“We Go Together” by Dawn Mahar Credit: Courtesy Love is in the air this month at the new SEABA Center — or maybe it’s drywall dust. The South End Arts + Business Association has just completed its move to the 400 Pine Street space in Burlington, familiar to many as the former home of Art sRiot. This Friday, February 6, the organization will inaugurate its new gallery space with the exhibition “From Vermont, With Love.” SEABA executive director Christy Mitchell, 45, said that when the building became vacant last summer, she assumed that someone else would take it over as a restaurant or music venue. “I didn’t even ever look at the space seriously,” she said. That is, she added, until August when she was “finding out how difficult it was to do a fashion show in the middle of the road.” At the time, Mitchell was organizing STRUT!, the runway show that’s long been part of the annual South End Art Hop. SEABA is best known for organizing that event, which draws upwards of 35,000 visitors to Pine Street every September. Mitchell first envisioned 2025’s STRUT! taking place on the street itself, but logistical challenges prompted her to text landlord James Unsworth to see if she could use the ArtsRiot space. He gave her a yes within five minutes, she said. Following the event’s success, Mitchell thought the building’s location — in the heart of the South End — was too good an opportunity to pass up. By mid-October, Unsworth had accepted SEABA’s proposal to lease the entire 7,000-square-foot space and establish the SEABA Center as a new venue for art, music and other events. Since then, Mitchell and her team have been busy. “Our staff just doubled in the last month,” she said, to what she’s pretty sure is nine people plus volunteers — “I’m starting to lose track!” she joked. The crew includes Bob Wagner, Brian Nagle and Luke Awtry to handle music and event bookings; Kristen Eaton as outreach coordinator; Savanah Tebeau-Sherry as curator; Beth Robinson in administration; and grant writer Erin Bundock, who, when I visited, was painting gallery walls 10 feet up on a ladder. From left: Bob Wagner, Luke Awtry, Christy Mitchell, Erin Bundock and Brian Nagle Credit: Courtesy Mitchell has been fundraising to support this endeavor, both through private donations and by organizing events such as a Halloween party and a New Year’s Eve celebration. Ticket proceeds went to refurbishing sound equipment donated by the former owners of Burlington’s Club Toast. In last weekend’s subzero temps, SEABA staff moved their office into the new space from its previous location around the corner at the Vaults. And amid all that, they’ve been renovating and painting the new gallery. It all sounds daunting, but not for Mitchell. “I’m very overzealous. I think I can do anything,” she said. It’s the fifth time, she added, that she has created an art space in some sort of warehouse. That includes founding S.P.A.C.E. Gallery in the nearby Soda Plant in 2009 and planning the Generator Makerspace, then in the basement of Memorial Auditorium, as its first director, in 2014. This time around, she said, she considered removing walls but realized the current footprint will serve the SEABA Center well. Mitchell envisions the lobby, once the Split Spirits tasting room, as a hub where visitors can hear about upcoming events, learn about the state-designated South End Arts District and SEABA’s mission, and find information on local businesses, including through a touch-screen version of SEABA’s interactive South End map and directory. In the former ArtsRiot Distillery, Mitchell plans monthly art exhibitions. Those will include juried shows such as “From Vermont, With Love,” as well as a fiber arts exhibition in March, a show of SEABA members celebrating the org’s 40th anniversary in April, and solo and two-person presentations such as one in May by Katharine Montstream and her daughter Charlotte Dworshak. The gallery has a smaller room that can be used for auxiliary exhibitions or even as a green room for bands playing live events. Mitchell also wants to reopen the door to Speeder Earl’s Coffee, so visitors can peruse the art as they wait for a latte. Gallery hours will be Thursdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., but will likely be extended with warmer weather. The SEABA Center will also be open during the summer South End Get Down and farmers markets. The gallery will participate, along with many Burlington venues, in First Friday Art Walks during the first week of every month. Next to the gallery, the ArtsRiot stage will host live music alongside each First Friday opening, starting this week with Ali McGuirk. There will also be regular concerts and other events — look for a February 13 “Galentine’s Day” all-female DJ set and an indoor Valentine’s artist market and block party on February 14. SEABA is building up a catering kitchen with donations of equipment from local businesses, which Mitchell says will allow them to host private parties and pop-up food events by aspiring chefs. Her goal is to have at least one show, one private rental and one “artsy” event in the space every week. “Awkward Kiss” from the series “A Fish Out of Water” by Tonya Whitney Credit: Courtesy The first of those — the opening of “From Vermont, With Love,” — promises to be a banger. Mitchell asked her constituents for “any art talking about love in all of its forms” and received about 100 submissions. Some evoke the emotion with absurdity, such as Tonya Whitney’s charcoal redo of Alfred Eisenstaedt’s photo of a sailor kissing a nurse on V-J Day: The image is the same, except that its protagonists are fish. Others convey love through color, such as Dawn Mahar’s “We Go Together,” in which a band of misfit creatures in shades of red traipses across a pink stripey background. For some, it’s story — perhaps most poignantly, longtime South End business owner Steve Conant’s collection of heart sculptures, which he makes every year as valentines for his wife. Several works, among them Danyelle Wyman’s suite of seasonal images, express love for Vermont, or for natural places more broadly. Others, such as Colby Crehan’s simple but beautiful drawing of a life jacket waiting to be buckled, convey a welcome reminder that most people have a basic level of love and respect for any fellow human. The show’s message can best be seen in the fact of the SEABA Center — a nonprofit occupying a desirable property in the heart of the arts district — becoming a reality. Mitchell said there are many ways SEABA has been feeling the love: support for the idea from its board of directors; flexibility and facilities help from Unsworth Properties; volunteers showing up to move offices and paint gallery walls; neighbors participating in events and donors pitching in. “Everyone’s excited for us,” she said. “I think they know that this has to happen.” ➆ “From Vermont, With Love” on view February 6-28 at the SEABA Center in Burlington; reception Friday, February 6, 5-9 p.m. seaba.com The original print version of this article was headlined “Heart of Pine Street | The SEABA Center celebrates love in its inaugural art show” The post The SEABA Center Celebrates Love in Its Inaugural Art Show appeared first on Seven Days. ...read more read less