Have you ever wandered through an art gallery and felt as though each piece told a part of your story? That's the sensation Jim Lyle, co-owner of Taupe Gallery, strives to evoke in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Join us on a journey through the Tope Gallery's evolution from a clay haven to a hub of creativity, as Jim reveals the intimate process of curating art that whispers tales of the artists' studios it comes from. My own memories of the vibrant artistic pulse of Western North Carolina, where I studied at Penland art school, resonate deeply with the narrative Jim weaves—where each artwork is not just seen, but felt.
Picture a place where the community acts as the lifeblood of culture, pulsating with the beat of local music festivals, fashion shows, and, of course, the Taupe Gallery at its core. The gallery's philosophy is a living, breathing testament to the power of art to bring people together—as we'll learn from the eagerly awaited Valentine's celebration that promises to capture the essence of local kinship. In the face of the digital era's challenges, we celebrate Taupe Gallery's triumphs, from the daily dance of social media engagement to the recent media spotlight that casts a well-deserved glow on this cultural cornerstone of Wilkes County.
Visit https://www.taupegallery.com/ for more information.
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
Have you ever wandered through an art gallery and felt as though each piece told a part of your story? That's the sensation Jim Lyle, co-owner of Taupe Gallery, strives to evoke in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Join us on a journey through the Tope Gallery's evolution from a clay haven to a hub of creativity, as Jim reveals the intimate process of curating art that whispers tales of the artists' studios it comes from. My own memories of the vibrant artistic pulse of Western North Carolina, where I studied at Penland art school, resonate deeply with the narrative Jim weaves—where each artwork is not just seen, but felt.
Picture a place where the community acts as the lifeblood of culture, pulsating with the beat of local music festivals, fashion shows, and, of course, the Taupe Gallery at its core. The gallery's philosophy is a living, breathing testament to the power of art to bring people together—as we'll learn from the eagerly awaited Valentine's celebration that promises to capture the essence of local kinship. In the face of the digital era's challenges, we celebrate Taupe Gallery's triumphs, from the daily dance of social media engagement to the recent media spotlight that casts a well-deserved glow on this cultural cornerstone of Wilkes County.
Visit https://www.taupegallery.com/ for more information.
Be sure to visit BizRadio.US to discover hundreds more engaging conversations, local events and more.
From white lightning to lightning fast. The Wilkesboro Find your Back Road podcast covers all the people, places and things that make Wilkesboro one of a kind mountain destination.
Speaker 2:Enjoy lively conversations as we welcome artists, local business leaders, event organizers and creatives from around Wilkesboro.
Speaker 1:It's the Wilkesboro Find your Back Road podcast organizers and creatives from around Wilkesboro. It's the Wilkesboro Find your Back Road podcast and let's go ahead and welcome our guest for this episode. We have on the phone line with us Jim Lyle. He is one of the co-owners of a wonderful, secret hidden treasure in North Wilkesboro, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and that is Tope Gallery. Welcome to Find your Back Road, thank you.
Speaker 3:Matt, I'm excited to talk to you and Michelle about our gallery.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're excited to hear about it too and maybe it'll come up along the way here. But Michelle has some art school history and everything and appreciates all the intricacies of how eclectic and broad your collection is. But before we get into that stuff, tell people a little bit about Tope Gallery, if they're not already familiar.
Speaker 3:But before we get into that stuff, tell people a little bit about Tope Gallery if they're not already familiar. We opened about 15 years ago a small gallery in downtown North Wilkesboro and we started as a clay gallery. I was having a hard time in my business. I do interior design, also finding items that were unique and different for a gallery, you know, for the clients, and so basically, we knew about Penland and we knew about Western North Carolina. There's a lot of artists there.
Speaker 3:We had no idea there were as many as there were, so we headed that way and that's how our gallery started as a small spot in North Wilkesboro.
Speaker 2:Well, I just have to bring up that I went to Penland for many, many years. I like how it just up that.
Speaker 1:I went to Penland for many, many years.
Speaker 3:I like how it just got that up there. She spiked it right away.
Speaker 1:And you notice, she said it with the Penland inflection too.
