The Ten Women Art Gallery On Montana Avenue......

The Ten Women Art Gallery on Montana is a diverse group of local artists who have come together to bring you an art/gift gallery featuring unique and handcrafted items. They offer a wide selection of artwork and gifts, including jewelry, ceramics, photography, wearable art, paintings, art glass, dolls, sculpture, metal art, cards and book arts.

Gift certificates are available and custom orders are welcome. The original Ten Women on Main Street opened in 1994. In 1997 they expanded to a second location in Santa Monica, moved to Abbott Kinney Boulevard in 2000 and finally relocated to our current location at 1128 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica.

I attended an Art Gallery Event featuring two Artists' new work at the Ten Women Art Gallery by the invite of Christine Peake of the Peakpr Group who handles the public relations for Montana Blvd. I was very impressed with the lovely art work being displayed in the Gallery. The atmosphere here was so upbeat, fun and loving. All these women artists truly support each other's artistry and run the Gallery in a cooperative spirit. I was told there are 24 women who share in the running of the Gallery. It is a coop so all the women participate in the daily chores and tasks at hand. They take turns running the front desk. They are their own bosses. The whole Gallery has a woman's touch to it. When you walk in the lighting is gorgeous. It has a feminine feel.

Here are some of the Artists that I talked with at the Ten Women Art Gallery.

Elaine Levi: I am one of the original artists. I joined 6 months after it opened 23 years ago. I work with natural gemstones and gold filled sterling silver. I am always inspired by the customers and their suggestions. (She showed one of her necklaces that had a Buddha's head on it.) These are little chips of emeralds. The Buddha's head is Cinnabar. (It had a green/blue coloring.) It is from Tibet. Debra Bard: I do metal mosaics and torch enamel art. I am an enamel artist and I use a torch to fire and fuse the glass onto the metal.

Lynn B. Clark: Everybody has a vote on how the Gallery is run. It's amazing how it all works. These are my trays. Up here is my work that represents what I love about LA. These are objects that I have found in my garden, etc. Everything has a meaning to me about LA. This a collage. (Holds up a beautiful print.) I am working on an alphabet with pictures of birds. (Shows the letter D for doves.)

Susan Haskell: I am the glass artist. I have a series of vases I do based on Matisse. I have been with the Gallery for about 14 years. We are a true cooperative. There are 24 of us and no one is really in charge. We have no employees. Everyone takes turns working in the store. Everybody does all the work from cleaning to selling art and doing the publicity. We meet once a month for a meeting. We work well together. We enjoy each other and selling each other's work.

Love... support... encouragement are the ingredients that make the Ten Women Gallery so successful. Here are women artists showing what they can do to create a superb environment for everyone to flourish.

For more information regarding the 10 Women Gallery go to this link: http://www.TenWomen.org