MAKING ART ACCESSIBLE: Real estate moguls’ Commerce Gallery finds home in Lockhart
Tamara Carlisle bursts into laughter while showing a group of passersby around Commerce Gallery, which she owns with Donna Blair, left. Commerce Gallery is Blair and Carlisle’s first, and they split their time between it and their other two companies, Blairfield Properties and Blair & Carlisle Homes in Austin. A lifelong love of art led them to take the plunge and open their gallery in March in a building they had purchased a year and a half before. Miles Smith/LPR
One thing is apparent about Donna Blair and Tamara Carlisle: They love art and have a flair for artistry.
This much is evident once one crosses the threshold at their newest venture, Commerce Gallery, which is punctuated by high ceilings, strategic lighting and an arrangement of paintings on long sweeping walls that beckon the gaze of anyone curious about art.
And that’s what Blair and Carlisle, who opened their gallery in March, said they hope to accomplish, explaining that Commerce Gallery is not just for the seasoned art buyer who plans vacations around trips to the Prado or the Met.
“We want to be visited by the 65 year old who has never been to an art gallery before, and the 16 year old who is thinking about art school and has come in to ask questions,” Carlisle said. “We want people to stop in and visit after they’ve come into town for barbecue.”
Read more in this week’s Post-Register.
Love Commerce Gallery!