BAVA Gallery Cooperative marks Green Bay opening with work by 15 local artists

BAVA Gallery Cooperative marked its opening with a ribbon-cutting on September 25 in Green Bay’s Broadway District, giving visitors a new place to see and buy work by local artists. Two local television stations reported that 15 artists were involved at the opening. The gallery is at 413 Dousman St., according to Downtown Green Bay’s business listing.

The space is run by artists who also sell their work there. WBAY reported paintings, ceramics and wooden sculptures among the pieces on view. FOX 11 News described wall art, sculpture, woodwork, ceramics, home decor and handmade gifts, with items across a range of prices. The mix gives visitors more than one kind of art to browse, from works for a wall to functional objects.

Where to visit

The gallery’s address is 413 Dousman St., Green Bay, WI 54303. Downtown Green Bay places it in the Broadway District and lists it as an artist-operated retail store. WBAY reported regular hours of Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Those are the published hours, rather than a guarantee that the space will be open on any particular visit.

Downtown Green Bay’s listing describes handmade paintings, wall hangings, ceramic art, sculptures, vases, bowls, mugs, ornaments and greeting cards. The listing says the cooperative aims to connect artists in the area with regional buyers. Its description of more than 13 artists is less specific than the two September 25 reports, which each put the opening group at 15.

How the cooperative describes its model

Ellen Melberg, whom WBAY identified as the cooperative’s vice president, told the station that participating artists keep 80 to 90 percent of the price of each piece they sell. FOX 11 reported a 90 percent artist share. These are reported descriptions of the arrangement: neither outlet published a sales agreement or documented what an individual artist received from a sale.

Melberg told WBAY that the share was better for artists than what they might receive at a regular gallery. That comparison is her assessment, and the available reporting does not provide contracts or rates from other galleries to test it. For buyers, the immediate distinction is that the people running BAVA are also among the people making and selling the work.

Melberg told FOX 11 that the group chose the Broadway District because it felt downtown Green Bay lacked this kind of gallery. She said the group considered several properties and liked the prospect of putting the Dousman Street building back into use. Her description of the building as historic and previously dormant is an organizer’s account; the reporting cited here does not independently establish its history.

An artist behind the work

Potter Miwako ‘Binky’ Heverly identified herself as one of the artists involved in BAVA in an August 31 interview with Fox Cities Magazine. She described her work as functional pottery, often drawing on forms and motifs from nature, with some whimsical designs. Her account offers one example of the artists and objects visitors might encounter beyond the broad categories in the opening reports.

Heverly told the magazine that she makes pottery at the NWTC Artisan Center or in her home workspace, and expected to spend time at BAVA. The interview predates the September 25 ribbon-cutting, so it provides background on a participating artist rather than an account of the ceremony. Her comments also show why a shared retail space matters to at least one member: it gives a maker who works elsewhere a place to present finished pieces to customers.

What comes next

FOX 11 reported that the cooperative hoped to grow from 15 to 20 artists and pointed prospective participants toward application information. The available reports do not set out membership costs, selection criteria, detailed sales terms or a timetable for that expansion. Artists considering joining would need those details from the cooperative; the reported percentage alone does not describe the full terms of participation.

For visitors now, the documented development is the September 25 ribbon-cutting and grand opening, rather than a verified first day of trading. Heverly had called BAVA a newly opened gallery in her August interview. The September reports establish the public opening event, the group of 15 artists and the regular visiting hours reported by WBAY.