Celebrating 20 Years of Collective: The Art of Craft
Celebrating 20 Years of
Collective: The Art of Craft
This year, Collective: The Art of Craft is celebrating 20 years as an artist-owned cooperative gallery in the heart of Woodstock, Vermont. Since opening its doors in 2006, Collective has become a destination for visitors seeking exceptional handmade work and a meaningful connection to the artists who create it. What began as a vision shared by a small group of makers has grown into a thriving cooperative of artists working across a wide range of media, united by a commitment to craftsmanship, creativity, and community.
Over the past two decades, Collective has weathered economic downturns, natural disasters, changing retail landscapes, and a global pandemic. Through it all, the gallery has remained a vibrant showcase for fine craft and a testament to the power of artists working together. To mark this milestone, we asked several founding and longtime members to reflect on the gallery's journey, the cooperative model, and what Collective means to them today.
When visitors walk through the gallery today, what do you hope they understand about the value of handmade work, local artists, and the cooperative model that has guided Collective for the last twenty years?
“I hope that our Collective visitors connect with our local artist’s work. There are signs that say, ‘Please touch’ for a reason! In an age that is increasingly dominated by mass-produced products created by machine or AI, our established artists have created quality artwork that is crafted by hand. Countless hours of inspiration, experimentation, sacrifice, and execution have gone into our pieces. When you hold any of the work, behind it may lie frustration and intelligence from the process of trial and error, determination and grit with continued experimentation, complete joy at final success and decades of experience at honing the craft.
A big piece of the Collective is the relationships that have formed between the artists through the last 20 plus years! The artists often don’t see each other, as most days only one artist is working in the gallery at a time, but they show up for each other when someone is sick, when the weather is bad and travel is dangerous, when a scheduling conflict arises, when health issues or grief come, when life happens. To me, that is a true Collective. It is a business, but it is formed of people that support one another to make a strong group of artists, delivering a variety of artistic work that is unique, and oftentimes, one of a kind.”
How has being part of Collective influenced your own creative practice and growth as an artist?
“Having a venue like Collective to show my glasswork has allowed me, in essence, to have a little gallery of my own in beautiful Woodstock, Vermont, without having to be there every day. I can experiment with new designs and get direct feedback from customers and visitors. That’s a true benefit for any maker.
Also by being a part of Collective from the beginning, I’ve benefited from seeing how my colleagues, other creative makers and artists, operate. I have learned something from everyone at the gallery. Each one has not only their own media and material, their own language and skill set with their material, they each also have their own way of putting it all together and making a living at it. I’ve had the chance to collaborate on many levels with my colleagues at Collective, making lamps with Highbeams, making servingware with Rockledge and Rising Meadow Pottery, and learned a lot about how to build a business from making things.
It’s incredible to have witnessed and participated for 20 years with all these amazing creatives, all doing it in different ways.”
Has there been a moment when you realized Collective had become something bigger than the original group of founders envisioned?
“The moment that stands out to me the most is when Collective was designated a Vermont State Craft Center. The application to be accepted into this program is rigorous and we have our colleague, Kathy Myers, to thank for her hard work submitting the materials necessary to the Vermont State Craft Center Oversight Committee back in 2016. We had a joyful public event celebrating our accomplishment with the highlight being a resolution read by Alison Clarkson, Windham County State Senator, doing us the honors.”
When you walk into the gallery today, what feels the same as it did in the early days, and what feels completely different?
“What feels the same is that all visitors are impressed by the beauty of the building and the examples of creativity within. It’s always been a different experience for the customer to meet the artist in person.
What has changed is that we now have fifteen total artists and even more guest artists, not just six members. We have two floors (basement and upstairs), doubling our usable space. Yet a unique experience remains a constant.”
What surprised you most about the journey of building Collective?
“What surprised me is that we still have a vibrant, diverse and willing membership. Collective with its unique model is still ‘in it,’ which might be a surprise after 20 years.”
What is a moment from the last twenty years that still makes you smile whenever you think about it?
