Late last summer, longtime friends and artists Don Winsor and Robert Chamberlain opened The Art Station, a west Olympia art gallery that featured their art and occupied a former 1920s-era filling station near Kaiser Road and Harrison Avenue.
Business was good, Winsor, 81, said Monday.
“We enjoyed the people and did sell some art,” he said.
But then the cold and rainy weather arrived, and The Art Station, which did not have heat, became unbearably cold for the artists and customers, Winsor said. They decided to close the gallery before Christmas and are now looking to open in a new location or return to the filling station — if the landlord can make a few improvements, he said.
One location under consideration is a former furniture business not far from The Art Station.
“We are hoping to open again,” Winsor said.
Winsor is a former art director for the state. He also ran a business called Winsor Porcelain Enamel, which he sold, that designed informational panels for national parks and other customers. Winsor was producing scratchboard art for the gallery, etching out black and white wildlife images.
Chamberlain, 83, used to run his own commercial art business and also worked for a Seattle advertising agency. Chamberlain, who displayed his watercolor paintings at the gallery, also is known for “Sylvester’s Window,” a series of paintings that show how downtown Olympia changed from 1846 to 2001.
The paintings are on display at Timberland Library’s downtown Olympia branch.
Chamberlain and Winsor had an interest in art as children. They also served during the Korean War and then both wound up at Edison Tech in Seattle – later to become Seattle Community College – where they studied art and became friends.
Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403 rboone@theolympian.com theolympian.com/bizblog @rolf_boone
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