The owners of the pottery studio and apparel shop Artillery AG have decided to step aside from the business after 15 years, and are looking for an interested buyer.
Ivan Lopez and Kelly Ortega, who are partners, want to focus on raising their 5-year-old son and transitioning into personal artistic projects.
“We’ve seen a lot of other artists come through this space and emerge on the other side as successful musicians or photographers or fashion designers,” said Lopez. “We’re at this crossroads as parents, where we’ve incubated and cultivated so many folks through this space, and now we want to launch ourselves into that next level as a creative family.”
Both Lopez and Ortega said they don’t want to see Artillery AG close its doors, because of the significance the gallery has to the volunteers and students who have made the space a community.
The store has been Lopez’s passion since returning to the Mission in 2009 from school at the Pratt Institute in New York City. He had grown up in the neighborhood, working at his mother’s Elite soccer store just down the block from the pottery studio at 2751 Mission St. just south of 23rd Street. Over the years, Artillery AG has hosted everything from music performances to painting shows, a photo studio, and a clothing shop for local designers. Since 2016, it has operated as a pottery studio.
Now, he hopes the buyer will be an art collective.
Lopez said that in the last few months, the pair has had conversations with a couple of different collectives as well as other ceramic studios, MEDA and the San Francisco Office of Small Business. So far, nothing is concrete, but the couple said they will continue to run the space until they find a buyer.
Early on, the gallery showed the work of many local artists, helping some launch their creative careers Lopez said. Some of those — Lex Mex Photography and Urban Native Era, for example — have gone on to enduring success.
Lopez also sold many of his own art pieces, often painted on T-shirts or hoodies.
“We’ve been through all sorts of things in the past,” said Lopez. “But ultimately, behind all these things, we were always trying to plant that seed of creativity and trying to create this hub of inspiration.”
Once the gallery has been sold, the couple looks forward to maintaining a secondary role where they will occasionally collaborate with the new owners on artistic projects. They will also continue to teach ceramics classes online and in the field, a practice the two started by taking students out in nature to forage their own clay.
The family also plans to move out of their home in the Excelsior to near Antioch, and to start more sustainable pottery practices, like using a pit fire to reduce energy consumption, and using natural materials instead of the artificial glaze applied to finished ceramics.
“The pottery will keep going, but we’ll do the pottery we want to offer,” Ortega said.
“We really want to step into formulating that [a more sustainable way of living] which is very different from Artillery right now, which is a creative space for young people that are in this very exploratory state,” added Lopez. “We’re in another stage of our lives, and we want to grow into that stage, too.”
Artillery AG is located at 2751 Mission St. between 24th and 23rd streets. They are open Tuesday through Friday from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Sundays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
I have known Ivan and Kelly from the launch of artillery. Their events were fantastic. They always curated unique art and the artist who created. They will be missed and they will be successful.
“Yet another Mission business closing”