Gallery debuts in Pomona Arts Colony
A.S. Ashley, Correspondent

 


POMONA - In the 15-plus-year evolution of Pomona's Arts Colony, the downtown area has seen the number of art venues rise from less than a half-dozen to more than 25. The first Second Saturday Art Walk of 2009 rings in the New Year tonight with the introduction of the latest addition to the Colony, Selkouth Gallery.

Selkouth: Middle English (adj. and n.) - wonderful, a wonder.

Selkouth's owner, James Nathan Bell (Nate), grew up in Chino and became a low-voltage engineer while expressing his artistic talent through photography and working part time in a tattoo shop in Orange. His interest in photography prompted Bell to start a small photography company in Newport Beach.

It was working with artists in the fields of photography and tattooing where Nate saw the age-old struggle artists have with finding venues to get their art shown.

"I was watching my friends work so hard to find places to sell their work just to cover the cost of materials," Bell said. "I wanted to create a venue and make art a larger part of my life."

And he found just the place: an arts colony filled with venues mostly operated by artists for artists, right here in downtown Pomona.

"The area is really ideal," Bell said. "Old buildings and storefronts, galleries, restaurants, shops, the Fox Theatre being renovated, and the great sense of community by all the folks who live and work in the Colony, I feel right at home."

The gallery shouldn't be hard to find for visitors coming to Second Saturday. As patrons enter the Colony from Garey Avenue west onto Second Street, it will be the first art venue on the right hand side of the street, next to Joey's Bar-B-Q on the corner.
Selkouth's grand opening, featuring paintings, drawings, sculpture and photography, will take place during the Second Saturday Art Walk today from 6-10 p.m.

Selkouth is located at 119 W. Second Street. Information: myspace.com/Selkouth and www.Selkouth.com; (909) 868-9999.

For information about all 25 art venues in the Arts Colony, go to: www.pomonaartscolony.com or www.metropomona.com.

A.S. Ashley is a Pomona Arts Colony artist and advocate.