04/11/2024
I have some news to share with you all. I wouldn’t call it good news but I definitely wouldn’t call it bad news either. To be honest it’s not even new news at this point so maybe it isn’t even news at all.
I have decided it is time to shut the doors on the gallery at Focus 244. April 27th will be the last day of business. There were a lot of factors at play but in the end the original business plan came full circle so I decided to stick to the plan. Basically, my plan was to move into the space for the busy summer season of 2022 and then when the new landlords take over mid summer they would raise the rent or just kick me out. Then I could just take advantage of a busy summer in York, sell a few prints and then when things wind down and are getting real, I will be getting tossed out anyway so I won’t ever have to figure out how to actually run the gallery, especially through the dead of winter. That was all well and good until the new owners took over and didn’t raise my rent and didn’t ask me to leave. Now, I had to figure out how to make a gallery work in the dead season and that was NOT part of my plan. That was when I learned my first lesson. Summer is NOT my busy season. It is in fact my second slowest season. For my business the busy season is Fall then Winter followed by summer and lastly spring. Which was why thanks to you all I made it through that first winter with no problems whatsoever. Then the second year we had some amazing events thanks to Shannon Knock-Culpepper and those events combined once again with all your support made that second year an amazing year that I will always cherish. That brings us to here and now and the landlords have decided it is time to go up on the rent. I am also very tired as the last 2 years of managing that gallery has caused me a whole lot of anxiety. I also have terrible FOMO when I am there working the gallery. I want to be out with my camera finding stories to share with you all more than anything. So when the word came that the rent was going up I had to think about “what do I want to do next ? “ Do I want to ask the other resident artists to pay a little more, do I want to work a little bit harder and hopefully mitigate the increase. Or do I want to move onto the next chapter.
So the next chapter it is ! I have a bazillion ideas rattling around in my empty head and the one thing that I know for sure is that I have been listening to you all. What I learned by reading all the comments and the direct messages is that while you all certainly enjoy my photography, it is the storytelling that you find unique and most interesting about what I do and the photos just supplement those stories. That doesn’t disappoint me in the least, in fact that has me invigorated and even more driven to make this transition. I will be creating a home studio / gallery space to begin work on a series of books. The next chapter will have several chapters ! I will still have my online store for print sales and I will be doing more one off shows at various locations around New England. I will also be focusing a lot more on education and giving lessons and so much more. What I am going to miss is, having the gallery gave me a physical space to make personal connections with so many people that would have otherwise just been internet friends. I met so many photographers and supporters and learned so much from so many people. It really was the perfect experience to help me continue to grow and teach me where I want to go with all of this. I am very much looking forward to what is ahead and what is behind me I am so very grateful for every minute of it. Thank you to everyone that ever stepped foot in Focus 244 and thank you to each and every artist both the resident artists and those that participated in The Community Gallery hosted by Shannon Knock-Culpepper. Each and every one of you were apart of a very special time in my life and I am very thankful for the energy you all brought into that space.
