Arts Month was supposed to be a triumph for True North art gallery. In the year and a half since its soft opening, the Downtown Colorado Springs contemporary art collective has continued to count its blessings.
The Pikes Peak Bulletin met with three of True North’s member artists – co-founder Melissa Porter, Kevin Still and Becca Day – ahead of their first member-themed art exhibit. Members were challenged to create portraits in their own unique styles and interpretations for a First Friday debut.
But as the evening of First Friday turned to Saturday morning, True North’s celebration quickly turned to panic. After a fire had broken out at Bingo Burger, their Saks Building neighbor around the corner, True North scrambled to the gallery to retrieve their new works. While the Colorado Springs Fire Department contained the flames to the restaurant, smoke infiltrated their gallery and the art studios upstairs faced even more damage as the smoke naturally drifted upward.
True North will now spend Arts Month closed as they assess the damage, clean and repair their studio and artwork and then … wait.
“I think many people, myself included, [are saying], ‘Okay, what do we do? How do we fix this? How do we move on?’ And that’s not how this works,” Porter says. “So, we’re waiting … and I’m not a good waiter.”
True North has navigated change before
Mere days before the fire, the members of True North were thinking about very different things than insurance claims.
Founded by local artists Skylar Call, Marisa S. White and Porter, who found their work in other venues around town, the dream of creating their own gallery was initially delayed by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. When their current space in the Saks Building became available, they leapt for it. With help from the community, they remodeled the space in time for their April 2023 First Friday soft launch.
Before True North, Day sensed that the local arts community wasn’t out for blood, but instead sought to bolster each other. a
“Everybody was just so generous with providing us a solid foundation to get started, which just blew my mind,” says Porter. “I’m originally from Detroit and they don’t do that there.”
Stepping into True North, you immediately feel its distinct energy. Its stark white walls allow the artwork to pop right off in 2D paintings and photography or 3D sculptures. The collective carefully picks who joins not just to ensure their work is aesthetically compatible, but to not create competition between artists of similar styles.
“I hate to use the word ‘vibe,’ but we have such a vibe that we want to maintain,” Porter says.
As the collective has matured and they’ve filled out their roster, which currently stands at 18 artists, they’ve organized to become even more efficient and productive. They plan to introduce workshops and, following our interview, the gallery even became a shooting location for a short film.
“We’ve got a lot of committees now, instead of one person doing this and one person doing that, Becca heads up our marketing committee. We have a membership committee; we have a curation committee … It’s so nice,” Porter says. “We’re a huge collective, but we also break off into smaller groups that get things done.”
“The magic really happens when we can organize and work together to produce more things, more marketing and more events beyond just [building] friendships and hanging out together,” says Day.
The trio explained that despite inflation and a shrinking of discretionary income that seems to have affected businesses around them, their artists are still selling. Their membership structure allows artists to pocket 100% of their sales – they just pay “rent” for their display space at the gallery.
Turnover has been small, but they’ve been mindful of the changes. Co-founder Marisa S. White, known for her surrealistic photography, left for New York earlier in 2024.
“We all miss her,” Still says.
Member Jasmine Dillavou maintained their social media presence, but when she began her residency in Lakewood’s 40 West Arts creative district, incoming member Sophia Hanna filled the gap.
But it hasn’t all been sunshine.
Just a few days after First Friday last December, a fire broke out at the Majestic Building only 150 feet away, causing extensive smoke damage to the businesses housed there. One of them was the Yobel clothing store, which focused on ethically sourced fashion and housed The Look Up Gallery. Owned by Emily and Clay Ross – Clay also being a member artist at True North – the store had not only been a popular stopping point for art tourists, but it closed a feedback loop that boosted traffic to both venues as each would refer visitors to the other, especially on First Friday.
“That hurt us,” says Porter. “That’s been a hit to our community.”
Stepping up and holding hope
Porter hadn’t even had her coffee when she got the news about the fire from new member Kelsey Copp. She’d worked the previous night at their First Friday debut and was the first one to call Clay.
“[Clay]’s been amazing and helpful,” Porter says. “He’s let me cry on his shoulder and [he’s been] just a great human being through this whole process.”
“Yes, this is a rough one for sure. I’m sad that anyone else is going through this, especially my friends, and can’t believe we are affected again,” Clay told the Pikes Peak Bulletin. “Yesterday I moved everything out of my studio including 22 paintings, 50 prints, 10 easels and the rest of my supplies. Needless to say, I’m pretty burnt out. No pun intended.”
The collective quickly pulled together for an emergency meeting where they were able to enlist Clay’s experience from the loss of Yobel and The Look Up Gallery.
“Clay said, ‘This is going to take time, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Be patient,'” Porter said, making a note that they were on a “first name basis” with ZoneFive director and art conservator Jennifer Sexton, who Ben Bires consulted after his work at The Look Up Gallery was damaged in last year’s fire.
On social media, Skylar Call and Sophia Hanna showed off their art recovery efforts in the lot behind the Saks Building while referring supporters to their web site, truenorthartgallery.com, to purchase safely stored, unaffected art.
For now, their gallery is closed and the members clean … and wait. The portraits of their member-themed show will perhaps shine another day for those who missed the precious few hours they hung from their gallery walls.
“This group of people is such an amazing collective,” says Porter. “It brings me to tears how everyone has stepped up.”
