Work by multiple artists, wine and light refreshments and live music planned

By Julia Sommer for Ashland.news

Art & Soul Ashland is attracting enthusiastic First Friday crowds with work by multiple artists, wine and light refreshments, and live music.

Formerly Art & Soul Gallery, Art & Soul Ashland re-opened under new management and ownership in April. New owner Kathy Morawiec, one of 26 Art & Soul member-artists, and her husband, John, a simulator F-15 Eagle fighter jet instructor in Klamath Falls, have rebuilt the space on the ground floor of the Elks building at 247 E. Main St.  

“The Elks are wonderful to us,” says Kathy. 

Past Exalted Ruler of the Ashland Elks Lodge Fred Hatfield comments: “We’re thrilled to keep the space an art gallery.”

For 20 years, Art & Soul Gallery was owned and managed by six local women artists: Linda Boutacoff, Judy Richardson, Betty Barss, Eve Margo Withrow, Lynda Hoffman-Snodgrass and Charlotte Peterson. In 2019, wanting more time for painting and grandchildren, they sold to Peter Stone. Then COVID-19 hit, and the gallery closed this past December.  

“It was heart-breaking,” says Kathy.

Current Art & Soul members include 24 painters, a sculptor, and a potter artist.  They each pay a monthly wall fee and volunteer at the gallery one day a month. November’s First Friday will feature a small work by each member on the Featured Artist wall. The current exhibit of work by the gallery artists will rotate out Jan. 2.

Kathy says that gallery patrons are about half local, half out-of-town. Sales are going “pretty darn well,” she adds.  A good deal of work is bought off Art & Soul’s website, artandsoulashland.com.

First Friday will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4.

Art & Soul’s regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. The gallery is closed Mondays.

Each month, the Ashland Gallery Association creates an online version of the Art Walk Map detailing current exhibits. To see November’s map, click here.

Email freelance writer Julia Sommer of Ashland at juliamsommer@gmail.com.