artists that I admire and respect," she says. "I like them. We have fun. We enjoy the camaraderie, and we enjoy the work we do for the gallery."

And that work includes making right-brain, creative artists take on left-brain, oh-so-logical tasks such as accounting, keeping accurate sales and tax records and paying the bills, which can be a somewhat rocky evolution.

"It's the business of art -- the process of how to transition from creating art to selling art," Webb says. "You have to cross a business threshold in order to do that."

Webb also serves as chairwoman of the jury committee, which helps to select -- or reject -- new applicants to In-Town. Rejections are more common.

"We typically turn down about 60 percent of people who apply for membership from year to year," Webb says. "We have a stringent juried process."

In-Town Gallery's official opening was on Sept. 21, 1974. Shown, from left, are Sandra Baker, Judge Don Moore, gallery president Joan Bennett, founder Dorothy Gannon, Mayor Robert Kirk Walker, Robert Walker, Amy Stewart, Linda Ellis, Wendell Burns and Dee West.

Through email, hopefuls must first send a biography and five digital images of their art. Those are parsed out to a jury committee of eight people who decide if the artist fits with In-Town or not.

"If the artist is considered a good fit, the applicant brings in five pieces of their work that are less than a year old," Webb explains. "Then the entire membership votes. It's a daunting process."

But making the applicants jump through those hoops "gives the artist the opportunity to demonstrate how professionally developed they are as a professional artist," she says.

Koski, an encaustic painter -- also called hot wax painting -- says she "had to pinch myself" when she was told that she'd been accepted to In-Town.

"I was thrilled that I was really going to be in a gallery. I've been going to In-Town for years."

Ott recalls that "a big 'yahoo!'" came out of her mouth when she was brought in.

"I moved to Chattanooga in 2012, and I knew In-Town was a high-end gallery that had been around for quite a while and I wanted to be part of it," she says. "The fact that I was voted in by the membership was proof that what I do is worthwhile and appealing."

history

After opening in 1974 in a room off the lobby in the Read House (now The Read House Hotel Historic Inn and Suites) in downtown Chattanooga, In-Town moved to its current location on Frazier Avenue two decades later. The cooperative began with about a dozen artists.

"We were pioneers -- one of the first retail in the area," says painter Helen Burton, who recently retired her membership at In-Town after 15 years. "Moving across the river was a good decision. In-Town is in an excellent location."

Kirkpatrick says In-Town is the ideal outlet for artists to showcase their work, which ranges from pottery to sculptures, from oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings to fiber art, jewelry, stained glass, woodworking, etchings, laser art on steel, photography, pen and ink, mixed media and more,

And unlike most galleries, where management takes up to 50 percent of the sale price, In-Town takes just 20 percent, Kirkpatrick says. However, members must also pay $65 a month, which helps cover such bills as rent and utilities. No one gets paid a salary.

"Being in the cooperative is very much like a part-time job," she says. Each artist is expected to pull his or her weight by working on committees, in the gallery and also producing art.

"We typically don't show work over a year old, and every six months all our artists have to bring in new work and all the old work is taken down," says Webb, who is convinced that this policy is one of the reasons the gallery is successful.

"It keeps everything fresh, new and exciting. ... I don't know of another gallery or co-op that has the process we do. These rules are in the bylaws because they work."

In 2005, In-Town started a "First Friday" event where, on the first Friday of each month, a new exhibit is displayed. Now several galleries in Chattanooga have followed suit with their own events.

"First Friday started as a means to introduce artists to the community," Kirkpatrick says. "Most of our artists show up for this event so that they connect with other artists and people from the community."

Ott believes In-Town is good for the entire community, not just the artists.

"First, it's all local artists," she says. "Secondly, I think people, whether citizens of Chattanooga or those from out of town, enjoy having something they know was created by a local artist or artisan. And if they meet the person who created the work, it makes their purchase even more special."

Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6396.