Young Blood Gallery & Boutique to close
Longtime indie gallery to shut its doors Jan. 6
Sad news. Young Blood Gallery & Boutique, which just celebrated its 15-year anniversary, will close its doors for good Jan. 6. Owners Kelly Teasley and Maggie White have played an integral role in Atlanta’s emerging arts scene, mentoring such local galleries as BeepBeep over the years and giving many local artists a first shot at a gallery show. Teasley and White say they’re open to selling the business, but Young Blood under their management will be missed. Read the full email announcement below:
Hello to our Young Blood Family,
After months of deliberation, we have decided to close Young Blood. As you can imagine, it’s been a very difficult decision that’s kept us up many nights. But after 15 years, we’re ready to move on.
We’re proud of what we’ve all accomplished together since we started having our little house art shows in 1997. You have created an invaluable community with us, based on the best things life has to offer: love and support. You helped us strive toward unlikely goals during a grassroots time in Atlanta. When we look around the city today, it has transformed into a community that supports young and emerging artists in a way we only hoped for. These days, we can’t even keep up with all the art events that are happening! It’s been both empowering and humbling to be part of the process.
We’ll be open through the holidays and will close our doors January 6th. Our last show is the “We Love Atlanta” group show, which is an appropriate one to end on considering how strongly we feel about our city.
What’s next for us, you might ask? We’re not sure. We both look forward to getting reacquainted with ourselves, the selves that existed outside of Young Blood, which has been our baby for 15 years. The world is our oyster and we’re excited about the possibilities. We do plan on hosting occasional art shows in alternative spaces, something we miss from the early days.
We are entertaining the idea of selling the business. Over the years many people have told us they’d like to own a gallery/shop. Please contact us if you know someone who may be interested in investing in a fully operational business that offers very positive international brand recognition, amazing support from thousands of loyal customers, and best-selling vendors that are already in place.
We love you.
Kelly Teasley and Maggie White