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You Shouldn't Be Afraid of Art - Dee Miles and The Wild Acorn

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Meet your neighbor:  Dee Miles and The Wild Acorn

The Wild Acorn, 110 East Main

The Wild Acorn located at 110 East Main Street

It’s true.  When one door closes, another one opens.  In Dee’s case it happened more than once.

The Wild Acorn, 110 East Main

Dee Miles is the owner of The Wild Acorn, a non-pretentious art gallery currently located at 110 East Main Street.  Dee originally opened the Wild Acorn in 2005 in the basement of the Mill, when the Elements Gallery closed.  The gallery was a mere 350 square feet and unfortunately, unnoticed by shoppers at the street level.  About eighteen months later, a number of businesses in town played musical storefronts and The Wild Acorn moved to a street-level space where the Coffee Mill used to be located.  About eighteen months after that, the gallery moved again to the current location where it has been for almost two and a half years.  With each move, the size of the gallery has increased, as has the number of artists who sold their wares within the gallery.

The gallery currently hosts the work of about sixty artists in a variety of mediums.  Nearly fifty of those artists have their work in the gallery on consignment.  There are an additional ten artists whose work Dee has purchased to display and sell in the gallery.  Dee indicated that bringing in new artists periodically “keeps things fresh.”  Indeed, while Dee was being interviewed for this article, one of the local artists, Aaron Bushaw was in the gallery to rotate some of his work, removing some of the older pieces and leaving new ones in their place.  The artwork may not change on a daily basis, but often enough that it is worth stopping in regularly to see the new items.

The Wild Acorn, 110 East Main

When asked what message Dee would like to share with Manchester residents, she replied that “art doesn’t have to be a picture on the wall.  It’s a spoon in your hand, a bar of soap to wash your hands with.  Basically, everything in our life is art in one form or another.  You don’t have to have a million dollar picture on your wall to make it beautiful.  A twenty-five dollar print is sometimes beautiful.  You shouldn’t be afraid of art.”

With a wide variety of artists, The Wild Acorn is able to offer diverse types of art with a range of prices.  On any day, visitors to the gallery can find everything from paper art to ceramic work to oils, pastels, acrylics, to wood turning, pottery, and sculpture. While prices range from a dollar for an acorn ornament to several thousand dollar pieces, many items are under one-hundred dollars.  Because of the wide assortment and selection, Dee indicated that “it’s not hard to get repeat customers.”

Dee encourages exposing children to art at a young age.  She offers classes and events at The Wild Acorn for adults and children.  In fact, she offered a class in October called Color with Fabric for Children.  “If children are not exposed to art, they grow up without any idea of how enriching it could be.”

The Wild Acorn, 110 East Main

An example of a turned-wood bowl by Dave Bunge who will be exhibiting his work at an event at The Wild Acorn on November 23.

The next event at The Wild Acorn is family-friendly and will feature two different forms of art.  On November 23rd, The Wild Acorn will host an open house featuring Ken Kozora and Dave Bunge.  Ken Kozora will be displaying and discussing multiple musical instruments as well as debuting his first CD.  Dave Bunge will talk about wood bowl turning bringing with him a computer demonstration of the technique.  The open house will run from 6:00pm to 8:00pm and everyone is welcome.

The Wild Acorn is open Wednesday through Saturday.  Hours and more information on classes and future events can be found on their website:  http://thewildacorn.com/.

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