Dental Hygienist Opens Art Gallery
by October 25, 2004 12:00 am 143 views
J. Gallery LLC
Owner: Jeanette Baxter
Address: 311 W. Dickson St., Suite 103, Fayetteville 72701
Phone: (479) 521-2004
Hours: noon-7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday (extended in summer)
Startup date: May 15
Jeanette Baxter is a dental hygienist who took art lessons from one of Fayetteville’s hometown artists, Jane Garrison, and then went on to make art a career of her own.
Baxter opened J. Gallery in the Bakery Building on Dickson Street this spring after working for several years with Garrison in another local gallery. Baxter said she loves the art world and wanted to bring the atmosphere of a big city art gallery to Northwest Arkansas.
“I don’t want it to ever be stuffy,” Baxter said. “I want it to feel like a metropolitan art gallery.”
The emphasis for J. Gallery, she said, is on “well established local artists.” Artwork in J. Gallery comes from a host of local artists including Don House, William Flanagan, L. Eric Smith III, Christina Mariotti, Scott Mattson and Megan Chapman. Baxter is also pleased to have work from George Dombek, a nationally known artist and graduate of the University of Arkansas. And some of her own work is on display at J. Gallery.
Baxter has held a couple of receptions since her spring opening and was very pleased with the turnout, she said. About 300 came through during the grand opening reception in June and close to 800 visited the gallery during a September reception.
Baxter invested about $15,000 in renovations for the 1,200-SF gallery and spent another $60,000 on her initial inventory to get the gallery going. She personally financed the startup and hopes to be making a decent return on her investment within two years.