We proudly celebrated our 20 year Anniversary all last year! This is quite a feat for an art gallery today, especially in a small town. Thank you to all of our guests who have dropped by over the years. Looking forward to many more years!
HISTORY OF ASHLAND ART WORKS
A clay studio called Thrown Stone was the first group of artists to work on the property. They created their wares in the brown barn along the creek. Brad Roupp and Randy Warren proposed a new idea to the potters to create galleries to sell their clay pieces and Ashland Art Works was created. AAW was organized as a collection of artists. Everyone who showed art here would do work shifts and share tasks. So, twenty years ago Ashland Art Works was excited to be opening their very first gallery to display and sell their artwork. That first gallery was in the front room of the barn, by the creek.
So – here we are twenty years later. Over that time we have expanded into four gallery spaces, featuring the unique artwork of fourteen local artists!
HISTORY OF THE PROPERTY
In 1990 Brad Roupp started creating a place to support local artists and their artwork. Work began on the two buildings that were originally on the property: the front 1900 craftsman cottage and the 3-story horse barn on the creek. The barn was immediately setup as Thrown Stone Pottery Studio with throwing space, a glaze room and six outdoor kilns. During the 1990’s an additional three cottages were moved onto the property. It was said that the blue cottage had been built, owned and operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad. For many years it was the residence of the Chief Engineer of the Oregon Division of the Pacific Railroad. It was said that the yellow cottage had also been built by the railroad. It stood across “A” Street from the railroad turnstile and it had been used as a mail sorting and distributing post. The side of this cottage has a fading sign advertising the Twin Plunges Hot Springs, which were two side by side swimming pools where Ashland Community Food Coop now stands. The front and final house brought onto the property was a 2-story farmhouse built in the late 1880s, moved from its original location on the south side of Ashland. It currently houses the main gallery of Ashland Art Works. Brad remodeled and restored these spaces and AAW grew into our current four galleries plus an outside display area. We have much to celebrate!
Ashland Art Works 
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