The Gap Gallery announced its return Feb. 15 on Instagram much to the excitement of the arts community. This well-loved hub for emerging local artists took a six-month hiatus after its last show in July, but founder and director Marie Carladous is ready to kickstart the pop-up gallery once more.
Carladous said she almost threw in the towel on the endeavor earlier this year, overwhelmed by managing a gallery while working full-time.
“I’m very excited to be back,” Carladous said. “Honestly, I was ready to let it go in January. I closed the bank account for it. But when I went to the IRS website to dismantle the actual corporation, I couldn’t click the button. And so I was like, maybe that tells me something.”
Not long afterwards, Anne Quattlebaum, director of the City Gallery at Waterfront Park, approached Carladous about partnering for a show at Redux Contemporary Art Center in May in celebration of Spoleto season.
“She offered to try to help us get back on track. I realized I really just wanted to keep it going,” Carladous said.
The revamp of Gap Gallery includes a reevaluation of past goals. Carladous was originally hoping to find a permanent location for her gallery at some point. After unsuccessfully scouring for an affordable spot last year, she changed gears to focus on improving her pop-up model instead.
“The overhead in Charleston is just way too high. If I have to pay rent, I’m going to have to turn into every other gallery that exists in town and take a 50-50 split with the artists, and that’s just not the point of the gallery,” she told the Charleston City Paper. “So honestly, I really don’t care if I’m not making any money out of it. That’s not the goal. The goal was to really just keep a platform that’s a little less strict, meaning, if you bring me drawings on paper that are unframed, that you just pinned to the wall. I don’t give a crap. I really just want to keep a space that’s made for emerging artists.”
Carladous said the one-night-only pop-up show model gives artists a chance to exhibit with low barriers to entry.
“There’s no ties. There’s no contracts, you get 300 to 400 people seeing your work, and then you kind of get a vibe of what people think of your art,” Carladous said. “I just find that very interesting. It’s almost like a critique. It’s a lot of work for just one night, but it’s so worth it. It’s a unique way of doing it. And that might end up being what defines us.”
The Gap Gallery was awarded the Lowcountry Quarterly Arts grant, which Carladous will use to lower the wall fees she charges artists who are accepted into the shows.
“My goal is to completely get rid of the wall fees for artists, and then the gallery only takes a 25% commission. The arts commission gave me half of what I need to do that, which is amazing help, so I’m going to cut the fees in half for now. A five-foot wall is $25 instead of $50, for example.”
Another goal moving forward is securing more grants, said Carladous, “and making sure I’m not spending money out of pocket every time.”
The show at Redux on May 26, in collaboration with the City Gallery, is accepting artist submissions now through April 4.
Hed Hi Studio will host the following show in July. Carladous said a call for the July show will be announced in April. For information, to view submission requirements or apply to show with Gap Gallery, check out
@gapgallerychs on Instagram.
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