Practical Art, a retail and gallery space featuring local Arizona artists, is celebrating its five-year anniversary this Saturday.
The owners, Lisa Olson and Kara Roschi, are hosting the event at the store, located at 5070 N. Central Ave., from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“We’re very excited for the anniversary,” Roschi said. “It’s crazy — five years. It is definitely one of those benchmark points where, you know, three years felt a little bit like that, too, but five years is this half decade.”
The celebration will include food and beverages from Short Leash Hot Dogs and Four Peaks Brewery, live music by Sarah Vanell, an art raffle, a new inventory of t-shirts for sale and artist Kelly Driscoll will be painting a storefront mural throughout the day.
“We are really just trying to set it up to be a celebration of the milestone that we’ve made,” Olson said. “A celebration of the artists, celebration of the time we’ve spent here and a celebration of the community that’s supported us.”
Olson and Roschi are ASU alumnae who started working as employees at the store, which was founded in 2008 by Jane Reddin.
Olson and Roschi said Reddin worked as a lawyer in the Valley for 20 years and opened the store because she believed there was a lack of art space that was committed to handmade, useful works of art.
“She saw places like it in Sedona and Jerome and there wasn’t really one like it in Phoenix,” Roschi said. “So when she got out of law she traveled a bit and when she got settled back down here she knew that’s what she wanted to do for the Valley.”
Roschi said she met Reddin in January of 2008 at an event about integrating the arts and academic arts with the downtown area.
“I attended as a recent graduate and Jane attended as a community member,” Roschi said. “We got to chatting and she was talking about opening up this space and about functional work, so she got up to go at the end of the lecture and it was just one of those moments where I couldn’t let her walk away.”
Olson, on the other hand, had known Reddin most of her life. Her father, Kevin Olson, worked with Reddin when she was a lawyer.
Olson said she had recently been laid off from her job as a photographer at the East Valley Tribune and decided she wanted to open up an art gallery.
“I showed up here one day and was like, ‘Hey, Jane, how’s it going? I’ve decided I’m going to open up an art gallery,’” Olson said. “She kind of laughed at me and was like, ‘Yeah? What kind of contracts are you going to have with your artists? How long are you going to let them keep their stuff at your store?’”
Olson said she hadn’t thought about the details that come with opening up a gallery, so Reddin told her that she should come to work for her.
Reddin passed away in early 2011, after a battle with leukemia, so Olson and Roschi took over the store as co-owners.
The store had its grand opening in April of 2008, which featured over 20 local artists. Since then, the store has grown to feature more than 108 artists.
Roschi said she loves that their store is able to service the different communities in Phoenix, from the local artists to the art appreciators.
“People come in looking for that alternative to big box, mass produced items,” Roschi said. “You come in here for things that have that handmade touch, that somebody put their hard work and effort into and it’s a one of a kind thing.”
Mike Flitsch, a regular customer at the store, said that what he appreciates most about the store is Roschi and Olson’s interaction and engagement with the customers.
“I’ve been going there for about three to four years now and they know me as a customer,” Flitsch said. “They know what I like so when something shows up that they think I’m going to be interested in they are very quick to let me know by sending me a picture on Facebook or sending me some sort of notification that there is something there that I would like.”
Roschi said that they run about six to ten events at the store every month, which include their charity pie nights, art receptions, field trips to other local art receptions and exhibitions and summer classes for kids.
“I’m most exited about building on what we’ve got as a base here,” Olson said. “Creating more community-based events, doing more things to help out other organizations.”
Olson said that at the end of the day she feels it is important to celebrate the local character of the community.
“I just think that there’s something to the importance of shopping local, being local and being a part of that community around you,” Olson said.
Moving forward, Roschi and Olson have plans to expand their business through their web store, hiring a part-time employee in the fall and one day opening up a second location.
With every exciting new opportunity ahead of them, Roschi said that she is still most excited about watching an artist walk in the back door of their store with their artwork.
“It really all comes back to what it is that we do here,” Roschi said. “When I see one of the artists put the box on the end of the counter and start pulling all these amazing things that they’ve made and they’re excited about having a place to show it off, that’s awesome. That’s still my favorite part.”
Contact the reporter at victoria.stangl@asu.edu
