MOUNT VERNON – Kudos, the artists’ cooperative on Main Street in downtown Mount Vernon, celebrated its 10th anniversary on June 4 as the city shows sign of emerging from the COVID-19 shutdown.
“It was phenomenal,” Kudos founder and manager Marsha Ernst told the Mount Vernon News.
In May, customers who purchased artwork from the downtown gallery were given tickets for a drawing to win works from the 21 artists who are members of the cooperative.
“We had the drawing after First Friday,” Ernst said. The downtown festival returned this year after being cancelled in 2020 because of COVID-19. First Fridays will continue each week on the first Friday of each month until September.
“There was about $1,700 worth of artwork that was given out in the drawings,” she said. “We had wine, we had cupcakes made by one of our artists and iced tea by another artist. We gave away balloons to children. We had fresh flowers from Williams Flower Shop, which is around the corner.”
Some of the artwork in the drawings was done by former members of the cooperative who have passed away — a tribute to them, Ernst said.
With COVID-19 subsiding, Kudos will soon begin offering classes again in painting and clay sculpture.
“The artists who give the classes are very excited about starting back up again,” Ernst said.
The cooperative has 21 artists — from potters to photographers — who sell their work at the downtown gallery.
Artists pay a 5% commission on sales to the cooperative, a fraction of the amount a commercial gallery would charge, Ernst said.
Mediums are metal, jewelry, fiber, stained glass, paper, soap, painting, wood, pottery and blown glass, she said. Kudos screens artists before accepting them into the cooperative, not only on the quality of their work but also to make sure that a variety of mediums are represented.
Most of the artists are local, Ernst noted. The gallery attracts visitors to the downtown area from Columbus, Cleveland and other cities.
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