Red Sky Gallery grand opening Saturday in Lake Forest Park

Paintings on the wall. Jewelry in and on the cabinets,
made of metal, semi-precious stones, wood

By Diane Hettrick

Photos by Steven H. Robinson

The Red Sky Gallery will hold its Grand Opening on Saturday, September 21, 2019 from 5 to 9pm at its location on the upper level wing of Town Center in Lake Forest Park at the intersection of Bothell and Ballinger Way NE.

Large Debbie Tomassi paintings line this wall

Red Sky is a large, open space with a lofty ceiling and bright, white walls filled with art works by local artists.

Debbie Tomassi, Marjorie Thompson, Kathy Collins, and Blanche Niznik are familiar names - artists who live in Lake Forest Park. There are a dozen more in the gallery.

All of the artists will be at the Grand Opening, as well as a jazz duo, wine, cheese, and chocolate from The Chocolate Man.

Karen Dedrickson will demonstrate sumi-e technique
at the grand opening - black ink on white paper

Featured artist Karen Dedrickson will demonstrate the sumi-e Japanese art style of black ink on paper.

Laura Michaelson next to
a ceramic flower

Owner Laura Michaelson is not an artist herself. She had a professional career in Leadership Development. Microsoft was her last client.

She had her 50th birthday and something clicked for her. "I felt free. I felt like I had paid my dues and now I could do something I really wanted to do." And that something was an art gallery.

She had remodeled her kitchen by herself, so had no qualms about taking down a wall to combine two spaces at Town Center. She laid the flooring and built a set of display boxes. She painted, and created moveable divider walls.

There is a special gift shop section as well as many small pieces of art and several jewelry artists.

"We have a number of pieces in the affordable price range, suitable for gifts." 

Leather bracelets with semi-precious stones. Gold and black metal earrings. Beautiful tiny, painted sky scenes. Even a smooth, turned wood jar and a wooden box holding kitchen utensils.

There are a lot of birds in the paintings and ravens are a frequent theme.

Red Sky had a soft opening six weeks ago and already looks different from when it was photographed for this article. Pieces sell and are replaced with new ones. The Gallery is slightly different each day.

Laura has already connected with all the shops alongside hers, and a few downstairs like The Chocolate Man. 

"Community is important," she said, "and this is a wonderful community." The business owners have tentative plans for events, using Laura's large space.

Now she wants to reach outside the shops and use art as a vehicle for creating community. "We need this now to bring out beauty and to bring people together."