Archive for June, 2012

Skinner Howard Gallery is Closing

After seven years, gallerists Pamela Skinner and Gwenna Howard have announced that they will be closing their gallery space at the end of June.

While the retail space will be closing, the pair say that they will be exploring alternative ways to sell and show art.  As they put it in their closing announcement, “It is not ‘business-as-usual’ and we have to find a better way going forward .”

Skinner Howard tended to be one of the bright spots on a sometimes dull Sacto contemporary art calendar.  The gallery boasted a number of exemplary artists in their stable (John Yoyogi Fortes immediately comes to mind) and their willingness to showcase emerging artists (like former UCD student Mathew Zefeldt, whom we profiled here) meant that a visit to the gallery could offer happy surprises unlikely to be found elsewhere in the city.  At one point, Skinner Howard was the only commercial gallery in the city that rivaled JAYJAY for cultural literacy.

The loss comes as Sacramento’s contemporary art scene is in a major state of flux: Milk Gallery, a promising ‘new kid on the block,’ announced last month that they would be shuttering their Alkali Flat space after June; a pale shadow of the once-esteemed Solomon-Dubnick Gallery collapsed in scandal months ago; Tangent Gallery is slated to end their five year run at the end of summer; the Verge Gallery (full disclosure: run by my wife Liv Moe) has yet to open a new gallery to replace the 19th Street space they left two years ago;  and, rumor has it that another major Midtown gallery is about to shut its doors.  On the plus side, Bows and Arrows continues to mount ambitious, priced-to-move shows at their multi-use space on 19th, and Elliot Fouts has just relocated his eponymous gallery to 19th and P, across from CCAS and Axis.  Couple these changes with the decline of Second Saturday and it’s easy to say that things are wildly shifting for contemporary art on the Grid.

This month will be your last chance to see Skinner Howard’s exceptional space at 723 S Street.  Stop by on Second Saturday and wish Pamela and Gwenna luck.

Announcement below:

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Dear Art Patrons, Collectors, Family and Friends

For the past 7 years we have been filling a 5000 square feet space with around 80 ART shows accommodating the art of approximately 200 artists…!  A lot of effort and work and we have done this with fervor and passion. It just what we do and what we like. However, the monthly pressure of maintaining a large space is something we can do without and we’re looking for different ways to show/sell art. It is not “business-as-usual” and we have to find a better way going forward .

We have decided to close the current gallery, take some time out, recharge, redirect, and find a business model that will work for both of us. It is a bitter-sweet decision, since the gallery space we created is one-of-a-kind and we will miss it a lot. We will miss you and wanted to thank you so much for your great support, patronage and being part of the Skinner Howard Contemporary Gallery.

We will maintain and keep our website www.skinnerhowardart.com current. We will still represent our artists.

We are still art brokers/dealers and will be available to be of service to you.

We have one more (last!) show in June, opening this Thursday with a preview from 5 – 7pm and then the Second Saturday reception. Hope you can stop by.

This is not Goodbye but “See you soon, we’ll be in touch!”

Best wishes to you,

With great appreciation,

Gwenna and Pamela

 

Skinner Howard Contemporary Art
723 S Street
Downtown Sacramento, CA 95811
(916) 446-1786