Tiny art gallery in Smiths Station has grand plan

The adjacent burger joint and gas station are more prominent in this Smiths Station shopping strip than the space housing the only art gallery along the three dozen miles between Columbus and Auburn.

Visitors often drive past the Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art before they find it on Lee Road 430.

But the daughter-mother team that established this nook of creativity seven years ago in east Alabama has a vision far larger than the two tiny suites they occupy next to the post office.

And the Oct. 8 event they are organizing is just a glimpse of their grand plan.

Indeed, the sign outside their gallery declares, "It's bigger on the inside."

'Oh, wow!'

"Appearances can be deceiving," Sarah said during the Ledger-Enquirer's visit. "When people walk through the door, I find it so humorous and funny. So many pass right by, and when they come in, there first words are, 'Oh, wow!' It's extremely encouraging to know we have that kind of impression."

Sarah, 28, officially is the gallery's owner, but she and her mother, Michele, 48, are cofounders.

"I make her pay all the bills," Michele said with a laugh.

Michele is a resident artist and assistant instructor. "I'm everything else," Sarah said with another laugh, then added in a more serious tone, "but we began this journey together."

They had been working out of their Salem home as professional commissioned artists when they joined a downtown Columbus co-op in 2006. Peachtree Art Studios on Broadway, however, "didn't quite get off the ground," Sarah said. "The sign was there a lot longer than the artists."

After about 1½ years in Columbus, they returned to east Alabama and continued their commission work at home. One day, they delivered a piece to Tim Thomason, a construction contractor. He suggested they look at a space he had for rent.

The Wests thought the 600 square feet was too small, but they took a leap of faith and opened the gallery in 2008. Of course, that was the onset of the Great Recession, not a prime time for folks to have extra cash to buy art while gas was nearly $5 per gallon at the neighboring station.

"We have never operated with an alternate plan in mind," Sarah said. "That may seem irresponsible, but this is our passion, this is our purpose, so any Plan B is not acceptable to our. This is our life."

But they were realistic. While the fledgling gallery developed and Michele minded the store, Sarah worked part-time as a customer service supervisor at Publix. Within a year, however, their business grew busy enough for Sarah to join Michele in the gallery full time.

Expansion

Two years later, when the next-door bakery moved out, they took another leap of faith and rented that suite as well. They doubled their space when Thomason knocked down the dividing wall, and the Wests went from teaching no lessons to approximately 15 classes per week now.

They sell pieces off the wall to walk-ins only a few times a year. Most of their business is from commissioned work and the art lessons. Through their Internet presence, they serve patrons from outside the region.

Thomason isn't surprised about the Wests' success.

"You never know what's going to work out until you try," he said. "Like a beauty shop clientele, it's just word of mouth. People will come to you if you're good."

And the Wests have a work ethic to match their talent, Thomason said.

"It's their dedication," he said. "They really like what they do, and they do it with a lot of passion. They're just real good people. They keep their word."

After critics called them nuts for opening a gallery when and where they did, the Wests feel their intuition was affirmed.

"Artists are crazy," Sarah said, "aren't they?"

Michele added, "There's a great need that has to be filled in our everyday lives, because art isn't just about drawing pictures and painting flowers. People are here out of a greater need.

"They are attracted in. They are widows wanting to get out. They are people wanting to take a timeout, some under a lot of stress at work, teachers referring parents to take their children here because of focus issues, self-esteem. Everyone is coming in for the same foundation, but then they explore beyond that a direction for them."

Paint parties, all the rage elsewhere, aren't on their menu, but they have and will provide that service if requested.

"If you want to turn out a cute piece to go hang on a wall, that's fine," Sarah said. "That's wonderful. It has its place. But what we do is, we take someone and teach them the fundamentals of art and how to build their pictures, and then they discover more about the capabilities they already have. They grow more confident and more independent and more self-sustainable because of that."

Although they are established now, Sarah insisted, "There's never a moment I breathe a sigh of relief. Rather, we're continuing to progress and considering what we can do next."

Goal

The goal, Sarah said, is to "have a bigger presence in our community."

To do that, the Wests want to "raise cultural awareness in realms of historic preservation and supporting local," Sarah said. "That extends far beyond visual art. We promote everything from singer-songwriters and musicians to farmers and crafters."

The Wests are hesitant to publicly share the details of their business plan, but Sarah acknowledged, "We are going to expand to a greater facility to offer more."

And they emphasized such a facility would remain in the Smiths Station area.

