31 Art Gallery, located in North Hampton, includes work from 10 local artists along with three current guest artists. The gallery is typically open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with special hours for exhibits.
Jarred Minnick, one of the gallery owners, is the main featured artist in the gallery. He started the gallery with his wife, Amy Minnick, in 2019.
“We have a different company that we both work at in this building,” Amy said. “We had some extra space and we said, ‘we’ll give it a try.'”
When the gallery first opened, it featured exclusively Jarred’s art. Over time, Amy and Jarred met other artists who are permanently featured in the gallery.
“We have different shows throughout the year where we bring in some guest artists,” Amy said.
Jarred and Amy have been married for 15 years and have run the gallery for about five years. While Amy doesn’t create art, she has been featured in Jarred’s art three times before.
“The third time [he painted me], Forehands Brewing Company invited Jarred and a few other artists to create labels for their beer cans,” Amy said. “So I’m on a beer can.”
The main goal of their gallery, Amy said, is to create a welcoming environment. Both Amy and Jared have traveled to other galleries but often felt like they were intruding.
“We felt like they were snobby and weren’t welcoming,” she said. “We wanted to have a place that was inviting.”
Jarred enjoys the gallery because he gets to have a place where he shows his art, which he’s been creating since he was young.
“I’ve been doing different types of art since I was a child, but I didn’t start seriously painting until 2014,” he said.
Owning the gallery gives Jarred and Amy a place to meet artists and new friends. The main way they try to bring people in is through free events.
“We hold different events throughout the year where we have live music and all of our shows,” Amy said. “We want people to come in, enjoy the music, check out the art and stay as long or as short as they want.”
Their current event is a sticky note exhibit.
“I had seen an article about the sticky note show out in California,” Amy said. “The way they do it is they sell each sticky note and every sticky note is done by an artist.”
Amy and Jarred liked the idea since sticky notes are something anyone can access as opposed to canvas.
“Even if you don’t consider yourself an artist, everybody doodles,” Amy said. “We thought it would be really fun to invite people to come in and either bring in a [sticky notes] or come in and create one while they’re here.”
Once people create a sticky note, they can trade it and find one to take home. The exhibit is open every Saturday from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. until Feb. 10.
More information about the gallery is available on their website.
