Gallery 54 to celebrate 10th anniversary

A Decade of Art, Craft, and Friendship

The artist/owners of Gallery 54 can be excused if ten years ago they didn't realize the impact of what they were setting out to build. They were a dozen disparate Central New York artists without much more in common than their desire for others to appreciate their art enough to purchase it and make it part of their lives. A few potters, painters, and jewelers; a fiber artist, a photographer and a stained glass artist spent months looking for the right location for their dream of a gallery to showcase their creativity to the community.

Painting by founder and first president of
Gallery 54 – Kathleen Schneider

On September 6^th, First Friday for the Arts in Skaneateles, they are throwing a party from 5 to 8 pm, to celebrate ten years of reaching for their dream.

While only three of the original dozen founders remain as owners of the artist-owned and operated gallery, they still strive to represent the artists of the greater Central New York region. Touted by the Post Standard newspaper in 2018 as one of the top “Indie gift shops” in Upstate New York, several former founders and interim owners remain active artists with the gallery.

The original dozen artists have grown to the point that no one really knows how many artists have called Gallery 54 home over the years, according to one founder and potter Sallie Thompson. At any given time, she notes, 40 to 50 Central New York artists exhibit and offer for sale a broad range of work in virtually every discipline of the arts. “It's come to the point that we regularly have artists from outside of Central New York, seeking the opportunity that showcasing their work in Gallery 54 represents. As a group, we carefully curate each and every request, but few from outside our Central New York community make the cut,” she adds.

Founder and jeweler Donna Smith recalled recently that ten years ago the original group of artists, behind the leadership of painter, Kathleen Schneider was motivated to seek a venue to call home that was on the main street of Skaneateles.”We really wanted a highly visible home base where people could find our work and the heart of Skaneateles was always our objective.”

A popular Skaneateles view by Photographer Tom Dwyer

As with any fledgling business, “There were new tricks to learn,” Smith notes. “Simply put, we had to learn how to get things done.” She notes that the founders' early decision to vote on all significant decision sometimes slowed us down, yet at the same time helped us move forward in a deliberate fashion. “Being artist-owned and operated was always important to all of us,” she adds.

Stained glass artist, Liz Micho, bolsters Smith's thinking when she focuses on how serious the founders, and subsequent owners, have always been about molding an ever-changing group of artists into a cohesive team of business owners. Even a decade after those first days of business in the summer of 2009, notes Micho, we work hard to understand what our customers want and each artist personally works to provide it,” she says.

The need for everyone to be on the same page was evident right from the start. “We didn't really expect as much interest in the gallery right at the outset,” says Smith, “and therefore as much business, as what materialized right from the day we first opened our doors. None of us had ever run a business before. So we had to quickly learn how to get things done and how to prioritize all these things.”

“You might not think that paying attention to 'getting things done' would take so much effort,” notes Micho. As an example, she notes “We started out hand-writing all our sales receipts. With a fast-growing list of artists showcasing their work in the gallery, this quickly became onerous, to say the least, and demanded that we upgrade operations as quickly as possible with the installation of our computerized Point of Sale system.”

“That kind of business decision paled,” says Smith, “when compared to learning how to make adjustments when artists leave the gallery. We've had emotional changes, such as when founder and potter Lauren Richie died unexpectedly while visiting family out of town, and business-driven changes when we wanted to welcome an artist had to leave.”

“We have always been guided by the same objective,” says Thompson, “Carefully curate a collection of fine art and craft, with emphasis on work created by local artists.” Thompson credits this philosophy, at least in part, for the gallery's emphasis on supporting the local arts community with donations to various art causes as well as by instituting “our very successful guest artist program whereby we invite local established as well as up and coming artists, to exhibit their work for a month or two at a time.” The gallery also sponsors and hosts events like the juried Central New York Photo Expo that saw photographers from throughout Central New York vying for cash prizes as well as recognition.”

The success of the guest artist program is evidenced by the growing list of accomplished, respected and well-known artists who have accepted, and often sought, the opportunity to exhibit at Gallery 54. Currently painter, David Kiehm, a BBC wildlife artist of the year, and Roycroft Artisan, porcelain pottery artist, Leslie Green Guilbault are currently guest artists at the gallery. The list of notable guest artists is long, however, including award-winning watercolor painter, Bob Ripley; fiber artist and teacher, Sharon Bottle Souva; metal sculptor, Jay Seamans, oil painter, Wendy Harris; potter, Tim See and abstract painter and mentalist, Bob Lawson.

In addition to wine and refreshments, the gallery's anniversary celebrations will feature the opportunity to meet and interact with a number of artists, all with the background music provided by the popular guitarist and singer/songwriter Jane Zell.