Gallery 49 News

As we get nearer our opening day the gallery is all a buzz in preparation! Walls are being built and floors are getting painted and excitement is building! We have a nice array of artwork that will fill the gallery by August 1st. Paintings in a variety of mediums and styles, stained glass creations, hand carved wood sculptures, fiber art, polymer clay sculptures, paper cutting, photography and student art will be on display for show and sale. Our opening weekend coincides with Reading Festival Days so if you are in our area be sure to stop in to meet the artists and enjoy all the great fun and food of the festival! This picture is the layout for our gallery, gift shop and classroom. Come see what we are all doing! Hope to see you there!

Art Guild Picnic

I attended the Hillsdale County Art Guild picnic last Monday night. What an enjoyable evening that was! We met at a members home on Middle Sand Lake and we couldn't have asked for a better view and finer weather. We had a great time talking about art and sharing our experiences. Our county as well as most of Michigan has suffered from several closings of manufacturing plants. Gudi Gilbert, one of our artists, said it best when she said, "Companies move out and art moves in". How true it is! There has been a real surge of artistic events happening in our county and we are beginning to see that arts and culture play a huge part in income as tourists leave their mark in our towns. Besides as my friend, Kathy Falls, says, "When you watch the History Channel the thing that is left behind and lives on when cultures die is the artwork". So I guess we artists need to be highly appreciated and paid much better for our efforts!

Gallery 49

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything and Gallery 49 is to blame! I am so excited to be a part of such a great adventure! Gallery 49 is a project that I have been working on for two years with other members of our arts council, ArtWorks of Hillsdale, Inc. It is finally coming to fruition! The gallery is owned and operated by an artists co-op and will be filled with several area artists whose work consists of paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolor, photgraphy, wood carving, polymer clay, glass, fiber and paper cutting. Not only will we have a fine arts gallery but there will be a gift shop, classroom and artists garden as well. We plan to have many artsy events with art walks, musicians and much, much more. Don't miss our opening gala on August 1st, 2nd and 3rd during Reading Festival Days. Meet the artists and see what we envision. Come to Reading, Michigan where art is expanding the small town culture!
Gallery 49
119 S. Main St. (M-49)
Reading, MI 49274