Speaker 2:I just have to say. I have to say I went to Penland. I went for all sorts of crafts but it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:But one of the things too I'm really interested in the procurement of what you have in the gallery, because one of the things about Western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, southwest Virginia is people that aren't from the region might think, oh, appalachian art is fill in the blank, but you can go a few valleys over, one vein of a mountain range over and have completely different interpretive cultural kind of art, and I think that's really reflected in Taupe Gallery. How do you collect together all the different artists that you have?
Speaker 3:Well, we kind of, I think, went at it a little different from probably most gallery owners. We first thought what is our mission? And our mission was to bring bright, colorful and ever-changing art to north wilkes-brook and we thought the best way to do that is visit the artist at their studio. So that's what we started doing. We. We made what we called art adventures up in the mountains, up spruce pine, bakersfield, that direction, and we would go see their, see their work. We would see the environment they work in and talk to them about their work. And then Steve has never my partner in this has never met a stranger. So by the time we had finished that, they were ready to give us work to bring to our gallery and we would handpick the items for our gallery.
Speaker 2:You know, what I love about that is that when you get back to your gallery, not only do you bring the artwork, but you bring the story back with you.
Speaker 3:That helps so much in selling the art right, because you know people come in, they find a piece, they want to know about it. You know, have you met the artist and we go. Yes, that's, that's the one of the most important things to us is talking to them and, you know, finding out how they work and where they work. So it really helps in selling the product.
Speaker 1:You know, when you opened the gallery, what kind of experience did you guys come from to say, hey, we can do this?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, I'd worked for Lowe's companies and did store design and everything, and Steve was a farmer and, like I said, he's never met a stranger. We both loved art. It was just. It was so much easier than we ever thought it would be because we found all the artists in one section. Maybe, you know, you'd say they're at one location, and it was just go visit them, talk to them, and then it just started working. And once we, you know, got confidence built up that okay, we got art from that artist, now let's go find another. And we just added on and added on. And then what we probably didn't realize when we first was doing it is that we went after artwork. I'm an art, I was art crazy and we went after really good artists, you know, that had a lot of, had already gotten a lot of attention, you know, and these people were great to work with and trusted us and gave us their work and it just it just moved pretty smoothly.
Speaker 1:Now, you mentioned about trusting you with their works and things like that. One of the things that I've heard about Tope Gallery and I have to ask you, since I've got you on the line and that is, the level of engagement and know, the experience that you encourage people to have with the art in your gallery is not something that a whole lot of galleries do Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we. You know, like I told the artist, we're in rural America and you know we're not in the city. So when people come in, you know it's not like there's 25 people walking by the door every minute. You know, when they come in, either me or Steve is usually here in both of us most of the time, and we take the time to talk to them about our gallery and about the product that they're looking at and trying to find out what kind of things they like and what would you like to see. And it's just everybody. When they leave, they say we'll be back. You know, you guys know what you're doing and we love that because it came from just the experience we were having, you know, meeting the artist and finding out about the product.
Speaker 1:And you host events there too, right I mean? So it's not like you know, quiet as a library and sneaky as a mouse as you walk around. You even talk about you want people to have a fun day trip.
Speaker 3:Yes, that was another thing that when we started the gallery, we came up with a slogan that I'm sure it's been used before, but for us, you know, in all of our printing material and our Facebook and Instagram and all our social media and our Facebook and Instagram and all our social media, we came up with, you know, an empty road in the mountains and we said Tope is worth the drive. And that slogan kind of hit with a lot of people and we found people were striving to see us and it's just, you know, we just love it and I think the love that we have for the gallery just radiates with the people. They know that we really like art and they were putting together a great gallery of mixed items down.
Speaker 1:Well, and one of the things that a lot of folks that are in Wilkes County already know but people outside of Wilkes County may not know is the level of cooperation and collaboration and how even things where you know even if you got to, you know a town like Hickory or Asheville or Knoxville or something you're seeing collaboration and engagement across areas of a community that sometimes you might not. So people know in Wilkes County you've got great. You know traditional Americana music festivals and they may not know about fashion places that are there, fashion designers and art galleries and everything. But people are engaging all across those different platforms together. It's about community. I think that really comes through when you experience Tope Gallery or some of the other offerings in Wilkesboro and North Wilkesboro.
