Tag Archives: art

Nestled quietly behind a wooden gate next door to Hillcrest Market on Capitol Hill, stepping into Ghost Gallery is much like visiting a friend’s house. You’re greeted warmly when you walk through the door, there’s plenty of space to set down your things and relax if you like, and the rooms are full of fancy objects that continuously draw your eye. Each with it’s own story. The space functions as an art gallery with a built-in gift shop, a collector’s boutique for those interested in exquisite design. It gets it’s name from the days before the store front opened, when the shop’s owner and curator, Laurie Kearney, was doing a bunch of curating around town. She went by Ghost Gallery because the shows were in different galleries every time and never in the same location.

Laurie opened Ghost Gallery in April 2010 and it has quickly become a favorite among artists and collectors alike. “I try to push the limits of the space,” she says, “and now with all the furniture from ReRun Room, it’s fun to see the space change every couple of weeks because everything comes and goes.” With a one-two punch of taste and charm, it’s Laurie’s skillful touch that has turned this gallery into a destination. She gets her place in the Seattle Peach 100 for her tenacity and endurance, her eye for good work, and her sweet smile and peachy personality.

Her mother being an amazing painter, Laurie was nurtured to love art as she was growing up. She started making art as a high school student, focusing on photographery, and then began pursuing sculpture, as well, once she got to college. When her school dropped their photography program, she reassessed her future, and decided that the behind the scenes work was right up her ally. She took an internship at the college’s gallery, and immediately after she started working under the curator there, she knew that was what she wanted to do.

After college, Laurie fell in love with Seattle while visting some friends, and was ready for a change from her college town in Virginia. Seattle was familiar in all the right ways, but bigger, and with a promising art scene. She made the move, with hopes of doing graduate studies at UW, but stayed when she met her now husband, ex-Lashes alumni, Jacob James.

A multi-talented Jill-of-All-Trades, Laurie also plays bass in Ships, a local power-pop outfit with Jacob filling the role of frontman. “The first year we were together we had this six month stint of both being unemployed,” Laurie explains. “(Jacob) had just gotten done with a bunch of Lashes touring and wasn’t quite sure what he was wanting to do. We starting sitting around in my living room one day and playing out some songs and it slowly grew from there. It just works, it’s really fun.”

Laurie has been playing music since she was just a wee one. “My oldest brother tried teaching me guitar when I was really young, and I was just terrible at it,” she says. When her other brother went into the military, he left his drum set behind and Laurie started rocking out. In high school she played in an all-female goth band, who played house parties around the Chesapeake area of Virginia in the early-90s. She moved on to bass from there, learning to play when a friend taught her a few songs, and she’s continued to teach herself to play throughout the years.

Ghost Gallery provided an opportunity to bridge the gap between Laurie’s love for art and her love for music last year when she showed work from Jonas Bjerre. ”I showed Jonas, the singer from Mew, who are one of my favorite bands,” she says. “He also makes fine art, and I had randomly asked him last year if we could show some of his videos or prints here and he said yes! That was amazing.”

Ghost Gallery is known for putting on a fantastic soiree for their shows’ opening receptions, which is why Seattle Peach reached out to Laurie late last year to set up a show of our own. Ghost Gallery will host A Collection of Characters//Instant Photography by Seattle Peach this Friday, Feb 8, through Sunday, Feb 10. We will be co-hosting a party to celebrate the opening on Friday from 6PM-9PM, with DJs SH6RL6S6 and Kyle Johnson providing the soundtrack. Seattle Peach is really excited for this opening and we hope everyone will come out for the show and bring all their friends.

To get to know Laurie better, come by Ghost Gallery! She will treat you like an old friend, and tell you anything you want to know about the treasures she’s collected for the shop. Scroll on to see what she had to say in her Seattle Peach 100 Fact Sheet.

(Photos by Seattle Peach)