Announcing our first Winter Show: Contemporary Elements. The Opening Reception is (First) Thursday, December 4 from 6-9pm. We’ll be serving wine, Italian soda and light fare.

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Greetings aficionados of all things artistic! It’s a beautifully bright and wonderfully cool almost-Autumn day here in North Texas. Let’s hope the oppressive Summer heat is finally behind us. I can tell it’s almost fall because we now have beautifully colorful pumpkins (handmade from blown glass of course) adorning art251.

In today’s mid-month edition I’d like to tell you of several fun events we have scheduled over the next couple of weeks. Yes, we’re continuing to celebrate our official opening throughout September, Hurricane Ike or not.

Sept. 19, Friday 2-6pm - Timeless Treasures by Carolyn D

Join jewelry artist Carolyn D to create your own personalized, custom fingerprint jewelry in sterling silver and gold. These treasures make the perfect lifelong gift for mothers, fathers, grandparents, friends and loved-ones. Carolyn D makes custom fingerprint and thumbprint treasures for pendants, earrings, charms and rings, and in a variety of shapes including free-form, oval, heart, circle and square. So, don’t miss this chance to build your own personalized, unique keepsake of a loved one.

Sept. 20, Saturday noon-8pm - Timeless Treasures by Carolyn D / Run in the Dark

Carolyn D will be here for an encore during Keller’s 9th Annual Run in the Dark for Community Storehouse. So, come in before, during or after your run for a chance to make your own personalized, custom fingerprint jewelry. We’ll also have some tasty snacks and refreshments for the very deserving runners, walkers and supporters. And, there will be live entertainment all around our beautiful blue space.

Sept. 25, Thursday 7-9pm - Sip and Sew with Sara Moe fiber artist

Keller resident, Sara Moe will be demonstrating needle felting, a creative new trend in fiber art. Come see how she uses a needle felting machine and her sewing machine to create her uniquely beautiful artwork. Sara will also show and discuss many of the different materials and media that she uses to create her art. One item of caution: sewing machines and wine may prove to be an “interesting” combination — so, sew smoothly and sip slowly!

Sept. 26-27, Friday-Saturday - Art-o-mat ribbon cutting

Meet our beautiful blue Art-o-mat (art vending machine) and the Art-o-mat program creator Clark Whittington (National Bureau Chief for Artists-in-Cellophane).

Clark will be giving video overviews of the unique Art-o-mat program for both customers and artists. We’ll have soda and snacks on hand throughout each day, and some other fun “art-o-matic” surprises. Best of all, you need only one of our $5 tokens to dive into the Art-o-mat experience and purchase some really cool, different art!




For up to the minute information and more specific details on each of these events be sure to check our website.

Welcoming new artists to art251

We’ve recently added 2 new artists to our growing roster of exceptional, local talent: Ann Hardy, an oil painter in the traditional style; and Scott Young, a creative glass blower and lampworker. Look for additional artists covering a broad range of media to join us over the coming months. We now have a great range of original work from oils on canvas and fabric art, to colorful and black and white photography, handcrafted wooden boxes, steel and copper roses, bright functional pottery and sleek decorative glass.

Greetings art lovers. It’s a muggy Labor Day here in North Texas. Since art251 is closed today I thought I’d use the opportunity to labor over our first customer newsletter — news251.

So, welcome to news251. We’re glad to have you as a recipient! This is the first art251 newsletter for our customers past, present and future. From now on we’ll be emailing a newsletter regularly, but not too frequently, to let you know about our special art251 events. If you no longer wish to receive this email, please follow the “subscription options” link at the bottom of the newsletter.

At last! We’re open

art251 officially opened for business on August 12. Thanks to all of you for your support and patience during our construction. Kim and I began planning art251 around a year ago. We’re both exhausted and ecstatic to be open, finally. To celebrate we’ll be having some entertaining grand opening events this September.

art251 September events

We’re planning some fun events during September to mark our official opening. As promised, we’ll have no inflatable gorillas dangling from our rooftop. Here’s what we have planned so far:

Sept. 6, Saturday 6-9pm - Ft.Worth Gallery Night comes to Keller. We’ll be keeping the doors open until 9pm and serving some tasty refreshments surrounded by exceptional art from our local artists.

Sept. 13, Saturday all day until 6pm - Fine art and fine refreshments. Introducing art251 the first contemporary art space in Keller. Join us for a day of fun, take in some great art, meet some of our exceptional artists, and sip and snack on our outdoor patio.

