Building their own Treehouse
Corpus Christi, TX – When the gift shop at the Art Center of Corpus Christi closed recently, seven local artists took it hard. They also took it as an opportunity to open a new gallery.
“We were devastated because most of us sold our work there,” said photographer Gloria Hunter, who managed the gift shop for five years. “We always had wanted our own galleries, but there were things to learn first, such as gallery presentation, the local market and who worked well together. The closure of the gift shop doors allowed the Treehouse doors to open.”
The Treehouse Art Collective has grown from a way for local artists to sell their art by having home shows to a downtown art gallery at Water Street Market that opened Wednesday.
The gallery has seven core artists — Hunter, the gallery’s coordinator; Sherry Bercaw, a jeweler; Pat Conway, a stained glass artist; Ellen Fehrenkamp, a painter; Kaye Hass, a potter; Kathy Wagner, a fused glass artist; and Melinda Ramos, a fabric artist. It also has 11 associate artists who will sell their work there.
“It’s a dream come true for us,” Bercaw said. “We plan to have at least two artists on the floor at any given time. It’ll allow customers to meet the people who create the art and will give us a chance to get to know art lovers.”
