Location
Ripper Arts Studio & Gallery
Ripper Arts Studio & Gallery came about at our physical (brick & mortar) location after artist Cindy Saadeh and her husband, Kris, moved to Kingsport and purchased a building downtown. They hired a development firm, Urban Synergy, to restore the building. At the very same time, Michael and I were planning to move not only our residence, but Michael's place of employment. Michael was making custom furniture at Tatum Galleries in Banner Elk, NC. We desired to "live what we love" and that was to live our art. Our dream was to create together with our children underfoot. To make this dream a reality, we set up shop on Etsy and began doing some research on the web. We visited a few downtowns in our region. We then emailed and set up a meeting with John and Angela Vachon, owners of Urban Synergy, to discuss the revitalization of downtown Kingsport and the possibility of us living and working here. John and Angela then brought us together with Cindy who's vision was to take the building she was restoring and open a gallery and art studios.
Our vision is to use the gallery and studio space to share our art, our way of life with others living or visiting the Kingsport area. We are inspired by New Morning Gallery in Asheville, NC and plan to model our gallery after it. We want those people who come to the gallery to see how you can live with art. To make art a daily part of their lives. We want to help people realize the importance of supporting local, supporting handmade, supporting the arts. We want them to also "live what they love."