This weekend, Grand Rapids-based
Avenue for the Arts will launch
Store, a pop-up shop that will allow visitors to view and purchase unique works from more than 20 local artists.
Comprised of counters on casters and walls on wheels that can be moved at a moment's notice to adapt to the space, Store will launch at 62 South Division, a vacant live-work space along the Avenue for the Arts, as part of
Art.Downtown.
"It will act as a shop and an events center, with the hope that it will blossom into a full-time collective gallery," says Jenn Schaub, of the revitalization department of
Dwelling Place, which facilitates many of the Avenue for the Arts activities.
Three members of the Avenue for the Arts advisory committee curated the handcrafted jewelry, paintings, apparel and other rotating pieces to showcase artists who live along the Avenue for the Arts and others who have participated in the neighborhood's shows and events.
Schaub says the committee envisions Store as an information hub for the creative community, while also serving as a way to highlight available spaces along the Division artists' corridor. The nomadic nature of the shop means it can simply move to another location as its previous space is leased.
The Avenue for the Arts advisory committee would like to see the shop taken on the road in the future, perhaps as an urban exchange with other artist collectives to highlight the breadth of art available in Grand Rapids.
Source: Jenn Schaub, Avenue for the Arts
Writer: Kelly Quintanilla
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