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Gallery One offers 'something unique' By Jared Porter Staff Writer Shelley Liles won't mind if you walk through her doors just to have a look around. In fact, she hopes you'll stay and have a cup of coffee. Liles celebrated her latest venture - Gallery One, a contemporary art gallery - with an opening reception in February. So far, she's "having great fun." "I feel like I am offering Nashville something that is unique," she said recently at the gallery, housed in the former location of a clothing store in the Belle Meade Galieria, 5133 Harding Pike. "I do think there is a place in this city for a contemporary gallery that carries a wide range of works and has substantial space for inventory." In Gallery One's 3,200 square feet, art aficionados will find works by established and emerging artists alike. Around 80 percent of the 20 artists whose works are featured at Gallery One have never exhibited in Nashville - painters such as Marcus Antonius Jansen, John Borden Evans and Henry Isaacs, to name a few. The works of several Nashville artists also have a place at Gallery One - painters Rebecca Ruegger and Frank and Diane May and sculptors Russ Faxon and Sydney Reichman. Pieces range from $600 to $27,000 in price. Liles takes pride in her gallery's "museum-like" style of presentation. She labored to create exhibition areas where selections aren't "cluttered together" and the lighting is "well-executed." She is also committed to offering a pleasant environment. When it comes to sales pressure, Liles simply says, "I don't do that." "I want to create an environment where people can feel comfortable coming in," she said. "They can linger, have a cup of coffee, read an art book or a magazine and spend time not in an intimidating way. I think art should be accessi¬ble. I want to make it as accessible as possible." Some people are fortunate enough to find careers they love. Liles is on her third. She started out as a reporter at The Tennessean and later wrote for USA Today's Money sec tion. She most recently worked as senior vice president of development and communications with the Girl Scout Council Cumberland Valley. Art has been a personal interest of Liles's for years. An aspiring artist herself, she decided to throw caution to the wind, indulge "a personal passion" and strike out on her own as an entrepreneur with encouragement from family and friends. She acknowledged there are challenges ahead, but insists that that's not a problem. "I've spent enough time gallery-hopping and museum-hopping to appreciate fine art," she said. "While it is a diversion from my previous careers, it's not something that's unfamiliar to me." On the business side, Liles said she is drawing on her experience as a journalist, having written extensively about small businesses and the challenges of start-ups. She also consulted SCORE, an organization that advises small-business owners, talked to other gallery owners and relied on the counsel of Jim Schippers, a former Tennessee State Museum curator, to help set up the gallery. Now that Gallery One is open for business, Liles plans to offer artist lectures and make her space available for receptions. Gallery One is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays; and by appointment. For more information, call 352-3006 or visit WWW.GalleryOne.Biz |
 
Top: Shelley Liles opened Gallery One in the Belle Meade Galieria in February. Works featured there include 'Ball Yard' by Marcus Jansen, above.
Photo of Liles by Jared Porter; |