Jan 5, 2018 5 min read

WAYNESBURG – The heartbeat of the local art community will soon stop.

Artbeat owners Linda and Jim Winegar will be pursuing other interests after their 52 E. High St. shop closes in mid-January. They plan to hold a going-out-of-business sale for the first two weeks of this month, and each piece will be 25 percent off. Their last day open will be Jan. 13.

The remaining weeks in January will give artists time to pick up their works.

The Winegars have been involved in the local art scene for the past 30 years, helping with an artist co-op in Washington. When that dissolved, the building owner of their current space reached out because they enjoyed having a gallery in that space. Artbeat opened in 2012, representing works from Southwestern Pennsylvania and beyond.

They’ve had lots of positive feedback from both artists and customers from more than five years in Waynesburg.

Artbeat’s name came from the heart and soul artists put in their work; their tagline is “art for the rhythm of your life.” The storefront’s bright blue paint draws people in who can’t help but stop and explore.

Many of the more-than-100 artists that have displayed their works at Artbeat over the years are local or other artists the Winegars know. Others have stopped in with samples of their work.

They estimate there are about 80 to 90 artists represented in their current stock.

Linda and Jim specialize in pottery and will continue to make art at their barn studio. Closing the shop will give them the chance to focus on their own art.

“We’ll still be doing our pottery, but we just won’t have a storefront here. We’ll be in Graysville,” Linda said.

They also hope to teach classes and, with their degrees and experience in art education, it’s easy to see why. They’ve taught from elementary and college between them, in Massachussetes and Pennsylvania. They taught classes and held open houses at their home studio before, but it was hard to do both with Artbeat open.

As for the reason for the closure, it all culminates in that the store simply isn’t making enough money.

“We just don’t have enough people coming in the door,” Linda said. “The gallery isn’t supporting itself.”

Most months out of the year, Artbeat doesn’t make enough to pay their basic expenses. Linda and Jim don’t take a salary from running the store, and anyone who helps out volunteers. The gallery takes a percentage from all of the work sold in the store, including the Winegars’ pottery.

“Nobody pays me to sit here,” said Coleen Nelson, a local artist and freelance writer for the Observer-Reporter. She has enjoyed her time volunteering at Artbeat.

“It’s the best-decorated office in town,” she said with a smile. “I love this place. It’s so nice to be surrounded by art. It puts you in a certain frame of mind.”

Nelson recognizes the difficulty of running the store, though.

“It’s hard to make a living with a retail store,” she said. “It was the culmination of the idea that art enriches the community.”

The first three years looked promising, but now with more than five years, the Winegars can tell the local industry is slumping.

“There are a multitude of reasons for closing the gallery, but foremost is that for the last couple of years the sales have not met the demands of overhead and expenses,” they posted on Artbeat’s Facebook page. “Another factor has been Linda’s bout with cancer last year. She is doing very well and is cancer free, but it changes your perspective on how you want to utilize your precious time.”

There are loyal local customers, but there aren’t enough to support the store.

Jim and Linda may consider a popup shop in the future, but it’s time to put energy into shows, classes and making art, they said. They don’t plan to slow down but to reorient.

“It’s not easy to make a living as an artist. It’s not easy to find places to show your work and sell your work. We were providing that for our area, and now that’s going to go away,” Linda said. “People should have things of beauty in their homes, and why not have something beautiful or inspiring from a local artist?”

Over the years, Artbeat and other businesses have tried many ideas to draw in customers. They helped establish a merchant’s guild for local Waynesburg businesses to join forces to host and participate in events, such as the “cookie caper,” holiday and summer open houses and the chili cook-off.

“It was another attempt to have a fun experience that wasn’t just about shopping, that was about being in the community and trying to have fun with our businesses,” Linda said of the events.