Courtesy youngbloodgallery.com.
Followers of Young Blood Gallery were dismayed last month when the fifteen-year-old venue announced their closing. Today’s announcement, however, offers a windfall reversal in favor of keeping the tradition alive.
The space will have new owners whose years of familiarity with the space will help them continue in the spirit of its indie roots. Readers may have heard their names before: Rebecca Hanna (a current employee), Jessie White (a longtime supporter), and Erica Jamison (executive director of the nonprofit MINT Gallery).
Young Blood’s boutique, known for its eclectic handmade gifts and artist-made apparel, will continue operation under the management of Hanna, Jamison and White. The exhibition space, will now be home to MINT Gallery, who is leasing the space from the larger building. The two entities will function as separate businesses while sharing the same roof.
MINT has come a long way since its original gallery in the Old Fourth Ward (shown above). Its current location counts as its second home, and Young Blood will become its third. Photo by Faith Ploener for BURNAWAY, 2009.
That’s right: the newly reborn MINT and Young Blood will occupy the same physical space. Their partnership means a breath of relief for the hundreds of artists—both locally and nationally based—who’ve started their careers at Young Blood’s exhibitions over the years. Galleries close all the time, but this case struck a particular nerve.
The gallery’s good fortune also means a much-welcomed return to routine for Ponce Crush, the neighborhood’s monthly art stroll. The pathway will remain unbroken, from Young Blood to fellow galleries Kibbee and Beep Beep, continuing into 2013.
So much for the Mayan apocalypse; the new year isn’t looking too shabby after all.
