SEQUIM — When she helped found the Blue Whole Gallery nearly 14 years ago, artist Barbara Boerigter said she had no idea the colorful show displaying the work of artists, most of Sequim, would go on so long.
She worried about the potential pitfalls of an artists’ cooperative, such as loss of enthusiasm by those who thought they could make a lot of money selling their work in downtown Sequim.
Artists are not making big money, especially in challenging economic times, but the enthusiasm remains among the Blue Whole Gallery’s members, Boerigter said, with 33 artist members now on exhibit.
Members pay $51 a month in dues, and their works are judged by their gallery board peers before they can be exhibited — with paintings being given up to two months to sell and three-dimensional works, such as sculptures and jewelry, getting up to four months to sell.
Also backing its success story is a recent remodeling of the gallery at 129 W. Washington St. that included new paint and tearing up the old carpeting for new wood-like flooring.
A 14th anniversary group show is planned for June called “14 Years and Counting.”
It opens at 5 p.m. Friday, June 3, and is open to the community.
The gallery opened in June 1997 after longtime Sequim-area artist Judy Priest closed her gallery across Washington Street.
“A bunch of us wanted to open our own gallery,” Boerigter recalled.
They came up with the name by borrowing from Sequim’s famous “blue hole” in the clouds created by the Olympic rain shadow and added a “W” to convey the concept of “wholeness” in terms of the overall diversity of media and styles represented in the gallery.
By whole, Boerigter explained, “we are the sum of all our parts” — an artists’ cooperative.
Boerigter said she is happy with the gallery’s look today — with paintings carefully displayed together and sculptures — with the idea of leading the gallery-goer’s eye from one piece to the next.
The idea is flow, said Boerigter, who has her own pieces of painted “found objects” on exhibit.
“You have to have a vision,” she said.
The gallery board also recently renewed the more than 2,600-square-foot gallery’s lease for five more years.
“We were afraid for a while we were not going to make the rent,” Boerigter said, adding that members’ monthly dues are what keep the lights burning.
New window exhibits, along with an entirely new show, are hung in the gallery at the beginning of every month.
This month, metal sculptor Larry McCaffrey, who creates yard art among other works, and Karen Anderson’s mixed art will be displayed.
“We probably have about a third of our members who have stayed over the years,” said Boerigter, the gallery’s board president.
McCaffrey, who played a leading role in the gallery’s remodeling project, said he likes working with his fellow artists at the gallery.
“It’s pretty amazing how a town this size has so many good artists,” said McCaffrey, who also has exhibited in Bellingham’s Fairhaven District and on Bainbridge Island.
Boerigter believes the Blue Whole Gallery has survived “because we do it right,” with reasonable prices for artwork.
“We have a loyal clientele that come for First Friday and see the work, then they buy it,” she said. “We have been told by people from out of town that it is like eye candy when you come in here.”
The gallery’s website at www.bluewholegallery.com describes the works exhibited “as varied and invigorating as the natural splendor of the Olympic Peninsula.”
The gallery has hosted workshops, demonstrations and exhibitions, and its artists have participated in many art and community events over the past 14 years.
On the first Friday of the month, the gallery hosts a reception from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. for the public to view the new showing of artwork for that month.
Refreshments are served, and many other shops and restaurants in downtown Sequim are open on First Fridays.
“We get between 150 to 200 who show for First Friday,” Boerigter said.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.