Creative Commune

Within Nokomis there lies a young and bright sanctuary for the visual arts. Tucked between Café Evergreen and Captain Eddie’s Seafood off of South Tamiami Trail lies The Cottage, an innovative venture into the gallery scene in Sarasota County.

The Cottage, the vision of local artist Brandy Boyd, opened in September. The Cottage first began as an extension of Boyd’s other passion project: the Nokomis Art Market. Taking place the third Saturday of each month, the market started in March 2014 and has grown to dominate the sizable lot in which it is held, adjacent to Rum Runners Antiques on East Pocono Trail. Vendors, craftsmen and artists from all over the area unite to sell their art and wares to Nokomis residents. Neighboring restaurants sell food, and Boyd hires local musicians to perform for passersby. However, Boyd began to feel like something was missing.
She and her artistic brethren needed something more stable than a monthly art market.

Boyd and nine other artists she befriended through the Nokomis Art Market, a collective called Artists in Cahoots, set their sights on a 500-square-foot building that Rum Runner’s Antique’s owner and proprietor Dan Simic owned. The antique dealer agreed to let the group use the space as an art gallery, and the artists began renovating and creating the colorful and cozy confines that The Cottage embraces today.

“As soon as I saw the building and it just had antiques lying inside, I started putting it out to all my friends and began organizing opening this permanent location,” says Boyd.

The word “anti-gallery” is perhaps the best way to describe the feel and mission of The Cottage. Boyd and company wanted to create a space that didn’t have the formal and intimidating trappings of standard art galleries. They also wanted to sell quality art to people in the neighborhood at a price they could afford. The pieces in the gallery range from 75-cent bookmarks to a $900 driftwood and glass piece.

And besides the affordability focus, the participating artists wanted to create a space that served as a den of creativity, a space in which the artists could create and sell their work. A couple of work stations are squeezed into the cottage for artists to use.

“It was a great opportunity to have an affordable space that you could call your gallery,” says Judi Light, a participating artist at The Cottage. “Everybody who comes in here, everyone loves the feel inside and likes spending time here. It’s like our home.”

Artists in Cahoots is composed of 10 core artists: Boyd, jewelry maker; Light, caricature artist and painter; Cynthia Harper, potter; Ken Hayden, craftsman of copper and other metals; Marley Beers, glass artist; Nancy Taylor, multipurpose artist who is currently working in watercolors; and the wildlife and nature printers collective of Bemice Giorgianni, Heide-Marie Wittman, JoAnn Campisi and Sue Lang. Each artist can display any of his works for sale at The Cottage as long as he works at the gallery space, participates in the Nokomis Art Market and Cottage events and helps pay the rent.

In addition, area artists can apply to sell their wares at The Cottage — prime real estate for eager artists who don’t have access to galleries and want more exposure than monthly and annual art markets.

Looking ahead, the Cahoots collective wants to expand and set up satellite locations of The Cottage in nearby areas where pockets of artists who participate in the Nokomis Art Market live.

“It’s amazing the size and growth of this little business since it opened in September,” says Taylor. “We have something for everybody here. It’s the gallery for everyone.”