"We could pick up now and move over to Auburn and be more successful," Michele said. " Columbus is so established in the art community, it's sewn up there. I feel like this is our canvas. This is where the work is for us."

Last year, the Wests began educating themselves on organic sustainable farming. After being turned on to the music of the Avett Brothers, a folk rock band from Concord, N.C., they learned about the Elma C. Lomax Incubator Farm in Carrabus County, N.C., which the Avett Brothers support. An incubator farm trains young farmers, gives them a plot of land and sells it to build their business and purchase their own farms.

The Wests produced several pieces for auction to raise money for the Lomax farm. Now, they hope to plant the seeds for an incubator farm in or around Smiths Station. They are doing their part by growing organic flowers and vegetable gardens at their home.

Inspiration

Music is an integral part of the creative process for the Wests. They methodically choose the music they listen to while they paint or draw.

About three years ago, Sarah was browsing online when she clicked on "Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise" by the Avett Brothers.

"That song is all about having that dream," she said, "deciding what to do and go be it."

These lyrics from that song especially spoke to the Wests:

"There was a dream and one day I could see it

Like a bird in a cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it."

"That's how we feel daily," Sarah said.

"It's very empowering," Michele added.

"There are so many things which bind us," Sarah continued, "whether we're dealing with loss or grief or stress of trying to make it, like an art gallery in Smiths Station. There are so many things that can suppress our full potential."

The Wests listened to another Avett Brothers album, "The Once and Future Carpenter," Michele said, "and every song on there resonated with us because of the period in our life."

That year, 2011, they moved Michele's parents from Warner Robins into their Salem home because her father had an aggressive and debilitating form of Alzheimer's disease. He died a year later.

A week after his death, the Wests were driving through the mountains in North Carolina, listening to that album, and remarked that it was their soundtrack. They drove to Asheville on weekends "because we drew such inspiration from there," Michele said. "Asheville is a huge city of art and sustainability. So much of what we feel we learned there."

All of which begs this question: Why didn't the Wests move to those North Carolina mountains?

"Because there wouldn't be a gallery here," Sarah said. "They have already established what that community needs, but I get so much out of going places and bringing back the things that speak to me, and, fortunately, I've learned that they speak to a lot of other people too. So this community needs this, and this is home."

"We could pick up now and move over to Auburn and be more successful," Michele noted. " Columbus is so established in the art community, it's sewn up there. I feel like this is our canvas. This is where the work is for us."

Event

Now, the Wests are bringing an Avett to the Chattahoochee Valley.

In the winter of 2013, Sarah painted Joe Kwon, the band's cellist. She posted the piece on an Avett Brothers fan group website, and it created a buzz.

"The fans began connecting with us," Sarah said, "telling us how much it meant to them to hear the music and see the production of these pieces."

Sarah has created about a dozen images of the band members. In the summer of 2014, she donated five of the pieces to be auctioned and support the Lomax farm, and Michele also contributed several original works and archival prints to benefit the Barnraiser Save Lomax Farm campaign.

"Through our support of Lomax, we corresponded with the Avetts on a business level," Sarah said, "and a friendship grew from that."

Jim Avett is the father of the Avett Brothers founders, Scott and Seth, and a national touring artist in his own right. Jim will visit Smiths Station to perform a free concert Oct. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mount Zion United Methodist Church. A pre-show reception at 6 p.m. in the gallery will feature Sarah's pieces depicting Jim and his musical legacy.

The Wests described Jim's performance this way in their event invitation: "With love for the open road, and a great appreciation for people, Jim can be found sharing his songs and fascinating stories in listening rooms, prominent music venues and festivals with receptive audiences just about anywhere."

Even in Smiths Station, where a tiny art gallery has a grand plan.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

IF YOU GO

What: "An Evening with Jim Avett," a singer-songwriter from Concord, N.C.

When: Oct. 8; doors open at 7 p.m.; show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Mount Zion United Methodist Church, 2616 Lee Road 243, Smiths Station

Admission: Free

Note: The Sarah West Gallery of Fine Art, 2750 Lee Road 430, Smiths Station, will host a pre-show reception at 6 p.m., featuring an exhibition and the release of the limited edition signed prints (no more than 25) of West's graphite portrait of Avett. He also will be available to sign and personalize the prints. The proceeds from the sale of each $65 print will benefit a disaster relief fund designated by Avett.

More info: Call the gallery at 334-480-2008.

This story was originally published September 20, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Tiny art gallery in Smiths Station has grand plan ."