Rising Stars: Mitchell-Giddings moves up
With move, Mitchell-Giddings Fine Arts curates a whole new view
Giddings talks with customers in Mitchell-Giddings’ bright new space.
Jim Giddings and Petria Mitchell have lived and painted in Vermont for more than 35 years. Both are well known in Brattleboro as artists and for their long history of involvement with such venerable area arts organizations as Windham Art Gallery, Brattleboro Museum & Arts Center, Brattleboro West Arts, and the River Gallery School.
The two met in the late 1980s as part of an artists’ critique group and later both helped to establish the Windham Art Gallery, a co-op gallery that was a vital presence on Main Street for 20 years. They both felt that with the closing of this gallery in 2009 a void was left in the local arts community.
“We want to work with artists to create a supportive community that also links them with buyers” says Petria. Jim says his motivating factor is “creating a distinctive space: a beautiful, welcoming, and dynamic place to buy fine art and craft.”
They opened their downtown gallery in 2014 in the basement of Candle in the Night, a home furnishings store at 181 Main St. When owners Donna and Larry Simons decided it was time to close Candle in the Night after 46 years on Main Street, Mitchell and Giddings decided it was time to move upstairs.
Mitchell-Giddings’ proprietors, Petria Mitchell and Jim Giddings.
Their new home opened to the public on Dec. 20, 2019 with an exhibit, “The Art of the Chop,” featuring the work of Lisa Mackie, a New York City artist who works in a number of media, including mixed media prints, paintings, and video.
As reported in The Commons, “Our opening was just amazing,” Mitchell says. “We had wall-to-wall people here. With refreshments and live music, we had over 600 friends in the gallery, which was so much more than we ever anticipated.”
Since the opening of the gallery, “We’ve had more daily visitors than we ever did downstairs. People now feel so much more comfortable just walking in,” Mitchell says. “So far it bodes well for the future. To put it mildly, I think we made the right decision in moving upstairs.”
