Crafted in Community
By Dawn Nolan | Photography by Mary Baldwin
For a rural town the size of Alderson, the amount of creative talent found within it and the surrounding area is remarkable. Step inside Alderson Artisans Gallery on Railroad Avenue, and you’ll see for yourself. The space features both locally made fine art and crafts, everything from paintings and photography, pottery and sculptures, crochet and quilts, jewelry and leather accessories to name a few.
Photo by J. Perez
“We are a nonprofit, cooperative art gallery. Our goal is to support artists and offer people a nice place to come and visit; Alderson doesn’t have a lot of things to attract people to come, but the Gallery is one of those things,” Jo Perez, Alderson Artisan Gallery director and a stained glass artist, says. “Those who stop by our gallery are able to see what gets made in these mountains. They’ll see a wide variety of Appalachian art in all styles and in many craft disciplines. A lot of times, galleries don’t have both fine arts and crafts, but here, we do.”
A project of Alderson Main Street, a nonprofit community improvement organization, Alderson Artisans Gallery opened at 1401 Riverview Avenue in 2015. It was there until October 2023, when the gallery moved to its current location, at 100 Railroad Avenue, in the old Alderson Bank building across from Alderson’s Store.
“We have the whole first floor with all of these beautiful arched windows,” Perez described. “It’s very light and airy. There’s also several rooms that people can browse through, and it got us a little higher off the floodplain.”
That was an important detail to consider since the gallery did experience flooding when the Greenbrier River rose to over 20 feet in June 2016.
“We did get flooded not too long after we opened,” Perez recalls. “However, we were able to rescue every single piece of artwork from the building. We came in and the water was coming up. It was pretty scary, but we had people from the community that showed up. Everyone just pitched in, and they started grabbing things and moving things and loading people’s cars. We lost our displays, but none of the art itself was harmed. So, we were really, really lucky.”
The larger space also allows the gallery to display work from even more talented individuals, which has continued to increase over the years.
“When we first started, we had just a small group of Alderson artists, but we quickly realized that we were limited and didn’t have everything that we wanted to have,” Perez says. “For example, we didn’t have any potters. So, we decided to extend our reach, and we very carefully juried more people in. That led us to add more excellent, high-quality artists to the gallery.”
At present, over two dozen artisans have pieces on exhibit along with members of the Greenbrier Artists group, who are part of a guest showcase that runs through May 23.
“We have several shows that rotate,” Perez adds.
And while there are also a few artisans that live outside of the immediate area — a couple of are from Charlottesville, Virginia, for example — the majority are still within a 50-mile radius.
“We want to focus on those local artists as much as possible, but we understand that we don’t have everything right here,” Perez explains. “Most of our artists are very local, though. They’re from either Greenbrier, Monroe or Summers counties, basically within a 30-45 minute drive from here.”
Some of the artisans are considered “Working Artisans,” which means that they volunteer to work at least one day per month in the gallery. There are also “Working Guest Artisans,” who have been invited but not juried into the gallery. “Non-working Artisans” and “Non-Working Guest Artisans” do not work in the gallery, whether that be due to distance, physical limitations, family obligations or another reason.
“We offer artists a lot of different options and ways that they can participate with us,” Perez says. “That way, we can still reach as many as possible and everyone can participate in some way.”
Each type of artisan has different monthly fees and commission agreements. While the gallery is not currently accepting applications for new artisans, those interested can check for upcoming jury announcements on www.aldersongallery.com
As a nonprofit, the gallery operates on funding from sales commissions, monthly artisan fees, and of course, charitable donations. Donations go towards things such as continued improvements to the gallery space, promotional efforts as well as supplies and materials for art classes, which are offered periodically.
“We do not require a lot of overhead, so we don’t overreach our needs,” Perez says. “But we do receive a lot of support from our community, which we’re grateful for. It shows us that the community wants us here, so here we are.”
Visit Alderson Artisans Gallery at 100 Railroad Avenue in Alderson or online at aldersongallery.com. Check the website for current, seasonal hours of operation, announcements and to shop or make donations online.
