Currently occupying the former Dogs4Life shopfront at 22 Carrier St, the Heart of Art Benalla is keen to let the community know it is still going strong.
After a flooring issue forced it from its regular location in the EdSpace IT Cafe next door, exhibiting artist deSales Turner said some locals thought it had closed permanently.
“We had to move out with just three days’ notice,” she said.
“So we stored a lot of our art and started to do local markets while we looked for a new location.
“Then I became aware there were some rumours that we had gone out of business.”
Ms Turner said she had to “gently correct” a few people who came up to her to offer their commiserations.
She said it was fortunate they were offered a different shopfront by EdSpace, and also confirmed that the artistic collective would move back into the EdSpace IT Cafe, once the issues with the floor were addressed.
“On Monday (November 25) we came in and cleaned everything,” Ms Turner said.
“The next day we started bringing our artists’ things in, and then little by little, each day more artists have come in to help out.
“So I expect this will get very full soon. It’s changing each day as we sell art and have new art coming in.”
Ms Turner said with Christmas just around the corner the Heart of Art Benalla was the ideal place to pick up a unique, locally made gift at an affordable price.
“We are also bringing back our ‘Up Your Arts’ fundraiser. We’re calling it ‘Up Your Arts Two’.”
The way that works is customers buy raffle tickets, then distribute them into one of several boxes, each of which relate to a prize.
If your ticket is drawn, you win that prize.
“Last time we raised $2980 in just two months. And that helped us pay for things like our insurance and phone,” Ms Turner said.
“Still to this day we remain a philanthropic, not-for-profit organisation.
“We don’t charge our artists commission on things they sell in the shop.
“And we only charge them $10 per month to exhibit their art here.”
If any local artists are interested in becoming a member, or would like to purchase some art, simply pop into the shop.
It is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 12.30pm.
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