I closed the space. Why? And what’s next?

Ooh it’s a long one!

I had opened a space on Corrales Road. It’s now closed.

Here’s a little reason why, because a bunch of people have asked me:

At first, I was trying to have my photography studio space separate from my painting studio space at the house. There’s no room for both.

It was slooooow. The space was on the back of the building.

I moved from the back to the front of the building because a space opened and I thought it would be better with better visibility.

It was still slow in the front. Corrales MainStreet tried to help me and they had me do their headshots. So grateful for them, but traffic stayed low and I was paying more for rent than the business was making, which isn’t ideal.

I brought in paintings, because then there could be sales in there and not just photography. But that was a little confusing to people to have paintings in there with a photography studio. So then photography gear was stowed away and more space was used for art.

I invited other artists/friends in to call it a gallery and to share the expense a bit, but it still just wasn’t sustainable. We tried First Sundays, holiday events, social media and it was still too slow.

The landlords want to maintain an aesthetic that looks office-ish on the outside, so nothing about the outside of the building said, “there’s a gallery in here”.
During the school year, the parking gets blocked by school pickup traffic.
The parking is tight in the front anyway and covered up the little extra sign.

Just before the studio tour we had an argument with the woman across the hall and I was just tired of that energy on top of the struggle to get the place off the ground, to be honest. My lease was up so I moved out.

I wasn’t painting as much because I was at the space and I didn’t want to get paint on things there. I can be as messy as I want in my home studio for free.

So what’s next?

Well, I’m at Ghostwolf Gallery. I’ve been there the whole time. I love it there and my work has always sold better in Albuquerque and other cities (through online sales from my website).

I will try again at some point here in Corrales because I love it here. It’s a great place to live and work. I’m the current president of the Corrales Society of Artists. I love our arty little farming village. I’ll find the perfect spot someday.

I have plans to branch out a bit more though. I’ll be online more often and I’m going to be applying to art shows around in New Mexico and out of state.

Every week I volunteer at On a Wing and a Prayer here in Corrales. The education birds would be a great addition to an art workshop and I’ve been thinking of ways to do that. Maybe here on my website.

There’s an option on my website provider now to have a member subscription area, so I’ll check that out and see what I can come up with.

NM Winter Skies (available)