Closing One Door, Opening Others
About twenty years ago a little shop opened up in the Atlanta neighborhood known as Candler Park. It was weirdly named Donna Van Gogh's Artist Market. Donna Van Gogh doesn't exist, she never did, the owner made up the name. Of course she's gotten a lot of phone calls and many people have said "I talked to Donna and she said..." It's all part of the quirkiness that is this store.
Many Atlanta artists got their start there. Many of them built a name for themselves and moved on, some kept work there because of loyalty to the shop and the customer base in the area. Some artists got so famous the owners didn't even bother hanging their art on the wall, it wouldn't sit in the store long enough to be worth the bother. That's a loyal following.
They took my work when I was just starting to sell it. I met an artist at a show and she recommended the place. She told me I'd get a check every month, it might not be a big one (or it might be) but something would sell. For the most part that was completely true. It felt really, really good to be selling in an actual gallery. It was a tremendous confidence booster for sure.
Now twenty years later the doors to Donna Van Gogh's are about to close permanently. The reasons are many, age, too much competition from big box stores, festivals, and pop-up shops, lack of comfort with technology, it doesn't matter. It's going away and that is sad. I wish only good things for the owners and the artists going forward.
It's said that one door never closes without another one opening and I've found that to be true. As we say good-bye to Donna Van Gogh's, we (many local artists) are also preparing for the re-opening of The Collective which had to relocate over a year ago.
The Collective has moved into the cottage, which is an old victorian house that has also moved to be right around the corner from The Krog Street Market in Inman Park. It's a great location and everyone is very excited. The soft opening will be today. I just dropped off some pottery there and it looks fantastic, you should visit soon.
Kaboodle Home, which is a great store in East Atlanta Village will also now be carrying my pottery. I'm really excited about being here too. It is my neighborhood so it feels right on so many levels. I'll be bringing some pots into the store the week after the East Atlanta Strut which is this Saturday, the 27th. Go check it out.
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff
Many Atlanta artists got their start there. Many of them built a name for themselves and moved on, some kept work there because of loyalty to the shop and the customer base in the area. Some artists got so famous the owners didn't even bother hanging their art on the wall, it wouldn't sit in the store long enough to be worth the bother. That's a loyal following.
They took my work when I was just starting to sell it. I met an artist at a show and she recommended the place. She told me I'd get a check every month, it might not be a big one (or it might be) but something would sell. For the most part that was completely true. It felt really, really good to be selling in an actual gallery. It was a tremendous confidence booster for sure.
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| Donna Van Gogh's |
It's said that one door never closes without another one opening and I've found that to be true. As we say good-bye to Donna Van Gogh's, we (many local artists) are also preparing for the re-opening of The Collective which had to relocate over a year ago.
The Collective has moved into the cottage, which is an old victorian house that has also moved to be right around the corner from The Krog Street Market in Inman Park. It's a great location and everyone is very excited. The soft opening will be today. I just dropped off some pottery there and it looks fantastic, you should visit soon.
Kaboodle Home, which is a great store in East Atlanta Village will also now be carrying my pottery. I'm really excited about being here too. It is my neighborhood so it feels right on so many levels. I'll be bringing some pots into the store the week after the East Atlanta Strut which is this Saturday, the 27th. Go check it out.
Check out the gallery page - Future Relics Gallery by Lori Buff
Jeff and I were talking about some changes that have occurred in a pottery here in Seagrove, then I clicked to your blog and read this post! You are right about one door closing and another door opening... but it's hard to get used to changes, especially when something has been around a long time and it is an embedded part of the community.
ReplyDeletelife is like that full of ups and downs for sure, sad an institution is closing though but glad another one is re-inventing itself.
ReplyDeleteDANG. I love shops like that!
ReplyDelete