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.
