{"id":25180,"date":"2024-06-28T15:04:31","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T19:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=25180"},"modified":"2024-06-29T07:13:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-29T11:13:17","slug":"kayafas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2024\/06\/28\/kayafas\/","title":{"rendered":"Boston\u2019s Gallery Kayafas To Close After 21 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This week was a week of lasts at Gallery Kayafas<\/a> in Boston. \u201cSitting here stuffing envelopes for the LAST exhibits,\u201d owner Arlette Kayafas posted to social media a few days ago. \u201cLast screw for the last frame of the last exhibit,\u201d she subsequently posted about the installation of her gallery\u2019s final shows, which run from June 28 to Aug. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This August, Kayafas plans to close the gallery that she has run on Boston\u2019s Harrison Avenue for 21 years. It began with a specialty in photography and expanded to showcase all types of art made around Boston. \u201cTime goes so quickly. I can\u2019t believe it\u2019s been 21 years,\u201d Kayafas tells me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kayafas launched the gallery in 2003 at unit 223 inside the second floor of the studios and galleries and shopping building at 450 Harrison Ave. \u201cFirst Friday: curators came, museum directors came, collectors came. It was a pretty gritty place to visit,\u201d Kayafas recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She began the gallery after \u201cI had been managing the care of elderly women for 13 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When pioneering stop-motion photographer and family friend Harold Edgerton died in 1990, Kayafas helped his widow Esther manage the distribution of his library and became an assistant to her. This led Kayafas to helping other older women manage their affairs, often serving as a liaison between the women and their adult children. Kayafas says she had about 10 of these clients over 13 years, until \u201cI decided I didn\u2019t want to keep burying my grandmother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Esther Edgerton died in 2002, her attorney informed Kayafas: \u201cEsther left you money specifically to start a business or go back to school. It wasn\u2019t much money. But it made me feel like it was what I was supposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So she began Gallery Kayafas. Her husband, Gus, operates Palm Press in Medford and has been a longtime printer for prominent local photographers\u2014Harold Edgerton, Minor White, Aaron Siskind, Harry Callahan. The couple were part of this circle of artists and their students. And at the beginning Kayafas\u2019s gallery focused on photography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Arlette
Arlette Kayafas celebrating the 10th anniversary of Gallery Kayafas with her family: From left, Aaron Kayafas, Kelly Kendall, Gus Kayafas, Arlette, and Peter Kayafas. (Courtesy Gallery Kayafas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over time Gallery Kayafas moved to the garden level at 450 Harrison Ave., then upstairs to her current space, which was about twice as big. In 2012, Kayafas began also exhibiting contemporary paintings, installation, works on paper, sculpture, and video. \u201cIt\u2019s such a positive place even when we have hard things to talk about,\u201d Kayafas says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her older son is an artist, so Kayafas says she knew how difficult it could be for artists starting out to get shows. She ended up featuring mainly Boston-area artists\u2014Jules Aarons, Kathleen Bitetti, Ria Brodell, Jesse Burke, Laura Chasman, Caleb Cole, Mark Cooper, Rebecca Doughty, Harold Edgerton, Yorgos Efthymiadis, Laura Evans, Kristen Joy Emack, Pat Falco, Matthew Gamber, Jonathan Gitelson, Audrey Goldstein, Judy Haberl, Mags Harries, Charles \u201cTeenie\u201d Harris, Harvey Loves Harvey, Joe Johnson, Steve Locke, A.B. Miner, Robert Moeller, Karen Moss, Bruce Myren, Zoe Perry-Wood, Ellen Rich, Alica Rodriguez Alvisa, Joe Sandman Tara Sellios, Leslie Sills, Aaron Siskind, Triiibe, August Ventimiglia, Tabitha Vevers, Clara Wainwright, Joseph Wheelwright and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last November, Kayafas says, her lease was up and rather than sign a new three-year commitment, she began renting month-to-month with a plan to close in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have sales for two years with covid, except for one small one to the MFA,\u201d Kayafas says. \u201cOur rents were raised considerably with a three-year lease and right now the [art] market is flat. \u2026 I just turned 77. I love what I do, but it cannot cover the high rent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Caleb
Caleb Cole’s exhibition “Blue Boys” at Gallery Kayafas, December 2014 to January 2015. (Courtesy Gallery Kayafas)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Gallery Kayafas has showcased many memorable artists and exhibitions. Here are just a couple\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, Kayafas exhibited Steve Locke\u2019s \u201cFamily Pictures,\u201d an exhibition reproducing historic photos of Black women serving as nannies and wet-nurses to white children as well as many photos documenting lynchings of Black men, often surrounded by happy white crowds. The photos were featured in contemporary store-bought frames reading \u201cMemories,\u201d \u201cFamily,\u201d \u201cGood times \/ good friends,\u201d and the like.  (It was partnered with a companion exhibition \u201cThe School of Love\u201d at Samson.) Visitors \u201cwere so quiet. You could hear a pin drop,\u201d Kayafas remembers. The exhibition included a reading room. \u201cThe purpose of the reading room was to talk to someone you didn\u2019t know about race,\u201d Kayafas says. Often that meant a conversation between her and gallery visitors. \u201cThe day after he [Trump] was elected nobody whispered anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And one more: Showing Caleb Cole\u2019s photos, colleges and assemblages about \u201cthe opportunities and difficulties of queer belonging\u201d (according to their website), Kayafas says, \u201cI learned so much. It wasn\u2019t that I wasn\u2019t empathetic. \u2026 I had never really talked to someone about being frightened you would be murdered because of who you are. \u2026 Everybody has a right to live. It\u2019s just not fair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kayafas says, \u201cYou have to show people that people are not all the same. Differences are exciting. What is fragmenting is not experiencing differences. \u2026 There are these prejudices that come up just through ignorance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI used the gallery as my bully pulpit for social injustice and gender intolerance, racial intolerance,\u201d Kayafas says. \u201c\u2026My gallery is very political. \u2026 When we lost Roe, I had a 10-day pop-up for Planned Parenthood,\u201d which raised $7,000. \u201cIt was a rude awakening for young people that we still have this fight going on. That\u2019s one of the things I\u2019ll miss most: not having a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kayafas says, \u201cI don\u2019t know what I\u201dm going to do yet, but keeping quiet is not something I do easily.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2024 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Mark
Mark Cooper’s exhibition “Bloomin'” at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, January 2023. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Joseph
Joseph Wheelwright “Sticks, Stones & Bones” at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, Dec. 13, 2019. (Greg Cook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Kathy
Kathy Bitetti, “the sea hates a coward” exhibition at Gallery Kayafas, Boston, May 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Boston
Boston artist Pat Falco’s exhibition “A Graveyard in the Sun” at Gallery Kayafas in Boston from March 24 to April 29, 2023.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Ellen
Ellen Rich’s exhibition” Rub for Good Luck” at Boston’s Gallery Kayafas, April 22 to May 28, 2022.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Joseph Wheelwright’s “Old Brando,” carved stone, in the exhibition “Sticks, Stones & Bones” at Gallery Kayafas, Boston. (Greg Cook Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week was a week of lasts at Gallery Kayafas in Boston. \u201cSitting here stuffing envelopes for the LAST exhibits,\u201d owner Arlette Kayafas posted to social media a few days ago. \u201cLast screw for the last frame of the last exhibit,\u201d she subsequently posted about the installation of her gallery\u2019s final shows, which run from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[1276,416,775],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25180"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25180"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25194,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25180\/revisions\/25194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}