Well-known SLO art gallery closing after 15 years
A landmark San Luis Obispo art gallery could move to a different spot downtown or find a new location in Paso Robles. But exactly what happens after The Gallery at the Network closes its doors Dec. 26 remains up in the air, co-owner Julie Dunn said.
“We may open in another location,” the Atascadero artist said. “It will have to be the right place (for) the right rent.”
According to Dunn, the closure comes as her business partner, Grover Beach landscape painter Rosanne Seitz, retires from gallery ownership to focus on her painting career.
Dunn and Seitz started L’Artiste Gallery in 1999 in The Creamery in downtown San Luis Obispo, partnering with Jackie Bradley. Two and a half years later, Dunn and Seitz left the historic shopping center to open the Gallery at the Network at 778 Higuera St., Suite B, with Linda Lewis.
The gallery would have occupied that space for 15 years in March. But Dunn said the location hasn’t always been ideal.
“We don’t get enough walk-by traffic. We’re not high-visibility enough,” she said, which has affected business.
“The economy tanked in 2008, and then we had a little resurgence in the last few years,” she said, but sales slumped once more while rental prices rose. “I want to do better for the people I represent.”
The Gallery at the Network has also seen turnover in recent years in terms of ownership.
Lewis left the Gallery at the Network about a year ago to open Sayva Creative Gallery in Avila Beach. She was replaced by Dotty Hawthorne.
When Hawthorne moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2015, Laurel Sherrie and Peggy Turk took her place as associate partners.
Together with Turk, Dunn is looking for a new gallery space in San Luis Obispo or Paso Robles. She hopes to find a downtown location that’s easily accessible to shoppers.
Dunn doesn’t know when that gallery might open or which artists it would represent.
“Very likely, there will be turnover,” she said.
The Gallery at the Network represents about 50 artists working in a variety of media, from jewelry to ceramics to sculpture. Although the majority are based in San Luis Obispo and the South County, about 25 percent live in the North County, Dunn said.
Although the Gallery at the Network’s lease officially expires March 19, Dunn said the art gallery will end its run on Higuera Street at the end of this month. It will close its doors at 6 p.m. Dec. 26 and vacate the premises completely by Dec. 31.
For more information, call 805-788-0886 or visit www.galleryatthenetwork.com.
Sarah Linn: 805-781-7907, @shelikestowatch
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This story was originally published December 6, 2016 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Well-known SLO art gallery closing after 15 years."