(Photo by Sue Dougherty, Offleash Photography)
Red Chair Gallery, the beloved art gallery that has occupied the corner of NW Bond and Oregon in Downtown Bend for the last 16 years, will be closing its doors at the start of this new year. The gallery’s manager/owner, Rita Dunlavy, is retiring, and there are no plans for anyone to step in to maintain the gallery.
However, following Rita’s eternal philosophy that Red Chair Gallery exists for the artists, there are plans to maintain the website and the domain name; this way, Red Chair Gallery will exist as an online space, still dedicated to the wellbeing of the artists themselves. The website won’t offer any sales options, but it will help community members and artists connect with one another, collaborate and sell their work on their own websites.
Red Chair Gallery withstood plenty over the years. From the Great Recession of 2008 to the COVID-19 Pandemic and the resulting lockdowns, the family of artists at Red Chair have always looked out for one another, and helped keep not just the gallery, but each other, afloat. Through it all, Red Chair Gallery stood as an establishment that always prioritized the artists first. After years of awards, commendations and stories written about the gallery, Rita would always tell any writer or photographer to take a picture of the gallery, not of her. Her goal as the owner was never to get her own face known, or to achieve some sort of acclaim. All of her energy went towards what was best for the gallery, and the artists.
Over the years, Red Chair Gallery collected an amazing group of creatives. Rita helped gather a diverse group of artists in a way that limited competition. Each artist had their style, their niche and they didn’t compete with one another to take a potential sale from another artist. Instead, they fostered a culture of collaboration, and creativity. Customers over the years constantly remarked about the amazing customer service, and how artists were so excited to talk about and share their craft.
As for Rita, she’s never been one to take the spotlight. Still, many in the community are curious about what she will get up to in her retirement. According to Rita, she is pursuing the freedom that comes with finally not having a plan. From enjoying the sunrise with a cup of coffee, planting flowers in her yard or driving over a thousand miles to visit her son, whatever she does will be something she enjoys, and something that she chose for herself. With no plan in place, her plan is to enjoy all of the beauty and spontaneity that comes with freedom.
And lastly, Rita would tell all the artists and creatives she met over the years, and all the artists who still have their work on the Red Chair website, “Don’t forget, this is your gallery. It always was, and it always will be.”