We’re All Family Here
Ptarmigan Arts became a true co-op a little over a year ago, which means anytime you come into our gallery, you’re really coming into “our” gallery. There is no overall owner, all the artists are equal owners. This is how we roll:
Once a month we have a general meeting. Ellen Halseth, our president, wears a tiara and brings cookies, and despite the odds, 31 artists discuss agenda items and come to some sort of consensus. But there’s more to this ownership thing than just raising our hands and eating cookies. There’s a gallery to run. We have officers who take care of the big stuff, but each member is on some sort of committee that helps keep the gallery interesting, pretty, or functional. The new artist committee helps find and help new artists jury in, the Back Room Gallery committee makes sure we have a different show every month. Homer’s all about committees, and Ptarmigan’s got ’em in spades: the display committee, scholarship committee, publicity committee. You get the idea. We’re involoved. We got it covered.
When you come into our gallery, the person at the counter is an owner and wants to show you around, answer questions, and help you find just the right thing. We know about the art, and if we don’t we can find out immediately a lot of the time. And we’re happy to see you. We like to know where you’ve come from and what’s happening outside and we like to hear you gush about 1) Alaska, if you’re from the lower 48, 2) Homer, if you’re from Alaska but not The Cosmic Hamlet By The Sea, or 3) what an incredible pool of talent we’ve assembled, if you’re from Homer.
For our customers, though, the most important part of us being a co-op is that we prop up each other as artists. We want the gallery as a whole to succeed, and we provide help, advice, materials, and inspiration to our fellow artists. We help each other become the best we can be. Come by and see how good a job we’ve done.