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Lunaria
Gallery was founded in April
1995 by Ann Altman, Theresa
Burgett, Antonia Jenkins,
Theresa Sharrar and her
daughter Shannon
Sharrar.
Our
first gallery space was the
tiny front area of what is now
O'Brien's Cafe, then called
The Wild Iris Cafe. We
chose "Lunaria" as a
complimentary wildflower name
to the "Wild Iris". We
liked the name for its
reference to the moon and also
because it is called the Money
or Silver Dollar
plant!
We
started the gallery because we
wanted to insure a place for
local artists as the town
potentially expanded in
response to the coming Oregon
Garden. The Co-op concept
appealed to us because we
could share the expenses and
gallery work which would have
been prohibitive for just one
or two people.
Lunaria
was launched with a wonderful
Hat Show for April with many
creative and hilarious
concoctions modeled at the
first "First Friday" event. In
a town without a lot happening
on a Friday night, Lunaria's
First Fridays were an instant
hit!
However,
with just five members, it was
difficult to keep the gallery
open more than a few days a
week and it still meant a lot
of gallery sitting for each
member! With an
opportunity to move to a
larger space arising, we voted
to expand our membership to
twenty and move to First
Street, the present location
of Habititat for Humanity. We
expanded our offerings and had
wonderful First Friday events
there, becoming downtown's
gala event of each
month! Since the
Goodwill Store was across the
street we had a lot of walk-in
activity. But when Goodwill
moved, things became too quiet
at that location. We
took the opportunity to move
around the corner to Main
Street, at the present the
home of the "Stone Buddha"
gallery and increased our
membership to twenty-five. We
continued to streamline the
gallery operations and, while
no one got rich, we were able
to keep the gallery open seven
days a week. We also had
a lot of fun.
Two
years ago, another opportunity
to move to our present
location arose. That would put
us back on Water Street, in a
space with great lighting and
high ceilings (more wall
space). We voted to
"just do it", and we're
happy to be "at home" in our
best space yet. During our
absence Water Street acquired
another fine art gallery and
has since sprouted several
excellent retail shops.
Also a third gallery is
thriving inside the
ever-popular Silver Creek
Coffee House. And we are right
in the middle of it
all!
The co-op continues to thrive,
First Fridays have become a
Silverton institution and we
are known far beyond Silverton
for our unique, eclectic
style. Lunaria artists
are continually exploring and
growing, and gallery offerings
are constantly fresh and
diverse with prices ranging
from low to high
end.
It's
a wonderful place to
experience the work of many of
the area's best local artistic
talents and to find out why
the arts are Silverton's
not-so-secret-anymore
Best-kept secret!
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