Group aims to create ‘mini-mall’ for artists in small village
Several oil paintings and frames of stained glass lay against the brick inside a squat building off American Avenue, what counts as tiny Oracle’s Main Street.
The place used to be a machine shop. In the next few weeks, though, it will undergo a transformation into a sort of mini-mall for the area’s artists.
The concept is simple and decidedly free-form, according to Gary LaCroix, who, along with his sister, Renee Barbaree, and glass artist Mary Myers bought the 1,000-square-foot building in February.
“I always had these dreams about opening a coffee shop and gallery where people can hang out,” said LaCroix, whose brightly colored, surreal oil paintings lined a wall inside the brick building.
Scheduled to open next month, during Oracle’s Oaks Festival on April 19, the Green Javelina — that’s what it’s called — will include gallery space, a gift shop and previously owned art for sale. At least that’s the plan for now.
“We just want to see what comes out of it,” LaCroix said. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s whatever happens.”
Oracle’s reputation as a haven for artists drew LaCroix, a former Boulder, Colo., resident, to the region. Yet he found a lack of gallery space in the small village off Route 77.
Other than an inkling of what the ideal Oracle gallery might include, LaCroix had little in the way of a firm business plan.
