Hi! Since I last talked to you, Jake and I were invited to a special meeting. There were about 10 of us and the owner of Artic Rose Gallery and the Firefly Co-op presented a fantastic idea to us. She wants to blend the two stores into one large co-op store and call it “Arctic Rose Gallery & Art Center”. It will be a beautiful professional art gallery for talented local artists (like Jake) as well as FIBER ART (me!), pottery, jewelry, “Mush Girls” t-shirts, beading, photography, etc., AND will feature the art and a museum by Jon Van Zyle (THE most famous Alaskan Artist who also completed The Iditarod Sled Dog Race two times!). He is the “official artist” for the yearly Iditarod Posters! What an honor! Arctic Rose Gallery & Art Center will offer art, events, classes, and be involved with the community.
My first reaction to the idea of a co-op was pure JOY, but suddenly my mind went back to those horrible days I spent after I joined a co-op years ago. But the location, location, location got me really excited because it will be in this huge building on 5th Ave, downtown Anchorage, across from the 5th Ave Mall! WOW! In the heart of the city where tourists love to hang out 🙂 And maybe I would get to work in the store…….I loved that part of it. We knew pretty much everyone at the meeting and all are trusted and well known people. It is the “PEOPLE” of a co-op who can make it or break it (speaking from personal experience). So I swallowed my bad memories and kept on listening.
Now Jake (Kurt Jacobson) has never had his “own store” where he can hang his choice of art. He has been in art galleries. An art gallery “co-op” is different. I thought it would be perfect for him and I could be involved in a small way too. So we both said, “let’s do it!”………and that’s what I’ve been doing! Our NEW ADVENTURE begins! We open May 16 after we paint and totally remodel the inside.
Our New Adventure!
♥ Donna
Tangle Alaska Blog 