Creating space for creatives

NORTHEAST WISCONSIN – Decidedly not a gallery, Fishline Studios and Artist Collective in Algoma is a space for artists to showcase their creativity and share it with the community.

“I have a hard time with the word ‘gallery,’” said Alicia Lerch, owner of Fishline Studios.. “As an artist, I’m a messy person. I think of the word gallery as this carefully curated collection and we aren’t that. We want to give all creatives a space and, while not everything fits here, we have a really, really good mix of a lot of things. We have hand-beaded ornaments. We have watercolor paintings.

We’ve gotten to be known as kind of Algoma’s rock shop, which is funny to me, but it works. We have Lake Michigan rock jewelry and crafted gifts. It’s a really good mix of things, where an art gallery might just be white walls and some oil paintings that are thousands of dollars. We love that, it’s just not what we currently are.”

What Fishline Studios and Artist Collective currently is, Lerch said, is an art consignment space.

“We try to maximize our artists as much as we can,” she said. “We wouldn’t be anything without them. We don’t charge a rental space fee or a wall space fee. We’re a consignment art gallery, so we will often put out an open art call. We want people to apply and then we set up appointments for them to bring in their work and we discuss our terms, which is a consignment rate. We try to give back what we can to the artists, so we’re one of the lowest consignments in the area. We give 70% to our artists and we’re trying to keep our operations costs really low.”

To help make sure artists can continue to receive as much as possible, a new business has been established within the space.

“We opened an espresso bar in-house, so we have Origins Espresso and Boba Bar,” she said. “And that actually fuels the overall expenses for our space, which allows me to continue to give back to our artists the most for their work.”

For Lerch, opening Fishline Studios and Artist Collective helped not only to bring a bit of art back into Algoma, but also to make her dream of being a professional artist.

“I’ve always been interested in the arts, but it’s really hard as an individual artist to turn your dream into a fully funded job,” Lerch said. “It’s hard to be a professional artist… This space used to be the James May Art Gallery here in Algoma and they moved to Milwaukee… When I took over the space, I just knew that it was going to somehow be brought back to the arts. I just didn’t know how I was going to go about it because I didn’t make enough art to fill a whole space and really be a professional artist. But this space has given me the opportunity to do that. I absolutely love it and I love that we have all of these creatives together in one space.”

With so many creative minds represented under one roof, Lerch said the atmosphere is always changing and always welcoming of new ideas.

“It’s always a different energy that comes in,” she said. “I’ll have work that goes one direction on the walls and I’ll put out an artist call in the other room and I never know what’s going to walk through the door, which is great because it keeps things fresh and amazing. I miss being a college student because you’re around all of that young, fresh, vibrant energy. I think that’s something that as we grow as adults, we should be able to continue to embrace — that playful energy and that creativity that a lot of us don’t have time for as we get older. Something I’ve tried to embrace is having a space for other people to be able to come in and do those things.”

“We have this very niche market and we’re very walkable, so it’s easy for people to get around and check out everybody’s galleries and studio spaces and stores,” she said. “In the winter, we’re kind of like that Hallmark community. There’s always Christmas lights up and walkable winter markets happening. It’s nice to be outside the hustle and bustle of the bigger cities like Door County. Door County has a great gallery scene and a great art scene, but it’s nice to have something just a little bit different.”

Even within Algoma, Fishline Studios offers a different experience than other establishments, serving as not just a place for creatives, but for the whole community.

“I think my favorite thing is the community involvement — hosting classes and getting people in and doing different elements they’re not used to,” she said.

“We host business meetings, which are an opportunity for small businesses to come together and troubleshoot problems that they’re all experiencing… It’s a great way to embrace being in the community and talk with your neighbors, but not at the bar. It’s a different way of going about things… It is very much a space for artists and to showcase creativity. I know not everybody thinks that they’re creative, but you don’t have to be to come hang out and just enjoy a different environment.”

To learn more about Fishline Studios and Artist Collective and stay up-to-date with upcoming events, follow Fishline Studios’ Facebook page.