An ATM kiosk is not pretty. Stepping into this space geared toward convenience, efficiency and consumerism is unlikely to provoke inspiration, introspection or joy. That is, unless it’s the kiosk at Shelburne Shopping Park.
Wylie Garcia and Sage Tucker-Ketcham, both painters from Charlotte, have known each other for more than 20 years, ever since they both had studios in Burlington’s South End. They’ve worked together in many artistic and professional capacities, from their former jobs at Shelburne Craft School to their current ones at Champlain College (gallery director and painting/drawing instructor, respectively). They discuss art, travel together to see shows in New York and elsewhere, and even attended the same MFA program.
“We had talked on and off for years about doing something,” Tucker-Ketcham said. But they never found a space that was a good fit for the kind of project they wanted to create, until one morning she looked at Craigslist. “And there it was.” She and Garcia decided right away that the ATM kiosk, vacant for three years, was ideal for, well, something.
“The space is what told us what to do,” Tucker-Ketcham said.
Thus was born ATM Gallery, which will host monthlong solo shows by a roster of local talents, starting with Charlotte Dworshak in June. Now that the walls, ATM and hidden electronics have been ripped out, the 140-square-foot space has plenty of room for art. There’s no bathroom or running water, but there is ample parking and a back door to a grassy median. Visitors can hang out there during receptions on the first Saturday of each month, many with live music by Danny & the Parts, led by Danny LeFrancois, an avid supporter of the project.
Because the kiosk’s whole front wall is glass, affixed with a QR code to access more information, there are lots of ways to see the work. “You can come on a Saturday, experience it when it’s open; you can drive by in your car; you can walk by,” Garcia said. “It allows you to meet it at different levels.”
That ethos — of meeting people where they’re at — runs through the whole endeavor, applying to artists as well as visitors. Garcia described the gallery as “a place for artists to creatively explore, play professionally, document the work and use it to continue to move forward with their careers.”
While some artists may sell their work in this setting that evokes capitalism, that’s not the gallery’s focus. “The space is a conversation,” Garcia said, with a new subject every month.
To kick things off, a two-week “Founders’ Welcome” show called “Bloom” runs through this weekend. It features Garcia’s “cutouts” — paintings of blossoms on shaped plywood panels — and Tucker-Ketcham’s new paintings and sculptures inspired by hedges.
The cutouts seem to float across the wall, hints of fluorescent paint at their edges casting a glow behind them. The hedge paintings, arranged in a grid, offer geometric forms that suggest doorways left mysteriously ajar.
While I was viewing the show, a confused visitor came in, searching for the ATM. She looked around in wonder, delighted by the interruption to her day, having accidentally discovered a secret garden hiding in plain sight, right in the middle of the parking lot.
The original print version of this article was headlined “ATM Gallery Sprouts in Shelburne”
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2025.
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