Running an art gallery is nothing new to Susie Teierle.
Prior to moving to Maple Valley from Spokane five years ago to be with her husband, Teierle who is an artist in her own right, ran a gallery in her hometown.
For someone who manages adult attention-hyperactivity disorder through her art, it made sense to have her own gallery, and her new space here is called Simply Sublime.
“I didn’t do really well in school, but I always did really well in art,” she said. “I was good at it. It’s so easy for me and I understand the process. So, I’ve always been into art.”
Initially upon her arrival to this side of the state, Teierle’s work was shown at galleries around the region, but it wasn’t cutting it for her.
After displaying her work, which ranges from handmade silver jewelry to note cards to ink drawings, in galleries far from her new home Teierle decided a change was in order.
“I was tired of driving to all those galleries and wanted to open up my own again,” she said.
When she first moved to Maple Valley, Teierle found a job teaching yoga at Work It Out near Wilderness Village, and there was a business in a small space connected to the gym.
Eventually the space opened up and after she recovered from medical issues that sidelined her from teaching yoga, Teierle decided it was time to open her own gallery.
“I know so many local artists and there’s no place for people to shop locally for art,” she said. “So, we came to an agreement, and I’ve been in this space for about eight months now.”
Things started off with a bang and “the first month we were open we actually did very well.”
“We were very excited,” she said. “Then we had a Christmas show (in November). We probably had about 400 people come through here. We thought, ‘People know we’re here, they’re going to come back.'”
Then the holiday season was the roughest month for the gallery.
Teierle hopes that if people check out what Simply Sublime has to offer they’d like what they saw.
At any given time there are eight artists, including Teierle, in the small space next to the gym. Currently she is featuring oil paintings by Lori Twiggs of Enumclaw, photography by Strange Images, her own hand made cards and jewelry with blown glass beads, purses, wooden bowls and pens by Corey Markus, and handmade soaps from Issaquah-based Bunny’s Bath.
Each week one of the artists brings in new items to display, with all items available for purchase, in order to keep the gallery fresh and new.
Teierle said she hopes her gallery and the events she puts on will help people realize there are things to do in Maple Valley as well as turn them on to great local artists in their own backyard.
In the future she plans to host a Friday night event outside of the gallery to show off larger pieces such as paintings and sculptures that don’t fit inside it and soon there will Girls Night Out, which will be open to 10 women for an evening of food, wine and jewelry making. Participants will go home with two pairs of silver earrings.
“I would just like for people to really understand that just because this is now a downtown Seattle art gallery that it’s still quality art,” she said. “They’re getting the same exact art for a better price and closer to their home. All of my artists are not only local, they do custom work, they all teach as well. I would really like to involve the community.”
