QUINCY – After years of waiting, the Quincy Art Association has opened its first public gallery.
“We’ve always wanted a gallery,” said artist Tony Andrade.
Andrade said members suggested the gallery to Mayor Thomas Koch about five years ago. Its new space, in the Munroe building near the town hall, belongs to the city.
Artists and local elected officials gathered last week to mingle and admire the pieces hung along the walls of the gallery. Koch and city councilors David McCarthy and Noel DiBona stopped to chat with members and browse the art.
Artist Phyllis Andrade, Tony’s wife, said local designers have wanted the gallery for some time.
“We’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Phyllis Andrade. “We are all passing out.”
His art was on display during the opening night. She uses photos, magazine clippings and other papers to produce multimedia images. One piece depicts a woman whose image Phyllis cut out of a Singer sewing machine brochure.
She said her work is a mishmash of ideas and media, “like a shotgun wedding”.
“I’m going to rip anything I can get,” she said.
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Some of the art was abstract, like Tony Andrade’s pen-drawn art splashed with color.
Other plays focused on actual scenes from the Quincy community: the Presidents’ Church downtown, two men sitting in the now closed Newcomb Farms in Wollaston, and the space under the Neponset River Bridge, have all presented on canvases in the gallery.
“We’ve been talking for a long time about giving them more visibility so that we can get people to see the incredible talent that we have around,” Koch said of the artists at the association. “It’s provisional, but I really think in the long run we’ll find a house downtown to continue this.… I think we have a lot of room to grow.”
The association hopes to welcome more artists and featured guests as well as keep art accessible to residents of Quincy, said members Kelly Cobble and Ellyn Moller.
Cobble, a former president of the association, said the gallery will provide space for artists who wish to exhibit and sell their work.
Moller, who has been the association’s president since July, said the next steps are to determine the schedule for future events.
But for now, after the rush to acquire the space and host her first public performance, “I think we’re going to take a break,” she said.
If you are going to
What: Quincy Art Association Gallery
Or: 1229 rue Hancock, Quincy
When: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Info: quincyartma.org
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Contact Alex Weliever at [email protected].
