Video by Jabrina Robinson; Boxyard RTP mural: Rebirth by Gabe Eng-Goetz & Estephani Sanchez-Recendiz

Pop Box Gallery at Boxyard RTP

Residency Report

May 2022

We have demonstrated that our innovative model can support working artists, make art fun, inclusive and accessible to all, and support the local economy.

POP BOX GALLERY brings short-term, zero-commission, pop-up exhibitions and multidisciplinary arts programming by Triangle-based contemporary artists, curators, and freelance arts administrators to unexpected places. Our mission is to raise the visibility of the Triangle arts community, connect artists to resources, and cultivate a culture of arts patronage.

Pop Box Gallery is a collaboration between Laura Ritchie and Mavis Gragg. Our curatorial focus centers artwork that directly responds to the political, economic, and social issues of our time and and the project prioritizes artists and audiences who belong to historically marginalized groups, including BIPOC artists, queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming artists, and artists with disabilities. Equitable representation and compensation, artistic excellence, and community accessibility are at the core of our values.

Exhibitions

Pop Box Gallery Serves visual artists in the Triangle area, by:

  • building resources, exhibiting work, raising visibility, and broadening networks;

  • providing paid opportunities through exhibition and program fees and facilitating zero-commission artwork sales;

  • prioritizing artists who belong to historically marginalized groups, including BIPOC artists, queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming artists, and artists with disabilities.

Constraints

Pop Box Gallery Serves art enthusiasts and collectors in the Triangle, by:

  • facilitating introductions to new artists;

  • providing educational programming about collecting and art patronage;

  • hosting free regular exhibitions, programs, and events and open gallery hours.

Collaborations

Pop Box Gallery Serves Triangle area residents and visitors, by:

  • providing convenient access to art in an area not typically associated with art access;

  • hosting free regular exhibitions, programs, and events and open gallery hours.

Reach

Pop Box Gallery Serves emerging arts professionals (such as a social media strategist intern, guest curators, and gallery ATTENDANTS) by:

  • providing paid professional opportunities;

  • broadening professional networks;

  • providing professional mentorship.

Payments to Arts Professionals

Where are we now?

Pop Box Gallery's inaugural residency was an opportunity for us to experiment with new ways of presenting art, supporting artists, collaborating with our community, building relationships, and fostering a culture of art collecting. It served as a pilot program that provided proof of concept for an innovative gallery model that we can build upon in our future projects and share with others in the Triangle community and beyond.

  • In three months, with 320 square feet and a $30,000 budget, Pop Box Gallery generated $10,975 for artists via zero-commission art sales and paid $9,431 directly to working artists and arts administrators via exhibition, program, and contractor fees.

  • We exhibited 89 original works of art by 47 Triangle-based artists in a wide range of media including photography, textiles, sculpture, painting, and acoustical art.

  • We experimented with five different ways of presenting artwork: a themed group exhibition that we curated (Portrait Mode), a site-specific installation organized by a guest curator (Maroon Archive), a solo exhibition curated by the artist (Folded Poetry by Eliza Redmann), a group exhibition in which 41 artists made art within a set of constraints (PROTOTYPE), and an off-site exhibition that now belongs to the artist and another venue (Folded Poetry at Fullsteam Brewery’s Top Box venue).

  • We produced a podcast mini-series (Mini-Pops), collaborated with several Triangle-area arts organizations, hosted at least 1,000 visitors in-person and reached 16,000 virtually, and provided paid professional experience to four young arts administrators through part-time work as gallery attendants.

A New Way of Seeing Can Have a Tremendous Impact

Where Next?

Pop Box Gallery debuted in a shipping container, but there is no telling where we’ll spring up next. The possibilities of how to experience art in a new way are endless.