NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — An East Nashville resident and artist is hoping to make art more accessible to the general public.
Erin Riley has "opened" a brand new micro art gallery at the end of her road in East Nashville near the Cornelia Fort Airpark at Shelby Bottoms. The pay-what-you-can art gallery is made up of a refurbished former newspaper stand and houses small pieces of art she makes in her spare time, offering those in the area the chance to add to or even start their own art collections.
Riley told News 2 she was inspired by the proliferation of Little Free Libraries all over town, including East Nashville.
"I've been seeing all the little free libraries around town and thought, 'What a great idea,' but to transcend that and do art pieces instead," she said.
With her undergraduate degree in art education, Riley said the micro gallery has "been a way for me to share my art with the community."
Advertising the gallery on social media, Riley has seen a positive reaction about the gallery. Right now, the gallery only contains her pieces, but later on down the road, she may collaborate with other local artists to allow them to put their pieces in the stand as well.
For now, Riley said she keeps a handful of pieces in the gallery ready for anybody to pay whatever they can or want to for the art she leaves.
"I do a little bit of everything—ceramics, jewelry, mixed media, painting, drawing, fibers—and I do have a literal box of art at my house, so I've got plenty of stock to keep inventory in there and I'm still actively working," she told News 2.
Generally, the theme of the pieces that she's been working on recently has been "chaos," she added, noting they involve multiple mediums, like collage, watercolors, paint markers, fabric paint, stamps and more. The art has been "whatever I'm feeling" at the moment, but that can and likely will change in the future.
Having a little gallery like this fits into the larger attitude of East Nashville, Riley said.
"I think some of those fun stereotypes about East Nashville, like artistic people, we are a community that I think really comes together in times of need," she told News 2, citing the 2020 tornado. "These are avenues where the community comes together. We are a creative community. There's lots of galleries. There's always art events going on in all of the great little markets and weekend street festivals that happen, particularly like Tomato Fest."
Ideally, Riley said she hopes the micro gallery would inspire others to appreciate art in whatever way they can.
"I think that's one of the tenets of art," she said. "One of my neighbor's kids came back and picked up some art the other day, and that was so heartwarming. Those kids might take that home and it might inspire them to make their own art."
If others in the community also feel the desire to set up their own micro galleries, that would also be welcome to Riley.
"Art can be in your neighborhood. It doesn't always have to be at a gallery or a museum. Art can be something you can take home with you, and it can be anywhere in your house," she said. "I wanted these pieces to be smaller for that reason: you don't need a giant wall space to enjoy a piece of art. It can be in your bathroom or sit next to your bed stand."
Keeping art accessible is another reason why she set up the micro gallery as a pay-what-you-can model.
While she recognizes the economic struggles facing many people, Riley said there is an investment into making art—most simply the cost of the materials, let alone the time it takes to create.
"Any of the funds that do come my way, I do hope to put toward future supplies, but [the point] is to make art accessible to anyone. If you've got a dollar and you want to leave that or Venmo me one dollar, you can have a piece of art and take it home with you. For so many people, there's such a financial boundary to owning art, and this is a way to make it more accessible for everyone," she told News 2.
If you want to visit the gallery, head over to the 1000 block of Shadow Lane in East Nashville. While checking out the art available from Riley, visitors can also grab a snack from a nearby pay-what-you-can bakery and pick out a book from a little free library on the same street, according to Riley.
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from WKRN News 2 https://ift.tt/oGZ68Mq
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