Oregon Public Broadcasting

One of Portland's premier art galleries closed recently -- giving Northwest artists one less place to sell their work.

For people selling necessities like food and shelter, the economy has been tough. But for those selling art -- it's been crushing.

Kristian Foden-Vencil reports.

Bradley Lawrence

On a grey drizzly morning, Bradley Lawrence stands in the doorway of the closed Lawrence Gallery in Portland's Pearl District and looks in the window.

Bradley Lawrence: "This used to be the old Winks Hardware. For years, decades. And so it was extensively remodeled by both my father, Gary and the landlord. They both put a lot of money into it to make it a great gallery space. And so, we had been feeding the gallery for way too long. The business had just not been making it. We realized that it was time to close."

The Lawrence family has other galleries: one in Salishan and the original gallery in Sheridan. It opened in 1977, survived other recessions, and will remain open. But the Portland gallery just lost too much money.

Bradley Lawrence: "I think that this recession has people more concerned about spending, about discretionary spending. More concerned about the future. There have been severe price spikes in the past. There was severe inflation in the 1980s. Some of that was scary but this has gone on longer and it has affected people in a different way."

He says customers simply don't feel as financially secure as they used to. And that's spelled trouble for gallery owners and artists alike.

The Lawrence Gallery in Portland closed in March and was supposed to be the family's flagship store. But patriarch, Gary Lawrence, is ill . And his son Bradley says perhaps the Portland gallery didn't stick closely enough to the aim of showcasing the work of living Northwest artists.

Bradley Lawrence: " That's where we've focused in the past. And the Sheridan Gallery and the Salishan Gallery still really focus on that art. And the Portland gallery in some ways got away from that a little bit."

Out on the McKenzie River, just east of Springfield, artist William Pickerd tuns a lathe off to come to the phone.

William Pickerd: "Most of the work I do on the wood lathe. I'm kind of a reverse process sculptor where a sculptor primarily lets the stone stay in one place and he applies power to a tool and removes the stone that way. I do it the other way around. I apply power to the stone and turn it. And then my tool scrapes it off. It's just kind of a backwards process of sculpting."

Pickerd was a wood shop teacher until he retired 10 years ago. He decided to start working in stone and now makes vases and bowls. The Lawrence in Portland was the first gallery to take his work.

William Pickerd: "That was such an iconic place that they had there on 9th and Davis. And it was just, when you went in there, it had an amazing array of artists all the way from Picasso and Miro and Chigal and Michael Angelo and Rodin and all of those people. And I did a show there a year and a half ago and I was in the same room showing with those same artists and it was really a mystical feeling. And the feeling of loss that's gong to be in the art community of portland is going to be larger than they realize now."

Landscape painter, Shannon Ray, showed her work at The Lawrence Gallery in Portland. She says the economic crisis has closed several galleries in Oregon and that's been tough on those who like to create.

Shannon Ray: "The fewer venues there are to show art. The more wonderful professional artists, very high quality, are vying for shrinking space. And it's very competitive and can be just detrimental to an artist's psyche."

Over the last year, Portland alone has seen The Mark Woolley Gallery close, the Pulliam Deffenbaugh Gallery close and in 2008 the shuttering of the Portland Art Center.

On the other hand, a couple of new spaces have opened, like 'The Screaming Sky Gallery' and the entertainingly named 'Garbageman Astronaut.'

And never one to say die, Bradley Lawrence says that when the economy picks up, perhaps there'll be a new Lawrence Gallery too.