Gallery 070 closed its doors Dec. 27 after five years of memorable exhibitions and rollicking First Friday receptions in downtown Vashon.

The gallery, owned by Tara Snowden, featured contemporary art in all mediums.

Snowden said she had always planned to keep the gallery open for five years, and 070 passed that milestone in September. She explained that she kept the gallery open for an additional three months to show work by Jenn Reidel, Curtis Bathurst and Michael Paul Miller.

She added, with a laugh, that the end of the year felt like a good time to “exit gracefully, before I got bitter.”

Snowden said her reasons for closing the gallery were also tied to the economy.

“I’ve been through economic downturns before, but this feels different,” she said. “It didn’t feel like the most appropriate time to be running a gallery.”

She explained that although the gallery had never been a “money-maker,” she had found it increasingly difficult in recent months to justify asking artists to mount exhibits when she was unable to sell their work.

Snowden will continue to operate a family business, Frontier Publications, on Vashon. That business produces bingo and gaming publications.

Snowden also promised to stay involved in the Island art scene, and has come up with one idea for doing just that.

“I kind of want to do a mobile art gallery in a moving truck,” she said. “I could just put the ramp down and have people come inside. The important thing is getting the art out there.”

Contact Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Arts Editor Elizabeth Shepherd at arts@vashonbeachcomber.com or 206-463-9195.

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