Wrench & Obi at The Sophie Gallery

October 17, 2021

It's been what it feel like a long road but we finally opened the doors to the public. Artist and owner of The Sophie Gallery, Scott Ritter and I got the pleasure to meet Torrington's Mayor Elinor Carbone as she cut the ribbon to officially welcome the gallery into town.  When I first started at the Sophie there was just empty walls and an artist eager to get the gallery up and running.  But that's not as simple as putting a few paintings up on the wall, we had to start from scratch.  Together with another colleague and artist herself Jennifer Abbott-Tillou made the selection of the pieces and curate the exhibition.  I started as a manager and within a couple months I was assigned to be the director of the gallery.  Although I personally don't like having a title on my name I decided to keep my manager title for the public knowledge but I have the director's responsibility in the gallery.  Everything that I have learned from both the Gallery at CCSU and my internship at the NBMAA have been a big influence into getting the Sophie ready for business.  We have the help of professionals who I have assigned different positions such as the person responsible for PR, marketing, etc.  So far we have gotten a great response from the town and the art community including the Five Point Gallery and the Five Point annex which are hugging the Sophie Gallery location wise. Thanks to my roll at the Sophie I have been able to meet a great amount of people including the founder and executive director of Five Points Judith McElhone, the executive director of the Northwest Connecticut Art Council  Steph Burr, among others.  The team is working so well together and we started to make an impact in town, no matter where you go you will notice the presence of the Sophie Gallery on posters, newspapers, and more. 

​