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-Our belief at Gage is that artists are made, not born.
What that means to me is that anyone can be an artist,
and we're here to take you on that journey
and to help you with that very first step,
whether it's learning how to hold a paintbrush,
all the way to, you know,
going and pursuing a professional career
as an artist.
♪♪
-The reason I came to Gage is because I felt Gage was unique
in that we were teaching foundational level skills
and making those skills accessible
to anybody who wanted to try them.
♪♪
-Gage was founded 35 years ago
by a husband and wife team, Gary Faigin and Pamela Belyea.
They started from a basement studio in their home
to a couple different locations.
They moved about 20 years ago
into the Saint Nicholas building
next to Saint Mark's Cathedral in North Capitol Hill.
That was a great home for many years.
It was a charming location,
but it also had its challenges as it was nearly 100 years old.
And so Gage knew that they needed a next step.
And we were fortunate to work with Amazon
and be able to custom build this space
specifically for our artists.
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-The whole process of designing the space
was really iterative between the search committee
and the architects.
It's very sort of designed back and forth as a concept.
What did we need from the space
and how do we best want to have it flow?
-It was really a process of getting to know
the folks at Gage, understanding their program.
What are their ideas about how people learn?
What are their ideas about transparency?
Do you want this to be really visible?
Do you want this to be insular?
They're one of the best clients that we've had
because they were such good communicators
about what they wanted.
-There were definitely moments where the architects
worked very closely with our core faculty,
walked the building, talked about all kinds of details,
from lighting to sinks
to measuring out the spaces for the students.
One of the things I really love about the space
is there's art everywhere,
and the way that it's displayed, too,
shows that it's not just about a final product,
it's not a museum.
It is an active art making space.
So art is propped up against the wall.
We are changing exhibitions.
It feels very active.
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We're excited that we are part of
this whole South Lake Union campus.
It's a really burgeoning neighborhood
and to make art more accessible in people's daily lives.
And here in South Lake Union,
there are seven bus lines
that practically take you to the front door.
-The opportunity that this building provides us
is to be engaged in a larger, say, tech world,
but also in a much more vibrant,
and I would say diverse world than the one that we have been,
up on Capitol Hill.
I'm looking forward to the interactions
that we're going to be having with people
who work upstairs or across the street.
I feel that that helps us to do one of Gage's core missions,
which is to have the skill sets,
the foundations are necessary and important,
and to make them relevant,
we bring them to modern technology and modern questions,
and that's how we create a new type of thing out of here
that I don't even know what's going to happen.
And that's great. That's the best thing we could have.
-We work with students from
7 years old to 97 years old.
Art becomes a really important part of their personal journey.
We put the screens away.
You're very intentional in what you're doing.
It's a time to slow your thinking down,
and that can be so important to our ability to relieve stress.
I can't tell you how many stories I hear
about people coming to Gage
and finding out that it was more than just
learning how to paint or draw.
It really was about, you know, deep self-actualization.
And that's just really heartening to know
that we can be part of that.
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-Learn more about Gage Academy of Art,
including their full offering of classes,
at gageacademy.org.
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Catch Art Zone Friday nights at 8
and anytime online at SeattleChannel.org/ArtZone.
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