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I’ve never been to Greenville, South Carolina, but after getting to know this gallery and its owner, I am itching to go!  Art & Light Gallery in Greenville is just the sort of spot I would love to spend hours perusing.  So much lovely art and creative objects perfect for an artsy life!  Owner and artist Teresa Roche has curated a charming collection of story pieces, style statements, and conversation starters.  Want to hear more?  Here’s a little email interview Teresa & I did recently..

AF | Has it always been your dream to own an art gallery?

TR | Honestly, owning the gallery was a bit of a fluke for me.  I was a dance major in college and I have always had a passion for the arts in general, but it was until after I stopped dancing due to knee injuries that my focus turned to visual arts.  My professional background was in marketing and event management and after a 9 year ride as an events manager for a bar code and point of sale company, I retired to follow my passions.  I did not have a clue that I would be opening a gallery at that time.  A friend of mine bought and renovated a beautiful building in what is now Greenville’s up and coming arts district – The Village of West Greenville.  I was a part of a 5 person arts group – we held a yearly art show and it was our third year.  My friend offered her new space for our show.  When this show was over, my friend asked me to stay in the space and suggested that I do a gallery for emerging local artists…it only took me 5 mins. to make a decision and the rest is history.

AF | You opened Art & Light in 2007 and then the recession hit a few years later. To what do you contribute its survival when so many other galleries didn’t make it?

TR | Since my gallery was in a very rough area of western Greenville, an old textile mill village, I was in a position to trail blaze, I guess you would say. Greenville had a “First Friday” organization, so my business model was built on the First Friday gallery crawl. In 5 years I hosted 55 shows – a different show every month and I was only open on First Friday weekends for the first year, then after that I opened every Friday and Saturday. I sought out some of the best artists in Greenville and worked very hard to connect myself with Clemson University, Furman University and Bob Jones University art students and faculty. By doing so many shows, and changing it up monthly I was able to draw great crowds to openings – each crowd being very different, depending on who the artist was and the popularity of the artist. I also finely curated every show and included unusual furniture and lighting pieces to set up vignettes – which was a different concept in our area at that time. I not only marketed to art collectors and art lovers, but to vintage furniture and lighting collectors. At this time in Greenville, I was the only gallery doing anything like this concept. I developed a loyal following of people who were exceptionally curious about seeing what was coming next – I think that was total luck! Being in the arts district (which was in a very out of the way area) and the only retail gallery in the area was a struggle to say the least. The First Friday opening crowds were great, but it was difficult to drive traffic the rest of the time. I made a very hard decision to move the gallery to a high traffic, high income area a year ago. I am now open Tuesday – Saturday and the day to day traffic has more than doubled (of course that meant my expenses doubled as well. ) It broke my heart to leave the arts district, but was a very good move in the end.

AF | What do you look for in the artists you represent?

TR | First I look for great work, but that is not enough. I look for artists with work ethic and passion and the drive to keep producing original and interesting, well-done work. Many of the emerging artists I featured back in the beginning have stopped making art – many had to find full time jobs to pay the bills. Since the beginning days I have developed a gallery of resident artists who work in their craft full time – it’s my view that the only way a gallery can survive is to have new and original work on hand constantly. I have some of the most brilliant and dedicated artists in our area in my gallery and am so proud of that! They are all meticulous in their work and I feel honored to be representing them!

AF | What’s usually playing on the gallery sound system?

TR | Pandora is my music system and I constantly switch it up between a French channel, Sergio Mendes and a singer-songwriter channel – love my music and Pandora – I change it based on the shows that are up, the season and my day to day mood 🙂

AF | What type of work do you have in your own personal collection?

TR | It’s almost all local artists with the exception of several vintage pieces. My decisions to purchase are very emotional and one of the things I love most is making a connection with the artist – a mixture of paintings, drawings and mixed media. I allow myself to purchase a couple of pieces a year, but owning a gallery and be surrounded by the work is a little like Christmas every day! I love it!  I consider myself very fortunate to do what I do every day.

AF | What sets Greenville apart as an arts destination?

TR | That is a very hard question – I will try to keep it short. I believe that artistically distinguished cities are cities that have interesting retail spaces, theatres, music venues, parks, and residential areas — the visionaries of have worked tirelessly to bring all of those elements together. We also have a very strong arts organization – The Metropolitan Arts Council with outstanding leadership which in my opinion is one of the engines that drives the arts here. Greenville also has Artisphere ( a wonderful yearly arts festival – one of the best of it’s kind). Open Studios, with over 140 participating artists, culinary events, First Friday Gallery Crawls, the Peace Center for Performing Arts and 3 strong colleges in the area. I believe that Greenville is “authentic” and that the people here have an “art frame of mind” – my dream would be that the percentage of people who support and think about the arts as a whole would GROW – it’s very hard to compete with football and NASCAR – I can dream, can’t I?

I can’t wait to see more of what Teresa has in store at Art & Light!  If you’re in the Greenville area, a new show at A&L featuring artist Kim Hassold opens tomorrow evening– I’m sure you’ll be in for a treat!  Want to find out more about Art & Light?  Please visit their website and be sure to see the gallery when you’re in Greenville!  Be sure to follow along with A&L on Facebook & Pinterest, too!

All images via Art & Light.