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The Main Gallery, a contemporary art gallery housed for 20 years in a yellow Victorian house in downtown Redwood City, is relocating to Menlo Park.
The gallery, run by a collective of Peninsula-based artists, has featured around 150 artists over the years, according to Monica Waldman, a ceramicist with the gallery, and Katinka Hartmetz, house manager and installation lead.
With expected rent increases at their former location, along with a long-term closure of the gallery’s neighboring restaurant, Alana’s Cafe, that curbed foot traffic, the group decided to search for a new location, they said.
They found it in the site of Marcela’s Village Gallery at 883 Santa Cruz Ave. in downtown Menlo Park, where they have agreed to take on a nine-month lease from Marcela Del Alcazar.
Del Alcazar told The Almanac in early September that she planned to move her gallery to her Woodside home until July 2021 due to slow business, COVID-19 and family reasons. She plans to reopen her downtown gallery, and Hartmetz said the Main Gallery hopes to stay in the neighborhood after that happens.
The pandemic has shifted some art gallery trends, said Waldman and Hartmetz. As people spend more time in their homes, they’re looking for things to brighten up their environment, but many are also cost-conscious due to the current economic uncertainty. They are also interested in items that can be shipped. As a result, Hartmetz said, prints and reproductions are selling well, as well as home items like ceramics.
“Those lucky to work from home are spending all day in the house. You need a little color and happiness,” said Waldeman.
“We hope we bring the same kind of spirit and innovation, creativity and quality of art to our new location,” Hartmetz said.
They are also in the process of recruiting new artists to work with, Waldman added.
The gallery is set to open Wednesday, Oct. 7, and will be open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 6 p.m. Its first exhibit is titled “Resilience.”
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