Revolutsia and Commerce Street pop-up stores to open to sell locally produced art

The holidays are becoming a popular time for pop-up stores in Wichita.

The latest two have an art twist and are opening on Commerce Street downtown and at Revolutsia at Central and Volutsia.

Javan Andrew is opening J. Andrew upstairs at Revolutsia on the west side starting on Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30.

“This is kind of a test run for me to see how the market here in Wichita works,” Andrew says.

He may possibly open a permanent store later.

Andrew makes jewelry out of natural stone beads and sterling silver accents. He also handcrafts soaps.

Previously, he was a buyer for a local men’s store and focused on accessories. Now, he says, he’s “just kind of flipped the roles.”

The pop-up store will feature the work of others as well.

“I’ll have a curated selection of other artists,” Andrew says.

He sells online at jandrewdesigns.com and is in some local markets and has almost 50 wholesale accounts outside of Wichita.

Andrew had a successful pop-up store at Towne East Square last holiday season, but he says he was especially drawn to Revolutsia and the area around it.

“I really wanted to be a part of that.”

The Nov. 30 hours will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a kick-off cocktail party from 6 to 9 p.m.

Regular hours will be 11 a.m. to 6 pm. Thursday through Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays through the holidays.

Catherine Freshley’s “pop-up gallery shop,” as she’s calling it, will be open for a much shorter run at 416 S. Commerce St.

The landscape artist is having an opening reception on Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. and then will be open on Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Freshley previously was in advertising, but as she moved around the country with her Air Force pilot husband, who now is stationed at McConnell, she transitioned into doing art full time.

At her last stop in Oklahoma, she says the flat terrain and enormous skies compelled her to focus more on painting the sky.

“That’s when my painting career really took off,” she says. “The people of Oklahoma really embraced my take on scenes that were familiar to them.”

She found similar scenes to paint in Kansas.

“My paintings really focus on the sky just because it’s so magnificent in this part of the country and so huge.”

Freshley and her husband are part of a flying club, and she created a series of aerial paintings from photos she took while flying with him.

That’s part of her inspiration for having the pop-up gallery.

“I wanted to make this series more accessible to people in Wichita because so many people have a connection to aviation.”

The space was a ready-made gallery since it’s the former Wichita State University ShiftSpace gallery. Freshley says she also wanted to bring attention to the space so maybe someone else can locate there permanently.

In addition to her aerial paintings and prints, Freshley says she’ll have some landscape calendars and note cards as well.