Lauren Lesueur has big plans for the two story walls held up by the massive, deep red beams in the elle gallery + shop, her new storefront concept set to open on September 1st. Or, rather, she has big hopes for the plans of the artists she can’t wait to bring in to the space. “Even though I’m planning on picking one artist a month to showcase, I want to do a collaborative photography showcase… I want to see every inch of these walls covered with photography. I’ve saved about 250 or 300 photographers I’m really excited about.” That is only one plan among many for elle gallery, though, and that one is comparatively far in the future. “I know that Jasper York will absolutely fill the space in September, which means I’m saved from having to have all my chairs and furniture in there yet!” Lauren notes conspiratorially, “And I can’t even imagine what Limei Lai will do with the space for Portland TextileX Month.”

elle gallery + shop is located on SW Pine between SW 2nd and 3rd; eagle-eyed observers may note that makes the gallery a downstairs neighbor to Textile Hive, home of Portland TextileX Month. While Textile Hive is tucked away on the fourth floor of 133 SW 2nd Ave, elle gallery+shop bares itself to passing traffic with a glass edifice that will create the perfect invitation into the space. Lesueur, with a background in merchandising and sales, has spent most of 2024 conducting on-the ground research for the space, sitting across the street for days at a time and observing the local populace that would, in time, become her clientele. “It became clear that the type of store I had in mind originally would not work for this setting, for this downtown Portland neighborhood, so close to the waterfront. There’s a lot of families that walk around this neighborhood, as well as travelers here for work, walking back and forth from the hotel to the waterfront, looking for something to do outside of their hotels after business hours and on the weekends.”

These observations have thoroughly shaped the design of the space. “I want the shop to be foregrounded in the front half of the space, made to be inviting and full of practical, usable items. I want families to feel comfortable walking in here with their children, and conventional gallery spaces don’t always have that vibe. If it’s not kid friendly, then people may shy away from coming in, because they’re going to be worried about the kid breaking shit, right? So I thought the best thing to do is to split the space in two. So there’s this front part and the beams in the middle, and the gallery is this cozy space in the back.

Lauren has interrogated how she wants to have the back half of elle, which she conceptualizes as the more gallery-focused side of the space, to feel different than your run-of-the-mill white wall gallery as well. “I looked towards well-done hotel lobbies and spaces like that for inspiration. I want the art space to feel comfortable, like you can sit and relax there for as long as you want, and the partition between the spaces exists so artistic people feel like it’s a safe space to just be, to come and draw or just do what they want to do. But for it to still feel beyond the experience of just being at home or in a domestic space. It’s elevated but comfortable. So I’ve been looking at *a lot* of unique chairs.”

The plan is for the gallery to be given over to a new artist every month, and for the artist to have the freedom to customize the space to fit their vision. For Portland TextileX Month, Limei Lai will be exhibiting the show The Passionate Red and Glorious Gold in the space. Lai is a frequent contributor to PTXM and we are pleased to be showcasing her work again this year. In this show, Lai will conjure memories of her hometown of Chaozhou, which is well known for its heritage of wood carving, embroidery, and ceramic craftsmanship. Among them, ceremonial embroidery from Chaozhou has a strong element of gold thread, which Limei Lai will feature in a mixed-media installation inspired by the childhood memories of the women from her hometown and the aprons they made to protect newborns and toddlers. Lai’s work often carries a collaborative element, and this installation is no different, as visitors will be invited to share their own origin stories and creative inspirations through writing and drawing and adding to the piece.

elle gallery will not only be home to gallery shows and the storefront, but host workshops and live events as well. There are two workshops planned in the space for Portland TextileX Month. Felicia Murray, another mainstay of PTXM, will be putting on a tufting workshop. Murray has cultivated a substantial fanbase for her bright, delightful tufted landscapes, while working to make the craft more accessible and therapeutic than ever through her Curious Creator take home kits and workshops. In facilitating this workshop, Murray will be providing the space for participants to have their own origin story with tufting, creating a complete 15×15” tufted rug.

The other workshop, put on by Maker Mayhem PDX, focuses on the younger audience that Lauren Lesueur knew would be a crucial part of elle’s appeal. In the Maker Mayhem Kids Loom workshop, youthful fabric aficionados will be welcomed into the gallery to learn how to operate a loom and make a wall hanging. Maker Mayhem PDX is a phenomenal part of the Portland artist community, a mobile studio that brings artistic experiences to children throughout the city. We at Portland TextileX Month are very excited to find a neighbor like elle gallery + shop who is as passionate about fostering a love of textiles in their space as we  are throughout the month’s festivities.

Even in the process of moving in and preparing for the grand opening of elle gallery, with the walls mostly bare and the bespoke furniture not yet settled, there is a palpable warmness in the space. Perhaps it comes from the soft feeling of your shoes on the hardwood floors, or the warm bounce of light absorbed by those massive beams holding up the walls, or the soft notes of mid-century jazz playing on the sound system. It seems, though, that it mostly comes from Lauren herself, busily adjusting pedestals and curtains and rigorously studying how all of the details of her space come together to create the whole environment. With a baseline like that, elle gallery + shop will be a magnificent center for art, crafts, and maker products for a long while to come. 

Elle gallery + shop is located at 207 SW Pine, Portland, OR 97204. The gallery’s grand opening is September 1st, 2024, from 12-8 PM.