More closings and a question: Can galleries survive here?

Published Dec. 16, 2009 at 10:03 p.m.
The Arts
...More closings and a question: Can galleries survive here?...

More closings and a question: Can galleries survive here?

It's been a crappy year for the arts as the lousy economy has pushed venerable institutions like the Rhode Island School of Design to cut staff, Brown University's Bell Gallery to leave a curatorial position unfilled, and galleries in places like New York and Boston to shutter in droves. The latest bad news is that Stairwell Gallery on Broadway and Yes Gallery + Studio in Warren are closing.

Stairwell co-founders Natalie Purkey and Haley O'Connor are shy about discussing the details with me, but Purkey says "[we're] relinquishing our storefront space, and will be continuing Stairwell projects in a more free-form manner." Think something like the exhibits they curated at Boston University late last year and in New York. In the meantime, they plan to focus on their own artmaking. O'Connor e-mails that she's "headed west to participate in the Mountain School of the Arts in LA. Natalie has a few shows lined up, the first in Baltimore this winter."

Stairwell launched on America Street in 2005 and moved to Broadway the following year. Along with 5 Traverse Gallery, which Jesse Smith started off Wickenden Street in 2007, Stairwell became one of the most exciting galleries in Providence's small scene. "Natalie and I tried to fill a gap in this conversation between Providence artist[s] and the larger creative community," O'Connor writes, "by showcasing work curated without commerce in mind (yet in a gallery setting) to encourage collectors and neighbors to join in on the dialog."

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