08/01/2023
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Tamarack Gallery closing in Oct.
By Brian Freiberger
After 51 years of art, love, life, and business, Tamarack Gallery owner Sally Viskochil announced Tuesday the gallery will close for good on Tuesday, October 31.
“Well, tell them if they want something, they better get their ass in here,” she said. “When we close it down, I’m just hoping for a chance for customers to come back and say goodbye because I do have generations.”
The Tamarack Gallery was started in 1972 by David and Sally Viskochil in a small building near Sugar Loaf before moving the gallery to Omena in 1976.
What began as a small crafts gallery featuring 10 artists steadily grew into a fine art, crafts, outsider, and folk art gallery that sustained the art careers of hundreds of artists over the course of Tamarack’s long history.
“Our neighbors sort of all adopted us … we heard all the things that they said, like, ‘they’re gonna starve to death,’ so they’d feed us, you know? … It was a community that just swallowed us and made us part of the community. So that’s the most perfect place to be.”
Over 50 years later, Tamarack is one of the oldest galleries in the State of Michigan that has had the same owner, if not the oldest. Viskochil is choosing to retire this year as she soon will turn 80.
“I guess maybe I won’t miss anything ... Or maybe I’ll miss it all. I don’t know until I’m gone,” she said. “When you hit 80, you start thinking about what’s left here, since lots of people are dying around you.”
Full story: https://www.leelanaunews.com/news/tamarack-gallery-closing-oct?check_logged_in=1
