Artist Jami Childers has been painting portraits and exhibiting her work Downtown along Monroe Street for almost two years, but that might be coming to an end.
“I’ve enjoyed being Downtown, but I just don’t think Jacksonville has enough market for fine art,” she said last week as she worked at her easel in the window at Monroe Galleries.
“And I don’t think there’s enough foot traffic unless there’s an event,” she added.
Even offering exhibit space to other artists for a small fee and teaching classes at the gallery hasn’t put the cash flow into the black.
Essentially self-taught, other than some classes at Florida State College at Jacksonville, Childers said the majority of her commissions come through her website, monroegalleries.com. So it might be time to move the studio back home and get away from paying for rent and utilities every month.
The studio and gallery at 40 W. Monroe St. is her second Downtown address.
Childers started thinking about bringing her brushes and canvas Downtown five years ago when she visited First Wednesday Art Walk.
When a space on Monroe Street was vacated two years ago by a barber shop, she leased it and set up her first gallery.
The space having been occupied by people who cut hair made a connection with Childers, who owns and operates Jami’s Barber Salon in the Publix shopping center at Atlantic and University boulevards.
“I’ve got some great girls who work for me, so I can spend two days at the salon and four days at the gallery,” she said.
Ten months ago, a larger space became available a few doors down from the original studio, so Childers moved and began inviting other artists to show their work in the gallery.
The gallery is currently showing work by University of North Florida photography students, along with several other local painters, potters and sculptors.
When the exhibit is taken down Nov. 30, the wall space will be made ready for the final guest exhibition at Monroe Galleries, a collection of work by students enrolled in Cathedral Arts Project. It will debut Dec. 7 at Art Walk and be displayed for about three weeks.
Childers said that probably will be her last Art Walk as a Downtown gallery owner.
Unless, that is, she can find another space that doesn’t require such an investment in overhead.
“I’m keeping my options open and I might try to do something on a smaller scale. If I could find a little niche somewhere, I would stay,” said Childers. “I’ve learned a lot and it’s been a really good experience, but $1,000 a month — that’s a lot of portraits.”
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