Key West Florida Weekly

Brandie Sager is taking Effusion Gallery off the walls with its inaugural locals showcase

KEY WEST GALLERY GUIDE



Effusion Gallery director Brandie Sager with gallery mascot Sonji. KEVIN ASSAM / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Effusion Gallery director Brandie Sager with gallery mascot Sonji. KEVIN ASSAM / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Step into 701 Duval and Sonji, the 7 pound Brussels Griffon and overzealous mascot of Effusion Gallery, greets everyone with a piercing bark whether she likes you or not. Her chief overlord and gallery director, Brandie Sager, is far subtler. The 30-something year old pin-up girl and Kalispell, Mont. native abides by the gospel of “less is more.”

Except for when it isn’t. Sometimes more is more.

Her curating of Effusion Gallery proves just that. “Less” here would comprise the strategically muted colors of the employee wardrobe and the stark white walls of this 4,000 square-foot multi-level house of art. On the other end of the spectrum, “more” would be the Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn portraits oozing hundreds of Swarovski crystals and fetching thousands of dollars. “Less” would be the $22 Jeff Koons-esque balloon dog sculptures glistening like designer toys for all ages. “More” would be the ambitious island-wide artist hunt for the gallery’s first On the Wall Off the Wall Art Showcase.

Above: Customers browse the gallery. KEVIN ASSAM / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Above: Customers browse the gallery. KEVIN ASSAM / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Effusion might be a bit on the nose with its juxtapositions, but that’s OK because it works. In a time of increasing barriers for Duval Street businesses — high labor turnover, exorbitant rents and the reluctance of cruise ship passengers to spend — Effusion has figured out a way to kick survival mode and get into a state of thrive, something that Ms. Sager knows best.

It’s hard to imagine what one does in Kalispell when it literally translates into “flat land above the lake.” Harvest spearmint? Open a coffeehouse? According to Sager’s history, check and check. However, no one with such imaginative tattoos and a free spirit could ever be restrained by a state confined to three electoral college votes or a city with a staunchly conservative track record.

So just as Elizabeth Gilbert did in her memoir “Eat Pray Love” — a book I sense Sager would detest — she packed up and headed east. Montana no more! Sager would go on to grind the NYC beauty circuit, design her own jewelry line Bee + Sage, and team up with the founder of the Effusion Gallery franchise.

Right: Sager adjusts one of South Beach artist MIRA’s iconic rainbow heart sculptures.

Right: Sager adjusts one of South Beach artist MIRA’s iconic rainbow heart sculptures.

This past May marked one year here on the island both professionally and personally for Sager. After working with Effusion Miami Beach — the brand having successfully expanded to three South Florida locations — and severing ties with her Atlanta stud muffin in a move of independence, she was ready for change. As a former U.S. Virgin Islands resident, a trait increasingly shared by emerging Key West artists like Lost Boy Creations, Sager sought balance. She wanted the cultural dynamism and economic viability of Miami but the laid-back eclectic pool of visitors in St. John. The combination, it turned out, could be found in Key West.

Soon after settling on a central downtown location that formerly housed popular retail stores like Evolution and Graffiti, curating and managing the gallery business proved formidable. “I was working about 90 hours a week, seven days a week. Every other element of my life went on hold. I lived off of Cuban Coffee Queen and Hello Fresh for the first several months because even finding time to get to the grocery store was a challenge,” recalls Sager.

What threw a wrench in her plan was the inconsistency of the local labor pool, rendering her without a steady staff for weeks. She explains, “It’s no secret that staffing in Key West is tough, especially when you’re an unknown company. Sometimes you do what you have to do until the right ones come along. Now, I have an amazing team, so it’s all gravy.”

Gravy must be a welcome addition to both Sager’s diet and the bookkeeping at Effusion. On any given night, customers can be seen exploring the brightly lit hallways snapping selfies with bedazzled Anja Van Herle portraits and gawking at the furiously colorful world-renowned Romero Britto paintings. Even a quick scan of locals’ and visitors’ Facebook profiles return many cover photos featuring the gallery’s iconic rainbow heart sculptures by South Beach artist MIRA.

While sales continued to steadily climb during 2018, buoyed by the wide price range of available artworks, Sager knew Effusion would have to tap into the island’s zeitgeist. She reflects that, “In Miami we are known as a gallery that features local art alongside international names. And we have an amazing base of artists to work with! To hold that same role here, we knew we needed to start integrating the local flavor of Key West.”

Now with her latest gambit, Sager hopes to achieve just that. The recently launched On the Wall Off the Wall Art Showcase is Effusion’s first open call for professional and amateur artists of the Lower Keys. Participants are invited to apply online at EffusionGallery.com by June 25 and, if selected, have their work displayed and sold at the gallery this summer.

The intent behind providing such prime high-traffic space is to build lasting relationships with the community, something integral to Effusion’s brand.

As the exhibition name suggests, it is eliminating many of the typical requirements — size, theme, subject, material — in an effort to encourage maximum creativity. “I’m keeping the parameters wide open so that we can showcase as diverse a collection of works as possible. We’re welcoming sculptures, paintings, textiles, big and small. Key West is an open-air imaginarium. I get a little thrill when I discover something truly unique — when it’s obvious that the artist had an idea and went for it,” Sager elaborates.

It’s clear from the already submitted entries and artist inquiries that a no holds barred showcase is exactly the type of shakeup that local artists are hungering for. As they should be. It’s not often that a gallery with national presence invites local artists to join the ranks and disrupt the gallery scene with forward-thinking submissions that push well beyond Effusion’s usual aesthetic.

At the recent Key West Pride celebrations, Sager and I helped bear part of the Sea to Sea Rainbow flag. As we slowly melted and marched past the gallery to the tune of New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle, I asked her why it was important for an artistic director to participate instead of making bank in the heavenly air conditioning. Amid the cheering onlookers, Sager expressed that “the rainbow flag is a beautiful symbol for growth, strength and unity. All change starts with individuals expressing themselves, after all. I’m committed to my artists — they are the creators, the expressers. My role is to forge the link between the artist and the collector.”

Change is certainly coming to Effusion. And new relationships will definitely be forged as Sager continues to take the brand forward. This time with a batch of new, quirky and electrifying local artists both off her walls and on.

For more information on the Off the Wall On the Wall Locals Art Showcase, visit EffusionGallery.com. ¦

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