Speaker 3:Well, it really does. It's kind of a you know once you've lived here your whole life. I mean, you kind of know people, you know the environment. I was on the art gallery board for Wilkes Art Gallery, which is a non-profit gallery here for 18 years out of my career, you know. So I learned a lot from them. You know as to how a gallery runs and it's just. Wilkes County is a great place because everyone supports everyone seems like we have an unbelievable support. We're getting ready to have an event this coming Friday night for Valentine's and you know we will probably have 150 to 200 people drop by Friday night and it's just. It's our customers, you know, and it's mostly local people and people supporting us and we really enjoy that. We have a great time with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now I have to bring something else up, okay, Because you've mentioned about Steve Steve Key, your partner in the gallery, as being, you know, the one who has never met a stranger and is real outgoing, and everything. Michelle and I have interviewed a lot of people. You're holding your own, just fine, oh? Yes, you are, but we also know something about your past, because a crisscrossing of family ties that you're not as shy as you may be trying to portray yourself in comparison to Steve.
Speaker 3:Oh me, yeah, when I saw Michelle's name, I saw a name that I recognized and it just happened to tie into a friend of mine from college and I realized that if this friend, if I can call her and talk to her, we'll find out. If I know who I'm talking to today. And of course she filled me in and I did, but I was a cheerleader in East Tennessee for 10 years, I mean for five years. Holly was my cheerleading partner and we just had a great time.
Speaker 3:So I had a little connection, when I found out who you guys were.
Speaker 1:Well, she is a lovely, lovely person, yeah, and we got a very excited communication from Holly about you coming on Find your Back Road today, so we're really excited about that.
Speaker 2:Had to give her a shout out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, had to give a shout out because she was so excited and we love when we see good people connect through the show and it makes it really a joy to do.
Speaker 1:And speaking of joy and things to do, let's bring it back to Tope Gallery. It just seemed like the right time to throw that in there. But you mentioned you have an event coming up for folks that are listening, because this will go out across all different platforms and we never know when people are going to be listening to it, but you have things that are going on all the time. What's the best way for people to connect with you and stay engaged? And if they can't make a day drive because nowadays I mean people could be checking it out from you know the West Coast or something like that what's the best way for people to engage with Tope Gallery?
Speaker 3:Well, we do. We post on Facebook every day, we post on Instagram every day, we update the webpage, and those are probably the three best places to find us and keep up with what we're doing, because we do put the information out there as to when we're having an event and things like that.
Speaker 2:Do you ever post something on Instagram or on social media and then get immediate calls about people wanting to buy certain items Because you have beautiful stuff?
Speaker 3:Well, we do have those calls. The only thing that we haven't moved into is like a webpage where we sell products. You know, we still depend on people to call and then we'll work with them and, you know, send them photographs and do whatever we need to do. But we carry so many different price points and so many different items that it would just be we would have to hire staff to package the stuff and ship, and you know that kind of thing. And we're just a small gallery in north wilkes-barre.
Speaker 1:Well, we're really wasn't ready for that we're really glad that you're there and you know the excitement around the gallery and I know, at least at the time of our conversations right now you've had some other attention in media circles and, as a matter of fact, we had to delay our conversation a little bit because you guys were so overrun with people in the gallery we weren't able to do the initial scheduled time. But that all is a good thing. We are always happy to go ahead and accommodate when things are too busy to talk to us. So congratulations on Taupe Gallery. And you know what is it, 15 years in and excited for the future, for you all.
Speaker 1:And any last word to any budding artists out there or people that think you know, maybe I want to do something, maybe I don't. What word of encouragement would you have to wannabe or wanting to get recognized artists out there?
Speaker 3:Well, really what we do? Steve is a master at Facebook and Instagram, looking for artists and searching for artists on the internet. We look for artists, new artists every day, new artists every day, so anyone that is an artist. You know, if they would just send the files in to topegallery at gmailcom, we'll take the time to look at it and if it's something that we think fits, we will for sure give them a call. All right.
Speaker 1:Very good, thank you, jim.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Thank you Matt, Thanks Michelle. I enjoyed this.
Speaker 1:See you next time, okay, thank you for listening to the Wilkesboro Find your Back Road podcast. To request an interview spot or to advertise email info at wilkescountytourismcom.