Sept. 19-20, Friday (2-6pm)-Saturday (10am-noon, 2-6pm) - Timeless Treasures by Carolyn D. Join jewelry artist Carolyn D to create your own personalized, custom fingerprint jewelry in silver and gold.

Sept. 25, Thursday 7-9pm - Sip and Sew with Sara Moe fiber artist. Keller resident, Sara Moe will be demonstrating needle felting, a creative new trend in fiber art. Come see how she uses a needle felting machine and her sewing machine to create her artwork. Sara will also show and discuss many of the different materials and media that she uses to create her art.

Sept. 26-27, Friday-Saturday - Art-o-mat ribbon cutting. Meet our beautiful blue Art-o-mat (art vending machine) and the Art-o-mat program creator Clark Whittington (National Bureau Chief for Artists-in-Cellophane). Clark will be giving a video overview of the Art-o-mat program for both customers and artists.

For up to the minute information and more specific details on each of these events be sure to check our website.

A fresh approach to art

If you appreciate art, whether you’re a new buyer or a seasoned collector, you’ll find art251 is a fresh approach to art. If you’re tired of the stuffy gallery and the over-stuffed crafts store come visit our bright and engaging space. Inside art251 you will discover original and unique contemporary art from around 30 local artists, many based in North Texas. You’ll want to keep coming back — we constantly refresh our space, exhibits and our art. So, if you wish to start collecting fine art, or if you want to decorate your home with original works, or if you’re looking for fine crafts as gifts you’ll find quality art and friendly staff at art251 to guide you. Some people view the art world as intimidating. art251 is here to change that. Our goal is to make you feel comfortable and to help you learn about art and buying art in a fun and open way.

art251 artists

We now have 26 signed artists: Seppo Aarnos, Melissa Ayr, Chad Beene, Kelly Berry, Trish Biddle, Dana Blanchard, Filomena Booth, Melinda Brown, Diana Chase, Marla Cook, Brian Davis, Sean Fitzgerald, Jay Garrison, Faith Jessup, James Johnson, Connie Jordan, Drew Liedtke, Michael Longhofer, Lori Love, Sara Moe, Bobbie Nix, Kim Norris, Aditi Samarth, Jean Storm, Marnie Vollenhals and Dyanne Welch. We are delighted to have each of them on board. Their exceptional works cover a broad range of media, including: original paintings, limited edition photography, mixed media and collage, decorative and functional pottery, unique jewelry, found object assemblage, forged metal, steel sculpture, wood craft, fused glass and art for children.

We finally did it! art251 opened its doors on Tuesday, August 12 for a Sneak Peak preview only, no sales. Then on August 19, we officially opened for business. So, what now? Well, it’s time to tell our target customers about our space and all the exceptional art inside.

art251 website re-design

Now that we have artists signed, art on the walls and most of our systems in place we’ll be concentrating on rebuilding the art251 website. I have much of this in place already, but will need more content from each artist to make the website look as exceptional as the art within our walls. We’ll have a section for each artist with biographical material, narratives about artwork and images of all the art in the space. We’re aiming to launch the new website before September 6, Ft.Worth Gallery Night.

art251 events — September 6, Ft.Worth Gallery Night

We’re participating in the semi-annual Ft.Worth Art Dealers Association (FWADA) Gallery Night on September 6. So, we’ll be keeping the doors open until 9pm and serving some tasty refreshments. You are all welcome. Since we’re not an official member of FWADA, yet, we’ve taken out a couple of Gallery Night ads in Ft.Worth Weekly to promote art251 independently. The ads will run in the August 27th and September 3rd issues. The nearby Young Artists of Texas (YAT) space in Keller will also be open for Gallery Night, so we plan to take advantage of their traffic and do some cross-promotion.

art251 events — September 13-27, Grand Opening Events

We’re planning some fun events during September 13-27 to mark our official opening. As promised, we’ll have no inflatable gorillas dangling from our rooftop. We do plan to have several public events including time with artists Sara Moe and Carolyn D. I’ll write more details soon. To announce our grand opening we’ve bought 3 months of ad space in Society Life magazine. The magazine is distributed to around 36,000 households in Keller, Southlake, Westlake, Colleyville and surroundings. This is our target customer base, so we’re expecting our visitor numbers to start increasing as the ads run in September, October and November.

Art-o-mat is a big hit

We’ve sold a dozen or so “artpaks” from our beautiful blue Art-o-mat machine, including 5 items just today to two fans of Art-o-mat from Amarillo. As we had hoped, the machine is proving to be a big hit, especially online. We’re getting some great — and free — exposure on KERA’s art&seek blog, the Glasstire blog and several other nationally influential arts websites. All this will help us attract art lovers and customers.

