2004 Bywater Home Tour

WAITING ROOM GALLERY

In 1997, artists Bill Warren and Pati D'Amico were shopping for a home — a place to live, not a property to develop as a gallery. But as D'Amico says in a 2001 interview with City Business, right from the beginning of their search, the shotgun houses they visited struck them as great places to show art, with high ceilings and rooms that open one to the next through wide pocket doors. Good thing they had their eyes open. Within six months of moving into their new double shotgun, the married couple decided to open the Waiting Room Gallery in their home.

 The Waiting Room shows work in the heart of Bywater, a stone's throw from the Industrial Canal and was one of the first galleries of many now in Bywater which are a world away from the city's gallery scene along Julia, Royal and Magazine streets. Minimizing over-head expenses, like combining the gallery with the home, allows places like the Waiting Room to show work by little-known artists or work that may not be an easy sell for art collectors. The people who make the effort to find them out in the Bywater are more likely to be serious about art than the browsing masses that stroll through downtown galleries.

A special show has been created for the 2004 Home and Garden Tour, featuring paintings, collage books and sculpture by gallery owners William Warren & Pati D'Amico. Live Music is provided by the Improvisational Arts Council Duo.