Studio & Gallery turns 15 this month, and it’s throwing a party Friday night to celebrate.
The space at 1027 Main Ave. opened in March 2010, beginning as an artist studio, said Tim Kapustka, one of the four founders of the gallery (Carson Jones, Sarah Steppelman and Tirzah Camacho rounded out the group). Kapustka is still an owner artist along with Shawn Lotze and Lorna Meaden.
If you go
WHAT: 15 – An art exhibition celebrating 15 years of Studio &.
WHEN: Opening reception, 5-9 p.m. Friday. Exhibit through March 22.
WHERE: Studio & Gallery, 1027 Main Ave.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.anddurango.com.
“When we started, we were very much a studio: It’s called Studio & Gallery because we always had an intention of being both. But if you would have found us in June of 2010, we were 98% working artist studios. We each had one of those nooks that would have been a different artist studio,” he said. “There was paint on the floor. The music was loud. When we were open, if you’re there working, keep the door unlocked, and we’re open. The public was in a studio.”
And while Studio & has morphed a little over the last decade and a half to look more like a gallery, the fun, DIY aspect of the space remains: So, too does the tradition of hosting an opening reception and exhibit monthly (with rare exceptions). Kapustka said in the beginning, & would host openings and close the show the same night – it was part of the studio’s learning curve, with the education being ongoing, even 15 years out.
“We didn’t know how to do this. None of us said we’re going to open a gallery and this is how you do it,” he said. “We learned everything by doing wrong, by doing right and adjusting from that.”
For the 15-year celebration, the gallery will host an opening Friday called, aptly, “15.” The exhibit itself will run through March 22, and features the work by artists including: Crystal Hartman, Ann Coddington, Miki Harder, Bram Jenkins, Dan Groth, Tom Kipp, Jenn Rawling, Mike Brieger, Colossal Sanders, Alex Bonson, Jon Bailey, Lindsay Mark, Juanita Nelson, Sara Buscaglia, Ron Fundingsland, Mary Ellen Long, Jared Reed, Noah Lindenthal, Clint Reid, Michele Pierce, Elizabeth Kinahan, Todd Scalise, Maureen May, Shan Wells, Lorna Meaden, Lillian Babcock, Shawn Lotze, Minna Jain, Kapustka and Shay M. Lopez.
The group of artists includes former owners, members and others who were invited by the artists to join, which illustrates the overriding principle of Studio &: It’s a space by and for artists. Artists show their work at &, but they also work as well, Kapustka said, right down to the relatively unsexy stuff, such as bookkeeping and fixing the bathroom, to the fun of creating art and celebrating it with the community.
“Studio & pridefully is of the artist for the artist, and that’s why I keep doing it, because I am a working artist and I benefit from being able to show my work in our gallery. But it’s not the three owners and the 16 owners of the past. We do it for all of the artists, not just ourselves,” he said. “We have this saying over our door, which I lifted from one of my heroes, Milton Glaser, it says, ‘Art is work.’ It’s fun work a lot of times, but it’s still work. But (it’s) work that makes us feel like that’s what we’re here to do. I mean, you take art away from this town, it’s a different town.”
katie@durangoherald.com
