CLARKESVILLE, Ga. — Just days after announcing it would close due to declining sales and rising overhead costs, Hemlock Studio Gallery will remain open on the Clarkesville square through a new partnership with The Art-Full Barn Arts Community.
The gallery had planned to close Feb. 28 after struggling to reach a break-even point amid rent and utility costs. Sales had declined over the past six to eight months, gallery manager Don Gnecco said.
“People just have not been buying artwork because they’re buying groceries instead,” Gnecco said. “The sales have been off the last six, eight months, and we’re not the only ones experiencing that.”
Hemlock, which opened downtown in 2021, was recently named one of the top six art galleries in Georgia by the Georgia Business Journal.
A rapid response
The turnaround began shortly after Hemlock posted its closure announcement on Facebook.
Clarkesville Economic Development Director Yvonne Marinelli said she and Main Street Director Rosie Cantrell quickly began discussing how to keep the gallery open.
“From an economic development standpoint, we don’t want to see a business close — especially downtown, on the square,” Marinelli said. “If there’s someone who is starting to see red in their bottom line, I want them to know they can reach out and ask if there’s anything we can do to help.”
Marinelli contacted Gail Kimsey of The Art-Full Barn Arts Community, located at the junction of Ga. 17 and Ga. 115 west of Clarkesville. Within days, Kimsey, Gnecco and city officials met to discuss options.
“It would not have happened without it,” Kimsey said of the city’s involvement. “If Yvonne and Rosie hadn’t called and then came out to see me and got done together with us, it wouldn’t have happened.”
By the end of that week, the parties reached an agreement.
New leadership, same name
Under the partnership, The Art-Full Barn will lease the downtown building and assume full operational control. The space will continue to operate as Hemlock Studio Gallery.
“We’re going to lease the building,” Kimsey said. “Don is going to be one of our artists, but he is not going to be the owner-manager anymore. He’s ready to be able to have time to do his stained glass work instead of always running the store.”
Gnecco, who stepped into a leadership role in 2024 after the previous owners retired, said he is looking forward to returning to his work as a stained-glass artist.
“I’m going to go back to doing what I like doing, which is making art and having fun,” he said.
Kimsey said preserving the Hemlock name was important because of its established reputation and loyal following.
“It’s been there for five years,” she said. “It’s kind of a devoted group of artists who are a part of it, and people who come in to see it every time they come through the square. It needed to be saved because of what they have accomplished.”
A shift in the business model
Kimsey said changes to the gallery’s structure are designed to improve sustainability.
Currently, artists pay rent, a percentage of sales and are required to staff the gallery. Under the new model, artists will no longer be required to work shifts. Instead, the gallery will be staffed by dedicated sales personnel.
The downtown location will also introduce a limited art-supply presence, offering ready-to-use sketchbooks and painting kits designed to complement the larger campus rather than compete with it.
“They’re so close,” Kimsey said of Hemlock’s financial position. “They just haven’t quite been making an actual break-even point. A lot of the things we’ve done and tried over the years, we’ve learned from.”
Strengthening downtown arts
Kimsey said the downtown gallery will work alongside The Art-Full Barn’s larger campus on the corner of GA 17 and GA 115. Plans include a demonstration area in the front windows, where artists could rotate regularly to work on-site, and cross-promotion between the two locations.
“We’ve got a lot of synergy and direct pointing with this,” she said.
Marinelli said maintaining an arts presence on the square is important to the city’s identity and economic vitality.
“You want a diverse group of stores and businesses for people to be drawn to,” Kimsey said. “Having a gallery there says this is a seriously artistic area.”
If Hemlock had closed, she added, Clarkesville would have lost “a really wonderful group of people who encourage people to join into art” and “a level of sophistication that would have just been missing.”
Instead, the gallery will remain open, pivoting under new leadership while keeping its name and place on the Clarkesville square.
