Residents open art gallery in downtown Northwood, plan to make the city an art community – Albert Lea Tribune

1 of 4

Jane Podgorniak and Steve Hanson are co-founders of Gallery 818, a new space for artists to display, share and sell their artwork in Northwood. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Gallery 818 is located in a renovated historic building in downtown Northwood. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Located in downtown Northwood, Gallery 818 is a new space for artists to display, share and sell their pieces in north Iowa. “Figurative Landscape” by Vahe Yeremyan is pictured on the right. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Jane Podgorniak places a red sticker next to “Japanese Study” by Axel Linus, showing that the piece was recently sold. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

NORTHWOOD — When it comes to Iowa towns with vibrant art scenes, Northwood is likely not the first place that comes to mind. However, local art connoisseurs Steve Hanson and Jane Podgorniak are looking to change that through their new venture, Gallery 818, an art gallery in downtown Northwood.

Podgorniak and her husband, John, bought the building, 818 Central Ave., years ago and had various renters occupying the space before it ultimately became vacant. That is where Hanson came in.

Hanson grew up on his family’s farm outside of Northwood and had recently returned from living in Phoenix, Arizona. He purchased his family farmstead and turned it into the Art Farm Iowa, a nonprofit for arts and agriculture in northern Iowa.

Since arriving back in Iowa, Hanson said he had the goal to establish Northwood as a creative arts community, and he was looking for a place to store and display art.

Hanson and Podgorniak said they could not decide who came up with the idea to use the 818 building first, but both of them agreed the space would be perfect.

“I’d been in the space and realized how beautiful it was, and it really is set up, ideally, for a gallery,” Hanson said.

Podgorniak said they contemplated hosting an art show at the 818 building, but decided in the end to go ahead and officially make it an art gallery.

After renovation — including John Podgorniak removing four layers of ceiling — Hanson and Podgorniak connected with artists to find pieces to use for the gallery’s first exhibition.

It ended up becoming a mix of everything from regional art to international art, Hanson said.

“Jane and I talked about it. We really wanted to try and make something that was, I would say, easily accessible in terms of not only subject matter … but also that were affordable,” Hanson said. He added the pieces on display range from $40 to $2,000.

Hanson and Podgorniak had a grand opening for Gallery 818 on May 23. Hanson said about 50 to 60 people came, and the response from the community was encouraging.

“We really had a very warm response,” he said. “It was a great showing from the community and really sort of solidified that a creative space like this to showcase art and artists is really needed in Northwood, and in north Iowa.”

The current exhibit focuses mainly on paintings, but Hanson and Podgorniak said they would eventually like to have exhibits with sculptures, ceramics and other mediums.

With the parks, movie theater, brewery and other businesses, Hanson and Podgorniak said Northwood has the ideal setup to be an art community, though art venues in the area have been uncommon.

“It’s exciting times for north Iowa, and it’s exciting times for Northwood,” Hanson said. “And we’re hoping we can play a part of all this enthusiasm.”

Gallery 818 will be open to the public from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, as well as by appointment. Appointments can be made by contacting Hanson at 602-430-7246 or by emailing hansosm@msn.com.