Gallery entrepreneur takes unusual approach to fund permanent location

By Alexis Wells, Mainebiz

An arts entrepreneur has opened a pop-up exhibition featuring work by more than 500 artists to raise money for its next permanent home.

Boru O’Brien O’Connell opened the Dunes exhibition opened on Aug. 28, bringing together work across a range of media and price points.

The temporary exhibition is housed in a 7,500-square-foot space at 200 Middle St., a space provided by East Brown Cow.

The pop-up will allow Dunes to present an exhibition at a scale not typically seen by an independent gallery, while allowing it to raise funds for its future home at 144 Fore St., on Portland’s East End.

“This pop-up gives us a rare opportunity to present Dunes at a scale we normally couldn’t and to connect the artists we work with to new audiences,” said O’Connell, founder of Dunes.

“Old Port Square is an especially exciting setting for that, because it puts the gallery in the middle of an active part of the city — where people can encounter contemporary art whether they came looking for it, or simply happened upon it. That kind of discovery is central to what we’re building with Dunes, and it’s meaningful that this temporary space can help us realize that vision in our permanent home.”

The exhibition coincides with Dunes’ $90,000 Build Out Fundraisers, a campaign to support the construction, architectural and engineering costs and other expenses associated with Dunes’ new permanent gallery. Proceeds from the Old Port Square exhibition will provide additional support for the build-out.

About the permanent location:

Dunes has signed a lease for the 1,600-square-foot at 144 Fore St. The planned space will include an expanded gallery and Dunes Forum, a reading room, project space and a coffee counter.

The new space was designed by West Main Workshop, based in Cambridge, N.Y.