Another art gallery scales back its schedule

Sam Morris

Jennifer Harrington, owner of the Henri & Odette gallery downtown, tried several strategies for the hours of operation, to no avail.

By Kristen Peterson (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Jennifer Harrington sits inside her gallery on a summer afternoon and talks about her failed efforts to draw people into Henri & Odette.

The door is ajar. A breeze blows in. Pedestrians pass by.

The phone rings.

The caller asks if the Jerry Misko exhibit, which opened the week before, is still up. Harrington explains that the gallery at Sixth Street and Carson Avenue is now open by appointment only, but that she could meet the caller at any time to look at the work.

After a few minutes, she ends the call and returns to the topic at hand.

Harrington opened the gallery with free Wi-Fi, coffee, stationery, jewelry, French Vogue and Artforum, European water, tables and chairs, believing people would have more incentive to stop in and look at the art.

Nobody came and the gallery went “by appointment only” on Aug. 1, exactly one year after it opened.

The words “by appointment only” have become fairly common downtown. Galleries open. Nobody comes except on opening night and for events. With the exception of a few mainstays, galleries switch to appointment only and when potential customers do show up at the doors, they complain that the gallery is closed.

American conceptual artist Robert Barry was being clever in the 1960s when he created a work of a piece of paper with “during the exhibition the gallery will be closed” typed in the center.

Las Vegas galleries are not monuments of wit. The fact they are so often closed during exhibitions is a direct result of lack of interest.

The quality of art doesn’t seem to matter. The Main Gallery closed after creating a buzz and showing some solid exhibits featuring local, national and international cutting-edge contemporary artists. Naomi Arin Contemporary Art was exhibiting the works of high-priced international artists, including mid-career artists with works in museums. Only the Contemporary Arts Center and Trifecta Gallery have managed to stay open consistently. Trifecta Gallery, open five years in the Arts Factory, is a rare mainstay that draws visitors and makes a profit. The CAC has been open 20 years.

This is Harrington’s story: She graduated from UNLV with a major in philosophy and a minor in art history. She never wanted to be an artist but she loved art, particularly conceptual art, 1980s queer art and the social art of the ’60s and ’70s, and aspired to be an entrepreneur.

She signed the lease for her Jennifer Marie gallery at the Arts Factory before she even walked across the stage for her diploma. Her first gallery had only had three visitors who stopped in randomly when it was not a First Friday event. There were a few appointments, but not enough really to merit her being there. She knew that crowds weren’t exactly thick at downtown galleries, but thought the addition of her gallery would provide another reason to stop at the Arts Factory.

After a year she moved her gallery, which showed young artists from UNLV and elsewhere, over near the East Fremont Street entertainment district, where there were a few more people walking around and hip restaurants, neighborhoods and bars nearby.

She’d worked at a nightclub at the Hard Rock Hotel during and after college and saved some money to lease the little storefront at 124 S. Sixth St. — not expecting to make a lot of money, but to keep the doors open and show the art she wanted.

At Henri & Odette, she played with different operating hours — noon to 8 p.m., 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., then noon to 6 p.m. Nobody came. The openings, for the most part, drew nice-size crowds.

“Once in a while someone would come in and say, ‘This is so awesome,’ sit outside, have a tea or coffee and I wouldn’t see them for another three or four weeks,” Harrington said.

“People would come in and play chess and some cards, but it was the same three people.”

The 20 accounts with magazine distributors were for naught. Nobody was buying the magazines.

She held private dinners for artist receptions. She held workshops for an exhibit by Danielle Kelly that drew small crowds, but no money. She held a skateboard exhibit that featured 100 artists to reach out to multiple demographics. That show ended up costing her money even though 300 people attended.

She started working the bar at her fiance’s Downtown Cocktail Room to bring in some money and did what she could to keep the doors open at the gallery. But eventually, she had things to do. She didn’t have the time to man an empty gallery. She’ll still have openings that draw large crowds, but her quest for synergy will now go into a downtown Web site that she and a few others have funded. The site will help locals navigate the deals and events and locations of downtown galleries, restaurants and bars.