Many thanks to New England arts magazine Big Red & Shiny and artist Sarah Rushford for a wonderful interview with 13FOREST owners Marc Gurton and Jim Kiely.
Gurton and Kiely speak candidly with Rushford about what inspired them to open the gallery, their respective backgrounds in (and outside of) the arts and the close ties they've formed with local artists over the past 10 years.
Read the full interview, here, or enjoy a short excerpt, below:
Sarah Rushford: Could you talk about how craft and fine art are in dialogue at 13FOREST?
Jim Kiely: When we decided to run with the gallery ten years ago, we talked to experts. The universal advice we got was “You can't run art and craft together. Either be a craft store or an art gallery.” We thought that was silly, even though it was the convention. Artisans are no less passionate and no less disciplined than a painter or sculptor. We didn't see that there was a difference between them. We decided to ignore that entire model and run it all together. It's led to a non-hierarchical model that respects the work of those who work with their hands. Keeping art accessible, which is our mission, I think is a big part of the success of it.