Philomath's new gallery fills fresh space with new artists, music

"I was looking for a building to blow glass and I found that this one had a nice lobby, so I decided to do a gallery," said Lauren Wingert on a recent afternoon as she stood in the sunny space that is now Gateway Gallery in Philomath.

The location, at 1233 Main St., was formerly a flooring store.

"They had done the floor in different patterns to sell the flooring," Wingert said. The patchwork of flooring naturally broke the room into distinct display areas in Wingert's eyes.

She added to the space with metalwork above the front doors, trapezoidal display shelves around posts and various design touches to maximize the character of each section, all while maintaining the "blank canvas" feel of the space with i's matte white and gray walls.

The name she chose plays on Philomath's position on the road to the coast. The logo Wingert designed contains a series of elliptical lines.

"That's more representative of a celestial gateway," she said.

This weekend, however, the gallery will be a down-to-earth space to showcase new art created around the mid-valley.

"My first show is my grand opening," Wingert said. "The idea is to feature local artists."

About half of the artists with artwork on display are from Philomath, including Wingert's fused, cast and blown glasswork, John Seaburg's intricate wood carvings, Norma Eaton's painted paper collages, Cindy McNutt-Kaestner's mixed media art, Babette Grunwald's and Barbara Gordon's fiber art and Charles David Kelley's acrylic paintings.

Some of the art has never been on display in a gallery before, such as ceramic masks by Eugene artist Kat Chapman.

"It seems like everyone is pretty excited about it," Wingert said.

She and gallery coordinator Laura Brandt have been working hard to get the word out to area artists that they have a new display space.

Like most, the gallery operates on commission. So, artists can place pieces on consignment and if it sells, the gallery gets a cut of the profit, in this case 20 percent.

"Because I'm new, I'm doing a more reasonable commission," said Wingert, whose plan is to make up the difference through sales of her work.

Wingert has only been crafting glass art for about a year, but you'd think she'd been at it for years to see her colorful night lights, bowls and other creations around the gallery.

Items in the gallery range in price from $4 greeting cards to a $4,000 painting.

"We're trying to bring in art that will have more of a broad appeal," Wingert said.

Check it out

Gateway Gallery grand opening celebration, noon to 5 p.m., Saturday and Sunday Nov. 15-16, 1233 Main St., Philomath. Music by harpist Suzanne Bonnen at 2 p.m.; coffee and snacks; and a drawing to win a fused glass night light or cast glass pen holder. Information: 929-8488 or gateway-gallery.com.