Sixth Street Gallery \ MOSAIC Arts Alliance

2020 Mosaic Arts Alliance of SW Washington Facebook

Sept 1 2020
Our Gallery 360 Grand Opening art exhibit starts today! This exhibit highlights the talent and diversity of our MAA members. Check it out!

Mosaic Arts Alliance of SW Washington
August 31, 220 Vancouver, WA  ·
Tomorrow is the BIG day!! The Grand Opening of our online gallery, Gallery 360 opens tomorrow and runs through October. Are you ready for a virtual art experience? Support artists by visiting the gallery from the comfort of your own home, share with friends and purchase artwork!

2019 Gallery 360 Facebook

Please visit the new Mosaic Arts Alliance of SW Washington Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MMAswWA/ so you can continue to follow the adventures of former Gallery 360 members and all the new artists who have joined the arts alliance! We are bigger and better than ever!.

2017

Citing rising rents, downtown art galleries closing

Priced-out gallery owners bemoan increases, lack of city support
By Scott Hewitt, Columbian Arts & Features Reporter
Published: November 10, 2017

This week, two different downtown Vancouver art galleries issued virtually identical statements about closing up shop: “Economic and other factors beyond the gallery’s control have made it necessary to leave.”

After two years occupying the lower level of the big Boomerang cafe and resale shop on Main Street, the gallery curated by abstract painter Tom Relth will move out. Relth will hold a final moving sale during this weekend’s Clark County Open Studios tour. “My dream was exposing Vancouver to all different kinds of art,” he said. “Creating some new patronage for art and for Boomerang.”

But business was never enough. Developer Ryan Hurley, who owns the Boomerang real estate, said by email that plans are still under wraps, but the gallery’s departure will “make way for a new concept we are rolling out at the first of the new year.”

A few blocks away, Gallery 360 will leave the historic Slocum House, in the southwest corner of Esther Short Park, at the end of this year — after a final “Deck the Halls” show and sale. While that won’t be the end of the nonprofit Mosaic Arts Alliance, which has leased and operated the space, it will be the first time since 2005 that Mosaic has no gallery and no base.

“Three 10 percent increases in rent in the last 2 1/2 years,” Mosaic’s Susan Williams said. “It’s taken all our reserves.”

Gallery attendance was great when doors opened three years ago, she said, but it’s steadily declined — even during monthly First Friday Art Walk events. Art lovers don’t seem willing to venture away from Main Street and across the park in the dark, she said.

That makes three major gallery departures from downtown Vancouver in one year. The seminal North Bank Artists Gallery, a cooperative and community-minded venue that lasted 14 years, was forced out by rising rent in May.

All of which makes John Turley, president of the Mosaic Arts Alliance, wonder: “Should we take down all the ‘Arts District’ signs?”

Both Mosaic and Relth say they’re looking for new gallery options and are eager for help. But North Bank pursued the same hunt for a long time and never did come up with a viable alternative.

The Slocum House is city of Vancouver property, and it used to house a theater company and then a wine-tasting room. But the master lease, now held by the Vancouver Farmers Market, includes a 10 percent rise every year; market master Jordan Boldt said he delayed passing those rises along to Gallery 360, and is looking forward to renegotiating the lease.

“Ten percent a year adds up, pretty quick,” Boldt said. The folks at Gallery 360 said they’re grateful for Boldt’s forbearance and “disappointed” in the city.

READ MORE AT: www.columbian.com/news/2017/nov/10/citing-rising-rents-downtown-vancouver-art-galleries-closing/

Vancouver’s Sixth Street Gallery might go under

Artists co-op needs to raise $3,900 by Aug. 8 to stay open.

The Columbian Published: July 27, 2010 | /www.columbian.com

Patrons of Sixth Street Gallery peer through a window outside the gallery. The downtown Vancouver gallery will close at the end of August if it can't raise enough money to cover expenses.

Arts in flux

Sixth Street is far from the only arts organization to struggle since the recession. Gallery 21, the former artists co-op in downtown Vancouver, closed in April 2009 after 21 years, due to dwindling membership and sales. The Cupola Gallery in Old Town Battle Ground closed in April of this year for the same reasons.

Financial straits prompted the Vancouver Symphony to cancel its April concerts. The organization launched a Save the Music campaign and exceeded its fundraising goal of $20,000. This allowed the professional orchestra to put on its May concerts and begin planning for the next season.

The Camas Performing Arts Series, which just completed its 25th season, also is struggling. It was announced in May that the series will take the 2011-2012 season off. Declining volunteers, ticket sales and sponsors prompted the hiatus.

But even as some arts organizations are shuttering, others are springing up to fill the void. Eight new galleries have cropped up in downtown Vancouver since last summer. One of them, Niche Wine & Art, moved into the space Gallery 21 used to occupy on Main Street.

