Hello and welcome to Spotlight on the Arts.
I'm Tom McNamara.
Fourth Avenue is one of the busiest districts in Tucson.
But with the increase in student
housing, all the new restaurants there,
the amount of art galleries on the avenue has decreased a lot
in recent years.
And that's where & Gallery comes in.
Now, it's located just south of Sixth Street on Fourth Avenue.
The space is focused on comic art and zines and designer
toys, collectibles and art that's,
well, you could say, off the beaten track.
And today, we're joined by gallery owner
and operator Cynthia Naugle, who's here to tell us
a little more about the gallery and an upcoming show.
It's called Border
Baroque with local artist Karlito Miller Espinosa.
Cynthia, good to have you.
Hi.
Thank you for having me.
Tell us about the genesis of the gallery, how it came about,
and you're a niche as well as a survivor now
with all these other galleries gone, here you are.
Tell us about the niche you're filling now on fourth ave.
So this was back in 2018.
I had just moved back to Tucson
from Portland and I am a Tucson native been here my whole life.
But lived in Portland, came back to Tucson,
so I was looking for a job for something.
I was already making art and doing all that stuff.
And I happened to come across this wire
during Tucson Comic-Con that was & Gallery
and it had a lineup of these artists that I knew.
I was like, Hey, these are my friends.
This is cool.
And it was very much branded in the way that
the kind of art I do kind of more on the street arts side.
And also
my husband is a comic book writer,
so we're like, Hey, this seems like something we're about.
So we went and checked it out and it was awesome.
It was like the galleries we've seen
in Portland and New York, the kind of bigger cities and
I talked to the owner, Jonathan Wong,
and I introduced myself and I've been doing marketing
for years and event coordinating
and I could just see that he was stressed out.
It was something that he hasn't done before,
And that■s when
I kind of pitch.
I'm like, Hey, you could hire me.
I'm looking for a job and this is what I do.
I've done, event coordinating, I've worked with artists.
I'm also an artist and I could help you with this.
And he was like, Yes, please, let's go.
So I got hired, hired on working for Eat Sleep
Work, which was the company that & Gallery came from.
And it's going very well, we understand.
Now you're hosting local artists like Karlito.
Tell us about his exhibit.
So, Karlito,
I'm really excited about his show
because it's very much in the & Gallery style.
It's a bit controversial.
It's about culture, it's about all these other things.
He set a meeting with me and I was like,
We had very much like minds and I was like, This is perfect,
so let's make it happen.
Why is it so important to make contact in
and sort of collaborate with local artists
with a gallery like yours?
It's very important.
It's the way when people ask me how I come up
with what & Gallery looks like, what we're about, it's
I always say it's a mirror,
like it's a mirror to our community.
So our community is diverse.
We're out there, there's so many different parts of us.
It's a it's
this one common thing that I've heard
a lot of people say about Tucson when they come to the gallery
and kind of like describing it,
they're like, Oh, it's the Wild West.
We're a little gritty, you know, we're here to like,
we're not afraid to make things happen
and be loud about it. And
me personally, I'm the same way.
So so collaborating with our
local creators is very important.
And I do group shows that, you know,
have a wide range of different people that are part of it.
And the solo shows are also very important as well.
And just so people who are watching know
your your work, you cover a broad
spectrum of art, broad price ranges and broad experiences.
Yeah.
So it's like
a big thing that I've been working on with Tucson
is kind of
teaching Tucson that their art is worth it
and also unlearning a lot of things
about the typical art galleries.
Like of course, all those art galleries are important.
Like we got to have these spaces and all that,
but a lot of them haven't shown the type of art
that we've done, whether it's like street art, designer toys,
comic book art, sequential art, all of that, and it's all valid.
It too.
And that was something that like very much,
little by little, Tucson■s been learning
and we have our shows where we sell originals
that are high priced,
and there are those people that want that.
Like, I know I buy originals,
but I also will buy prints personally too.
So and it's making art accessible for everyone.
It's so we sell prints, we sell stickers,
we sell all different price items, different,
and also showing artists there's different ways
to monetize your artwork too.
Like, one of my favorite things that has been happening is
we get the kids from Tucson High coming in and buying art.
Like I remember when I was that age, I love it, I love it.
When I was that age, I was hunting down concert posters.
Right?
That was like my art that I would have up in my room.
And and that's cool.
But it's like, I wish there was a space
where I could go
and buy some cool price work that I could afford you know.
And now you are that space and it's great.
And we're happy to know that things are going well.
Thanks for joining us.
We wish you all the best going forward.
Thank you.
And if you'd like to see Karlito's exhibit and know
more about that, check out & Gallery.
They're open daily, noon to 6 p.m.
on Fourth Avenue in Tucson, just south of Sixth Street.
The show Border Baroque with Karlito Miller
Espinosa opens May the sixth and closes on the 29th.
Poke your head in the gallery and see what's happening.
A lot of good things.
Thanks for watching. Spotlight on the Arts.
I'm Tom McNamara and we'll see you again soon.