Local gallery co-owned by 20 artists

On a rainy afternoon in Lafayette, potter Mary Firestone mans the front desk of a local shop called Artists’ Own.

Artists’ Own is well-lit and colorful; soft music is playing and everywhere you look, there are different intricate pieces of work on display. The room is filled with rich-toned pottery, vibrant textiles and paintings hang on the walls in a wide range of size and subject matter.

Each piece of work in this place is handcrafted by a local artist residing in Lafayette, and almost every artist with work on display is a co-owner of the establishment.

Firestone said being a co-owner is no small task. The shop is entirely run by the artists; the members are divided into different boards, and they handle the finances, the marketing and the display of the shop entirely among themselves.

She said they have regular meetings of the separate boards, along with monthly meetings where they all get together to discuss the running of the store.

This establishment has been running in this way for over 20 years.

The business began in 1999, when a group of local artists got together and started the shop in downtown Lafayette to share their art with the community.

One of these founding members was Janet Fox Elmore, who remains a co-owner of the store to this day. She said she was tired of the state of the art scene at that time and wanted to find a sustainable way to help artists make a living.

“There were a number of people who were sick of doing art shows,” Elmore said. “Tired of carting all of your pottery and glass, and then you get a (rainy) day like this, and it’s horrible.”

She said a group of local artists got together and started discussing how they could make things better. A friend of hers in the group found a place downtown to rent, they collected donations of art to display from the members and began preparing.

“It took us about two months of arguing about how we were going to run ourselves, and we moved in there and the rest is history,” Elmore said.

The storefront has moved locations over the years and now resides on Main Street, with over 20 co-owners and several guest artists.

Mary Firestone is one of these co-owners. She said she’s been a part of Artists’ Own since 2007, and the variety of dishes, mugs and other functional work on a central table is hers.

“Being a potter is my sole income, and this is the majority of it,” Firestone said.

She said she runs the storefront around 20 days out of the year, and though she does spend other time fulfilling her duties as a board member, she is able to spend a large portion of her time in her at-home pottery studio.

“You set up a studio in your home, (and) it’s like having a dirt factory in your house,” Firestone said, smiling. “I dust. Constantly.”

Standing with Firestone at Artists’ Own is Sonya Thomas, a painter and the marketing chair of the establishment.

“(I got my start by) failing a pottery class,” Thomas said with a laugh. “I was taking a class … and dealing with waiting for the pieces to dry and all the stages, I found it wasn’t conducive. I like the messiness of pastels. I like the immediacy. I like recreating nature. I love pottery, but you have to stop at a certain point.”

“Unless you have a studio in your home,” Firestone said.

Another important aspect of Artists’ Own is its clients.

Firestone said because the shop is downtown, people often just wander in, but there are also some regulars. For instance, she said some people come in after court cases down the road to cheer up, and they also have a customer who frequently comes in on her lunch break just to relax.

“They’re usually in a good mood coming in here,” Thomas said.

“Or in a terrible mood looking for a good mood,” Firestone added.

The artists also get a chance to connect with each other through this place.

“Artists tend to work by themselves,” Firestone said, “so it’s really good for us to have other artists to speak with and bounce ideas off of. That’s one of the most important benefits of being in this co-op.”