Jul 15, 2010

One gallery expands, one opens downtownBy Brian MillerNewarkAdvocate.com

Newark, NJ — Despite the challenges of a small-town market, artist-entrepreneurs still find Granville fertile ground. Two recent cases in point: The expansion of a gift shop-art gallery and the opening of a new gallery — both downtown.

Granville painter Jay Young has turned the second floor at his Kussmaul Gallery on East Broadway into space to showcase his landscape paintings. And Maggie Sobataka, a newcomer to town who has operated galleries in three other communities, has opened Gallery M Collections on North Prospect Street.

Since opening his business 22 years ago, Young has built a following locally and in Columbus with his still lifes of large vegetables and fruits. For the past three or four years, he has turned his attention to barns, which fill the walls of the new upstairs gallery.

Young’s characterizations of barns vary from solemn to romantic to homespun. “I dialed into a style,” said Young. “It took a long time to find.”

Sobataka’s gallery has an eclectic mix of work — including pottery, jewelry, scarves and greeting cards — from about a dozen artists from all over the country. Her own paintings and ceramic works also are on display. The common thread in the work she exhibits, she said, is their originality.

“I will look for more interesting and varied materials and original artists, but not if they are well represented,” she said.

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