Argyle Zebra Gallery transitions to community gallery to better support mid-career & emerging artists
(St Paul, MN, April 1, 2022) The Argyle Zebra recently transitioned to a Community Gallery under the new ownership of local artists Beth Stoneberg, Jessica Turtle, and Amy Clark. The three women, with backgrounds in administration, business management, and education, saw a substantial opportunity to better support the community by shifting away from the original ‘pay-to-play’ cooperative model to a nonprofit community gallery with the intent to better serve the robust creative community surrounding it.
One of Argyle Zebra Gallery’s Managing Partners, Jessica Turtle, says, “the past two years brought significant challenges to operating a small art gallery. We’re evermore convinced of the importance of our new direction to better support artists in the varying stages of their careers. We must provide a space that encourages artists to feel comfortable testing new ideas and to take creative risks.”
The Pandemic impacts many artists who have lost personal and professional opportunities to share their work publicly. Some have lost more important things like income or access to affordable housing. In alignment with our mission to support artists, we have provided accessible exhibition opportunities free for artists and open to the public. We’ve also offered Private Viewing Parties for artists to invite friends, family, and collectors to experience the exhibition intimately. Since the start of the pandemic we’ve been fortunate to provide exhibition opportunities to over 300+ artists living in Minnesota & Wisconsin.
The 2022 curatorial theme ‘Cultivate the Creative’ emerged from a reevaluation of our mission as a small nonprofit gallery responding to the pressures of a surging pandemic and increased demand for equity. It became clear that our primary role is to provide unrestricted access to community exhibition space. With that in mind, we redesigned the exhibition structure to showcase an artist’s best work, free of submission fees, content regulations, themes, size, or material restrictions.
HISTORY
Located in the heart of the Lowertown neighborhood of Saint Paul, the gallery provides an excellent opportunity for artists to share their work with the public. The gallery is nestled within the Northern Warehouse Artists’ Cooperative (NWAC), a self-governing, democratically run artists’ cooperative, one of the first such live-work spaces in the country to be developed. The Argyle Zebra made its home in a rustic street-level storefront in 1997, now situated next to Kyatchi, CHS Field and kitty-corner to the St. Paul Farmers Market.
ABOUT
Argyle Zebra is a public gallery where audiences can experience the diverse languages of cultural producers, artists, and arts organizers. The gallery serves as an entry point, playground, and test site, challenging artists to play and flex their creative muscles. We operate free of expectation, limit, and judgment. At the Argyle Zebra, we believe art is for everyone, and we strive to showcase artwork by professional, emerging, and mid-career artists of all backgrounds and experiences.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Call-Together (juried exhibition featuring 50 local and regional artists) runs 4/2/2022 through 5/29/2022
Saint Paul Art Crawl 5/13/2022 through 5/15/2022, more information: https://stpaulartcollective.org/art-crawl-events/
For more information, call 612-450-6210, email info@theargylezebra.org or visit www.theazgallery.org Find Argyle Zebra on Facebook and Instagram @theargylezebra. Gallery hours are Sat. & Sun. 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.
