It is with great sadness that I share that I learned yesterday that Gallery 414, which has been serving the Fort Worth art community for almost 24 years, is closing.
As stated on the 414 website, “In 1995, founders John Hartley, Adele Krause and Razz Fiesler opened Gallery 414 as a space to promote and exhibit contemporary art in a variety of media and subject matter by new and established artists.” Sadly, Raza Fiesler passed away last year.
I missed a call yesterday from Adele Krause; her voice mail said “I need to talk to you about something important.” Knowing that the gallery space belonged to the estate of Razz Fiesler, who’d passed away last year, I knew the future of the gallery was somewhat up in the air. I called Adele back and she confirmed what I suspected – the estate had decided they could no longer support the gallery.
Their next show, scheduled to run from February 9 to March 3, 2019, will be their last. Unfortunately, the show that was to have followed, which would have me and Ann Ekstrom, has been cancelled.
If you’ve been there recently, you’ve noticed the once slightly ragged neighborhood now sports high-end condos on all sides of the lot Gallery 414 sits on. Hell, I can’t fault the folks who manage the estate – that property is now worth a lot more empty that the gallery itself. I would have done the same thing.
So this is a long way of saying, the show I had planned will not be happening in March as I’d previously announced. Ann and I are exploring other venues to have a show together. Unfortunately, because of scheduling, it may not be until next year. I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, my heartfelt thanks to John and Adele, and Gallery 414, for their support of me at a time when I was re-establishing myself as a painter, and needed a place to show, and their support of the arts community in general.
Gallery 414 will be missed.