WESTERLY, R.I. — Tucked away off Railroad Avenue in Westerly, there lies a historic train station. What was once a bustling epicenter of travel, now sits relatively quiet. A few people mosey through the building, staring inquisitively at artwork done by various artists. Since 1992, the Artists’ Cooperative Gallery of Westerly (ACGOW) resides in the old station and practices an approach that operates a bit differently than traditional galleries.
Richard Inserra, current president of the Co-op, is an artist who uses oil and acrylics; he is passionate about the gallery and its unique virtues. He says “because it’s a co-op, each member has certain duties and responsibilities to help run and manage the gallery. Right now, we have 60 members, which is a peak number…It’s a pretty eclectic mix of artists.”
Since the gallery is managed and run by staff members, members are not charged commission on their sales, so they can set lower prices than would be normally seen in other galleries. This allows for a more frequent, and more accessible, relationship between artist and buyer.
ACGOW’s newest show, “What If…?-Artists Exploring,” — which opened this week — is an experimental journey into the expansion of an artists medium. The medium is the vessel that an artist uses to traverse the territory of their craft, whether it be oil, acrylic, watercolor, sculpture, woodwork, etc.
Inserra finds that the medium “doesn’t define the artist, it’s a matter of how they use the medium to depict certain things.”
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