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Delight in a decade of Angst Gallery

Downtown Vancouver art space celebrates its 10th anniversary with Saturday event

By Scott Hewitt, Columbian staff writer
Published: August 25, 2018, 6:02am
3 Photos
Leah Jackson, right, peruses contributions to a community art exhibit at Angst Gallery with Christopher Luna, a Vancouver poet and artist who works with her at the downtown Vancouver gallery.
Leah Jackson, right, peruses contributions to a community art exhibit at Angst Gallery with Christopher Luna, a Vancouver poet and artist who works with her at the downtown Vancouver gallery. The Columbian files Photo Gallery

Angst is where many artists begin. “You either move through it and create, or you get stuck in it,” said Leah Jackson. “It’s something we all deal with in our lives.”

Angst — the definition of the word is deep anxiety or dread — is how Jackson used to feel about launching enterprises like art galleries and wine bars. When she was a child, she said, she fully intended to become an artist; as an adult, her ambition evolved into opening galleries and highlighting the works of artists who are trying to get unstuck from that sticky sensation.

Jackson was a member of the Mosaic Arts Alliance that opened the now-defunct Sixth Street Gallery; then, her friend Bill Leigh, a builder and metal artist who bought the Kiggins Theatre and much of the rest of its downtown block, more or less insisted that she open her own gallery next door. (When Jackson blanched at the dark space, she said, Leigh climbed a ladder, punched a fist through the ceiling and said he’d add a skylight.)

The Angst Gallery launched 10 years ago as a place for artists to try out unexpected, even daring ideas. It’s hosted exhibits of “Questionable World Leaders,” graffiti street art from around the world and photographs that confront bullying. Every January it flips the traditional artist-and-model script and exhibits “a Celebration of the Male Form.” And it’s a regular meeting place for poetry readings, arts workshops and nonprofit groups.

If You Go

 What: Angst Gallery 10th anniversary celebration.

 When: 3 to 5 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 25.

 Where: 1015 Main St., Vancouver.

 Admission: Free.

 To learn more:http://angstgallery.com

Many local art galleries have struggled and failed to survive, but Jackson has built-in cash flow right next door: her other business, Niche Wine Bar, which is connected to the gallery through a set of elegant doors.

“It would be a lot harder to sustain the gallery without the wine bar,” Jackson said. Niche opened about a year and a half after Angst.

“I guess my art is working with spaces,” Jackson said.

Jackson will host a 10th anniversary celebration of Angst from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday. Enjoy a retrospective slide show of the gallery (and the August exhibit of paintings by Gwendolyn Morgan, which will still be on display) and a meet-and-greet; Jackson said she’s invited all 300 artists who have exhibited works at the gallery to stop by.

It’s a small space — just 800 square feet — so if all do attend, they’ll definitely share a delightful feeling of angst.

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