Paula Weyler George is ready for Louisville to see her dream realized.Her newest work has opened at 980 Barrett Avenue, Revelry Boutique Gallery.Louisville.com caught up with her after the big opening party last weekend.The gallery is now up and opening and waiting for you!
Tell us about your boutique/gallery: what can visitors expect to find?
Our mission is to make art ownership available, obtainable, and affordable for everyone. In true Louisville spirit, this Boutique-Gallery will emphasize local and regional work and feature a mix of both well-established and emerging artists. We have 2 gallery spaces, a Main Gallery and our little funky Gallery, The REV. Both of these spaces will feature rotating art exhibits (about every 4-8 weeks). Then we also have a large boutique space where we also feature original artwork, as well as handcrafted jewelry, accessories, and home decor.
Give us the scoop on how you got where you are?
I've always wanted to open an art gallery- it’s been a lifelong dream. I majored in both Business Administration and Fine Arts when I went to school at Bellarmine University, so I always wanted to combine both of my talents and interests in one venture. After working 10 years in my family's manufacturing business, I decided it was time to launch the dream. My partner Mary Le and I had gone to high school together, but lost touch over the years. We reconnected last fall at our 10 year AssumptionHigh School reunion. From there, we met and I invited her to join me in the venture. I started working on the business plan in January and we started working on the financing in the spring. From there things took off rather fast. The space we are in came up for lease and it was my dream space! So we signed on and moved our target opening forward about 4-6 weeks. So since the end of June, it’s been a huge hustle to get artists signed on, get the space renovated, get the computers and systems working, etc. But it’s all come together!
Describe the place in one word.
ACCESSIBLE. We want to make art ownership available and accessible to everyone. A young person decorating their first home can find something affordable and discerning collectors can find something to suit their tastes as well
What do you hope for the future for the gallery?
I sort of covered this above, but to elaborate, we will have two exhibits going at all times, and most all the artists are local and regional, though we won't limit ourselves to that. The exhibits usually open with a reception and I want to do really fun and different things with these events to make them special social experiences, not just "art openings." For example, our next opening is Sept 11 (a Saturday from 7-11) for an exhibit of photographs by April Rietze titled "Abandon." She shoots these beautiful shots of old abandoned objects, as well as images about living with abandon. She'll be embellishing her photos with paint too. So for her event, we're serving cocktails in old mason jars and will have home-cooked apps. My goals are to connect artists and clients so that everyone can own something beautiful, special, interesting and unique, to make a living doing it, and to be known as the best place in Louisville to go for new art and accessories as well as fun social events.
You can follow Paula’s blog at: http://revelrygallery.blogspot.com/ And you can see more of Revelry at: http://www.facebook.com/revelrygallery and www.revelrygallery.com.