“I have to smile and give thanks for the gallery’s successful expansion into our basement space. In 2020, in the midst of the covid pandemic and lease negotiations to remain in our beautiful gallery. I remember advocating for the growth potential in adding the downstairs. I smile when I’m opening up shop and turning on the lights down there.”
Looking back, what were some of the biggest challenges in building and sustaining an artist-owned cooperative gallery, and what lessons helped Collective thrive for two decades?
“We opened in 2006 and have survived a lot of ups and downs. Some of these challenges included the financial housing mortgage crisis and the following recession, multiple flooding events with Hurricane Irene and Sandy, a major bridge and road closure out front, and a major fire that burned down the attached adjacent buildings with the fire coming all the way up to our front door. We also survived Covid and the resulting financial crisis.
It’s kind of a miracle in itself, without all those events, that we’ve survived as a Fine Craft Gallery all these years, but it also speaks to the strength of our model and our Members. Some might say a group of working artists building a gallery together can’t last long but through all our change and events our members have learned to adapt, compromise, and coordinate as a group. Our quality of craftsmanship at the gallery has been a constant, as has our ability to collaborate as a group. Collective has actually lasted this long simply because of our membership and the character of its group, not in spite of it.”
Many founding members have devoted countless volunteer hours to the gallery. What kept you motivated through the inevitable ups and downs?
“My whole interest in starting Collective was to create a space for the benefit of the artists involved, not the least of which was myself! I knew I would be getting tired of doing shows and retirement from them was approaching, as I was already in my 60s. I had done a craft fair a month for 25 years at that point. So I saw Collective as the way to do business in a permanent place as I got older, and to do it with greater ease.
But I particularly wanted it to benefit all the artists involved, every one of us. And it meant we all had to succeed if any of us were to. That is the beauty of a co-op. And that kept me fighting for it, particularly for the first 10 to 15 years.
Also, very important to me, having done national shows for all those many years, was to have quality crafts shown—that helped create the name, Collective: The Art of Craft.
And that is the strength of our Collective: quality artists all working together.”
How has being part of Collective helped you as a working artist?
“Being a part of Collective for the past decade has been a professional highlight for me. The village of Woodstock is so quaintly picturesque and the historic building itself is lovely, drawing visitors from all over New England and beyond. This has meant I no longer have to travel for shows, because craft-loving folks from all around find us.
But more than the location, it’s the power of being a collective that amazes me! I know my felted embroidered hats stand on their own. But showing my work alongside that of my wildly talented colleagues adds a certain reflected magic that it wouldn’t have on its own.
And knowing that all these beautiful works are handmade within a two-hour drive of the gallery gives me a deep sense of pride for our local artisan community.
I’m so proud to be a member of Collective: The Art of Craft!”
What does the word "community" mean to you now, and how has Collective shaped that understanding over the years?
“Vermont culture has always been big on community, so being a native Vermonter I grew up steeped in the idea that helping your neighbors and sharing the necessary work of life was the norm. Winters are long, pot luck suppers are more common than not, and helping a friend stack wood is a great way to both lighten the load and catch up and swap stories.
But being a member of Collective is the first time I have put those same quintessentially Vermont values to work to benefit my creative business.
Being a member of Collective allows me to have a permanent retail space in one of the busiest and most beautiful towns of Vermont while still letting me spend the majority of my time in my studio, engaged in the creative process. Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows how long the hours are and how multifaceted the work is. Sharing that work among many hands allows all of the artist members to have the best of both worlds—our own gallery plus all the studio time we need to fill that gallery with high-quality original work.”
Twenty years after opening its doors, Collective remains a rare and inspiring example of what can happen when artists invest not only in their own work, but in one another. The gallery has grown from six founding members to a thriving cooperative of artists and guest exhibitors, yet its core values remain unchanged: exceptional craftsmanship, mutual support, and a belief that handmade work matters. As visitors continue to discover the gallery's historic Woodstock home and meet the artists behind the work, Collective's story serves as a reminder that creativity flourishes when community, collaboration, and craftsmanship come together.
