Belleville’s Gallery 121 switches gears to stay open

By Laural Samson

BELLEVILLE – A Belleville-based art gallery has had to pivot in order to survive, and thrive, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But longtime member Marie Timber says that Gallery 121 is still struggling to keep up.

“It’s affected us hugely.” Timber said about the impact of COVID-19. “Our sales are down about 50 percent. It’s been a real adjustment to figure out how to sell enough work to cover our cost.”

Gallery 121, founded in 1991 and made up of 17 members, is a co-op that relies on art sales and membership fees to keep its doors open.

In order for the gallery to stay open, Timber says that they’ve had to shift their tactics.

“We’ve made a huge transition to an online presence, and it’s been a real learning curve for a lot of us- all of us, I’d say.”

In order for Gallery 121 to keep showing their art, they now take photos and feature them across all their social media platforms, as well as on their website.

This is something new for the gallery, but has been a life-saver.

“The online shop is really an amazing site. We certainly have people coming in and responding to the artwork that we post online, as well.” Timber said.

Another member, and treasurer, Dona Knudson, spoke about the shift of people shopping downtown and shopping local, instead of just at the mall.

“Even though sales might be down, I’m delighted that people are still buying art. It’s definitely not toilet paper, it’s not an essential item, but people are still buying art. I think there is strong support for trying to buy local.”

“I haven’t run into anyone that’s been particularly grumpy.” Knudson said about people adjusting to the changes the pandemic has brought.

But even with the updates Gallery 121 has embraced, Knudson says that overall, COVID has been hard on them.

“Is COVID a good thing for us? No, it’s not.”

Going forward, Timber says that Gallery 121 will continue to keep up with new methods of advertising and promoting art, so they can survive the continuing pandemic.

“Whatever’s out there that is free, we’re doing it. We are just pulling out all stops- anything we can get artwork out to people so they know we are still here.”