Green Door Art Gallery in Webster Groves will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with the opening reception for its new exhibit, Secret St. Louis, on Saturday.
Originally owned by Vic Mastis and Michele Wells, the gallery first opened its doors in July 2013. The current owner, Mary Martin, became a resident artist in 2017 and assumed ownership after the previous owners retired in 2019.
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Martin says she is “very excited” about the gallery reaching this milestone, especially after surviving the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s not just a place to sell art, but it’s a place where anyone can come in from the community and be in a peaceful, beautiful place to get away from the chaos of the rest of the world,” she says.
The gallery is home to about 35 resident artists, including nationally known artists Mary Engelbreit and Marilynne Bradley, whose works are displayed for public viewing. It also offers an array of art classes taught by instructors, such as watercolor, collage mixed media, and oil and cold wax painting.
In honor of its 10th anniversary, Green Door is introducing a new exhibit, Secret St. Louis: Hidden Gems of the Gateway City. The exhibit is made up of a collection of paintings, jewelry, and other pieces by 21 artists that aim to uncover the subtle beauty of the city through various mediums.
Art featured in the exhibit includes photographs, watercolor and acrylic paintings, charcoal drawings, and other art objects that depict scenes outside of well-known landmarks like The Arch and Busch Stadium. Subjects include the pavilions in Tower Grove Park, a Mexican market on Cherokee Street, hidden garden areas, and more.
“There’s just a lot of hidden places like that, things that you don’t necessarily think of when you think of St. Louis, so we’re just trying to highlight different things that are great about our city,” says Martin.
Making her Green Door Art Gallery debut, Maureen Brodsky will be one of the artists whose work is featured in the exhibit. She specializes in oil paintings, including a piece she has titled “U City Hills,” painted in a subdivision in University City, which will be featured. She says she was charmed by the way the backyard scene of a specific residence could be interpreted.
“I thought it was very emblematic of the way people responded to COVID. Our backyards became this entertaining space, this living space, and I thought that particular yard looked very inviting and beautiful, so I wanted to capture that,” Brodsky says.
Pieces from the new exhibit will be on display and are available for purchase through August 26.
