About Us
WALK Gallery, LLC was created in April 2009 when local store owner, Andrea Schenck, of Plum Elements approached and shared the idea of exhibiting art in downtown Charleston’s empty storefronts with Rena Lasch. With more empty storefronts everyday the morale of the local store owners was down. The question was asked — How can we make the city more appealing not only to its residents but tourists, too? With Rena’s background in design and real estate, and an interest in community building, she easily envisioned the idea of art filled windows along King Street, and throughout City of Charleston. The vision seemed like a win:win for all — visibility for local artists, increased visual appeal, interest on the street, and a means to enhance available space.
A talented group of people with diverse backgrounds came together to help make the project, WALK Gallery, a reality. The group approached property owners, talked to the media, put out a call for entries, and helped brand the LLC so it could flourish for years to come. Without these talented people WALK Gallery would not exist. Please check out the contributors to WALK Gallery’s inaugural exhibition — the ones that helped start WALK Gallery, LLC, here.
After a lot of work, and the support from many; including Mayor Joe Riley, WALK Gallery, LLC had its inaugural exhibition on May 21 through June 27, 2009. It was a great success! We had more than 50 local artists submit applications to be a part of WALK Gallery, LLC., and 14 artists were chosen to exhibit their work in the vacant storefront windows on King and John Streets. You can learn more about these artists here.
So, what does the future hold? We’ve decided a lot of collaborations with other like-minded organizations. In September we will be partnering up with Peace One Day and have windows filled with peace themed artwork. In the mean time we are planning on collaborating with ArtStudentGallery.com for August. In November and December we are planning to partner with the local schools and have students’ works displayed during the holidays.
WALK Gallery has had a great start at helping create a more beautiful and art filled Charleston. We couldn’t have made the dream of WALK Gallery a reality without the help of its Contributors, Sponsors, and Friends . Thank you all VERY much!
We want to help make WALK Gallery a constant in the City of Charleston, and to do that we need the help from our community. If you’re an artist or part of an organization that would like to collaborate with WALK Gallery then please contact us at info@walkgallery.org. If you are a building owner and have empty storefronts, we’d love to get you involved with WALK Gallery, LLC! Also, we are always looking for volunteers, committee members, and sponsors!
** Our Mission **