Art sales and other feedback

Aside from the Art-o-mat items, we’ve sold works by James Johnson (metal), Kim Norris (pottery) and Marnie Vollenhals (oil canvas). While this may seem slow, we are actually ahead of our plan for the month of August, and all done in the space of one week and with no advertising. We are encouraged by the amount of walk-in traffic, which while not generating immediate sales gives us a great opportunity to promote our space, discuss the art and spread the word. Generally, comments from visitors to art251 are very positive, and many are quite surprised to see so much exceptional art in the suburbs!

Welcome new art251 artists

We now have 26 signed artists. Over the last 2 weeks we added Dana Blanchard, Diana Chase, James Johnson, Drew Liedtke, Lori Love and Sara Moe. We are delighted to have each of them on board.

art251 space update

Our last 3 remaining fixtures are now installed. This includes: two movable walls that give us an additional 150-300 sq.ft of display space; cool cylindrical and shadow box shelving, which doubles as pedestals, for more of our 3D works; and a low bench that hides the mess of cables and electrical boxes on our rear wall. I still have the track and cable system to install on these new movable walls — should be done by August 31. Then, we’ll be able to make way for more art, and move existing pieces around. We’ve also placed some displays in and near the windows to attract foot traffic (this is working).

Welcome! art251 officially opens for business on Tuesday, August 12. We’re opening the doors at 10am, and will host an artist welcome reception from 4-7pm.

Kim and I are excited, relieved and exhausted to have finally made it — to this point at least! We’d like to thank each of you, the artists, for making this possible, since without you we’d have a great looking space, but nothing with which to fill it. Over the last 3 months or so we’ve met many artists and seen lots of great art. During this process we’ve been struck by two things: first, the extraordinary level and diversity of creative talent; second, the openness and trustfulness with which you have welcomed us. We sincerely hope to make this a fun and rewarding relationship for all.

art251 events — Artist reception

We’ll be hosting a low-key welcome reception for artists on opening day, August 12, from 4-7pm. We hope you can make it, with or without significant other(s). We plan to have our public “grand-opening” events, sans inflatable gorilla, in mid-September when the weather is cooler, and after we’ve ironed out any last remaining operational glitches. I’ll send you further details of the September events in our next newsletter. We’re aiming for September 13, so please keep that evening open on your calendar, if possible.

Broad range of contemporary art

On opening day we will have around 125 works on display. We have a great range of media, genres, sizes, colors and price points, so we’re off to a great start. The works include: painting (abstract, decorative, figurative and photorealistic), photography, fabric, fused glass, found object assemblage, pottery, metal sculpture, wood craft and jewelry. We deliberately chose a very diverse range of work so we could test our customers’ reactions and then fine-tune our mix of art over the coming months.

Welcome art251 artists

We’ve been waiting to announce our list of opening artists until finalizing our agreements. We are very pleased announce that we have 28 artists who have agreed to show with us. Of these, 20 artists have officially signed as of today, August 7. The artists are: Marnie Vollenhals, Melissa Ayr, Dyanne Welch, Trish Biddle, Aditi Samarth, Sean Fitzgerald, Marla Cook, Jean Storm, Connie Jordan, Chad Beene, Brian Davis, Michael Longhofer, Jay Garrison, Bobbie Nix, Faith Jessup, Kelly Berry, Seppo Aarnos, Melinda Brown, Filomena Booth, Kim Norris. Over the next couple of days we’re also hoping to welcome Dana Blanchard, Diana Chase, James Johnson, Drew Liedtke, Lori Love, Sara Moe, Rita Barnard.

I will publish names of new artists in the new251 newsletter as we welcome them to art251. Eventually, we’re hoping to have a core group of around 40 artists. I’ll also be adding all artists to our website very soon.

art251 space update

Our main display areas and cable system are now in place. So, now all we have to do is hang and display the art! I wonder if ascending and descending a 12 foot ladder several hundred times qualifies as an Olympic event? We aiming to have this complete by Sunday, August 10.

Although we’re opening on August 12, we have 3 remaining fixtures to install, but lack of these is no show-stopper. One is a movable wall system that will give us an additional 150-300 sq.ft of display space. The other includes additional shelving and surfaces for smaller 3D works. The third is a low bench that will hide the spaghetti-looking mess of cables and electrical boxes on our rear wall. We also have our counter and desk to re-stain, so the color will match all the other white-toned wood surfaces. We are hoping to have this work completed by August 22.