Hidden Gallery to close at the end of August

VANCOUVER — Hidden Gallery, inside Bella’s Courtyard coffeehouse in the Academy building, will close at the end of August. Friday was the gallery’s last First Friday celebration, since the same show will continue through both July and August.

Increasing expenses and declining revenues forced the closure, said Drew Parsons, who operates the gallery at 400 E. Evergreen Blvd., Suite 115, Vancouver.

“The profit margin just isn’t there to keep it going,” said Parsons, who co-owns the art curating business Drew-Jones Studio Art.

Being a few blocks removed from the cluster of galleries along Main Street hurt foot traffic, Parsons said. Also, people had trouble finding Hidden Gallery tucked inside a coffee shop in the Academy, he added.

Jared Hidden, whose family owns the Academy, launched the gallery in May 2009, and Parsons started running it in January 2010. Parsons and his business partner, Ron Jones, rotate art through more than 20 Clark County businesses.

For Hidden Gallery’s last two months, acrylic paintings by Camas artist Melissa Winchell will be on display. On Friday, she also launched her perfume line at Hidden Gallery.