Sixth Street Gallery hopes it won’t be added to the list of felled arts organizations. The gallery is asking for people to make tax-deductible donations to Mosaic Arts Alliance, buy art at the gallery, become a dues-paying artist member or art supporter, and attend special events such as the upcoming Art in the Heart festival, a screening of the documentary “Who Does She Think She Is?” and a benefit fashion show.

If everyone gives a little, Sixth Street may not be another casualty of the recession, according to MacKenzie.

“We desperately want to stay open,” she said, “but we need some outside help.”

But if that interest doesn’t start translating into dollars soon, there won’t be a Sixth Street Gallery, said MacKenzie, a co-op member and president of Mosaic Arts Alliance, the gallery’s nonprofit parent organization.

Sixth Street Gallery, which would celebrate its sixth anniversary in December, will close Aug. 31 if it can’t raise $3,900 by Aug. 8. The gallery, at 105 W. Sixth St., is struggling to cover rent and other expenses in the face of declining sales, class registrations and donations over the past year.

“We’ve been struggling for months, and it’s just at the point where we’ve got to make it or break it,” MacKenzie said.

The gallery needed to raise $5,000 to remain operational. So far, it has received a $1,100 donation from a member, but $3,900 remains.

That money would cover rent and bills for at least three months, and would buy the co-op’s 19 members time to pursue corporate partnerships, private donations and increased artist participation in juried shows, MacKenzie said.

Sixth Street Gallery gets new home, name

By Mary Ann Albright
Published: September 18, 2010 | /www.columbian.com

Sam MacKenzie, president of Mosaic Arts Alliance, Sixth Street Gallery's nonprofit parent organization.

Sixth Street Gallery is getting a new home and a new name.

The downtown Vancouver gallery, hubbed at 105 W. Sixth St. for the past five years, is moving a few blocks north to 111 W. Ninth St.

o Previously: Co-op members at Sixth Street Gallery in downtown Vancouver announced in July that they needed to raise $5,000 by Aug. 8 to keep the gallery afloat. They succeeded in raising about $4,100, but it wasn’t enough to stay in their current location at 105 W. Sixth St

Earlier this month, members were close to finalizing a lease on an approximately 1,300-square-foot space at 109 W. Ninth St., and were contemplating changing the gallery’s name to Gallery 360. They hoped to open on Oct. 1.

o What’s new: Paperwork has been filed with the state to change Sixth Street’s name to Gallery 360. Gallery members have signed a two-year lease on an approximately 2,000-square-foot space at 111 W. Ninth St., Vancouver.

o What’s next: Sixth Street will be open at its present location through Sept. 26. Members hope to celebrate Gallery 360’s grand opening on Nov. 5 for First Friday Art Walk.

Since it will no longer be located on Sixth Street, members of the co-op filed paperwork with the state to change their name to Gallery 360.

It’s a cost-cutting move for the gallery, which has been struggling financially due to dwindling sales, class registrations and donations.

In 2009, Sixth Street Gallery had net income of $2,340. But from January through August of this year, the gallery was $2,226 in the red, according to financial statements provided by Sam MacKenzie, president of Mosaic Arts Alliance, the gallery’s nonprofit parent organization.

Rent at the new space will be about two-thirds the cost of the Sixth Street space, said Jamie Lutz Carroll, vice president of Mosaic.

The gallery finalized a two-year lease on the approximately 2,000-square-foot-space on Wednesday. It’s about the same size as the Sixth Street space.

At first, members considered leasing a smaller space at 109 W. Ninth St., the back room of a former bar. They opted ultimately to lease both that space and the adjacent storefront at 111 W. Ninth St., which used to be a barber shop.

Both spaces are part of the historic Ludesher building, recently purchased by Portlanders Jeff Arthur, Don Mutal and Aaron Jones. The landlords are pleased with their new tenants.

“We’re just excited about seeing a great gallery move into that space,” Arthur said.

Gallery members are optimistic about the move, as well.

“We’re very excited, though it’s a little daunting,” Carroll said. “There’s a lot of work that needs to go into it. It’s pretty rough right now.”

Gallery members will knock down the wall separating the two spaces to create one bigger area with room for art displays and classroom instruction. They also have a lot of cleaning and painting to do, and need to install lighting and a wheelchair-accessible bathroom, Carroll said.

The gallery will remain open at its current location on Sixth Street through Sept. 26. Members had hoped to have the new gallery open to the public on Oct. 1, but that date has now been pushed back to Nov. 5. However, members plan to have art on display in the windows of the new gallery for October’s First Friday Art Walk.

The name change reflects Southwest Washington’s area code but has a more abstract meaning, as well.

“Three-hundred and sixty degrees is a full turnaround,” Carroll said. “That’s kind of how we look at this move, since our other option was closing.”