Dunwoody artist turns a former bank into a cultural destination!
Something about the unused, free-standing structure marooned at the front of the Dunwoody Village shopping center parking lot kept calling to artist Dawn Tresh. What had once been a bank, a one-hour photo center and a cleaners held a peculiar appeal.
“It was its own unique little house, with lots of windows and even a drive-thru,” says Tresh, who has lived in Dunwoody for 20 years. “I wondered why no one did anything with it.”
It took Tresh’s creative eye to turn the place into the Dunwoody Gallery, which she opened in May. But even she says it was a challenge seeing the building as an art gallery.
“You had to have a lot of vision beyond the split-pea green walls, old cabinets, ripped window treatments and old carpet,” says Tresh, who has a master’s in art from New York University and a background in event planning and public relations as well. “But I decided to go for it.”
Tresh worked with the shopping center’s owner to transform the space into a collection of rooms with plenty of bright wall space to display artworks. The teller window went; the bank vault door came off. The coffered ceilings stayed; a storage closet transformed into a salon to showcase artists. Tresh says the makeover has won kudos from the community.
But it’s not just breathing new life into an empty space that has locals excited about the gallery. For many, Tresh says, an art destination has been a long time coming.
“Dunwoody Village has had a renaissance with all these restaurants, but there was no gallery,” she says. “This adds to the art scene, and the community has been so supportive.”
The gallery showcases samples of Tresh’s own works that tend to be oversized, mixed-media, acrylics with abstract and contemporary designs. But she also aspires to build a creative hub for artists and enthusiasts with events, lectures and projects for the community to enjoy. To get started, she has taken on nine artists and is looking to add more, especially ones from the local area. The current mix includes creatives from Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Brookhaven and Atlanta.
“I especially want original art, nothing you can find other places,” Tresh says.
She has also established a partnership with the nearby Spruill Center for the Arts to stage cultural collaborations, including one that will run during the Dunwoody Home Tour on Oct. 9. The gallery will also be part of the Atlanta Art Fair planned for Oct. 3-6 at the Pullman Yards in Atlanta’s Kirkwood neighborhood.
DUNWOODY GALLERY
770.668.0677
dunwoodygallery.com
PHOTOS: Erik Meadows
