Anya Mueller visited The Art Nest Gallery in downtown Spearfish that used to be the Old City Hall.

The owners, Laurie Williams-Hayes, Mae Gill and Anita McCord, are also artists themselves. They took the time to talk with Anya about their gallery.

“Well, we have about 40 to 50 artists, depending on the day,” Laurie said. “It’s not a cooperative. And we just keep changing things around and having artists of the month in here and try to get people to come in and browse and enjoy art.”

Then they told the story of how the gallery got started.

“Well, the three of us, like Laurie said, we’re artists,” said Mae. “And we wanted Spearfish to kind of be more like Hill City. And we didn’t feel like one gallery was enough for all the great art that’s out there. And we wanted a place for artists to showcase their talents. The spot became available and we said, ‘Let’s, let’s just do it.’ We have so much here. And I think that’s what’s a nice surprise for people to come in because we have pottery, jewelry, of course, paintings, we have collages, we have ironing boards that are painted.

Mae continued with talking about the different kinds of media the gallery has to offer.

“There’s colored pencil, there’s oil painting, acrylic painting, some assemblage. A lot of the artists make prints of their work. And we have cards, as you can see behind me, we have wonderful soaps that are handcrafted. Dolls, little quirky dolls and kind of fashion dolls. I don’t even know what you’d call them, but very original. Little cutaway houses that are made from birch bark. And we have so many artists that you don’t see in any other part of the Black Hills, because really the whole Black Hills, Northern and Southern is really art heavy.”

The women encourage anyone to visit The Art Nest Gallery if they’re in the Spearfish area.

“Well, we think it’s valuable just to see art. And we have a little sign that says, you know, come browse because we like people,” said Laurie. “I think it’s good for people to see art and then to find it as a gift or something for themselves. I think that’s just a wonderful thing.”

The Art Nest Gallery is great for everyone to come in and enjoy, including children.

“We have a lot of kids that come in and they like to look at the gallery stuff and we have some painted rocks over there that the little kids did,” Anita said.

Everyone is invited to visit the gallery, look at the art, say hello and enjoy themselves.

The gallery is located at 722 Main Street in Spearfish, set back a little from the street. They also have a nice yard out front.

The Art Nest Gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.