Fallbrook Art Center

The North County Times

FALLBROOK: Find is One-Of-A-Kind (photo)

February 5, 2010 - Fallbrook Arts Center will open a gallery store next week where visitors can purchase original gifts made by local and regional artists.

Officials at the nonprofit art gallery said The Find will open at noon Feb. 7. Visitors can purchase cards, textiles, ceramics, jewelry and other original artwork by approximately 20 area artists. Most items will cost less than $100 and proceeds will be used for center operating expenses.

The store will open at Main Avenue and Alvarado Street surrounded by many struggling downtown businesses, but officials said they're confident there's a market for unique, hand-made gifts downtown.

"We feel there's a need for something like this, and based on the Art of the Holidays sales, we can tell there's a need for it," center executive Mary Perhacs said, referring to the center's annual holiday-themed art sale.

She described last year's Art of the Holidays as the most successful ever, adding that Fallbrook residents bought thousands of dollars in reasonably-priced, holiday-themed art created by local artists during the sale.

The Find organizer Colleen Aichle said the gallery's stock will be small, but that buyers will be given access to the artists if they want to negotiate a variation on a displayed item.

Aichle said each artist will have a portfolio that will include information and pictures of their other works. If a shopper wants a larger wooden bowl than displayed, for example, the shopper can contact the artist with that request.

The store can also change, replenish and update stock frequently, Perhacs said.

"It's all consignment, not inventory, so if we're not selling something, we can go back to the artist and say, 'Send us something else,'" Perhacs said. "We'll always have new stuff. We're not going to have the same bracelet for 10 months."

Officials began contacting artists and collecting work for the store about two months ago, Aichle said.

She said she expects to offer work by more artists in the future, along with gift-wrapping, and devote a section of the store to creative gift presentations.

"Say you want to give someone money," Aichle said. "Instead of putting it in a card, I sometimes cut walnuts in half, hollow them out and put different folded-up bills in each one. Then I just glue them back together and put them in a bowl with a nut cracker. People love it.

"People who shop here will be buying more than a gift. They'll be buying a whole experience."

Contact staff writer Morgan Cook at 760-740-3516.