Very nice gallery and lounge opening up underneath Fairfield Inn.

New art gallery also a cocktail lounge

TULSA – Kelly Knowlton will bring Oklahoma art to downtown Tulsa’s Brady Arts District.

Knowlton, who owns Liberty Lighting and Electric, is remodeling 2,400 square feet at sidewalk level beneath the Fairfield Inn and Suites at 111 N. Main St. and will open Mainline Art and Cocktails there June 1. The bar and gallery will showcase more than 100 works of art around its circular black stone bar and individualized spaces, with gallery displays changing weekly or monthly to provide exposure for state artists.

“We want to make sure that art’s not just once a month down here,” said partner Katy Eagleston, referring to the district’s monthly First Friday Art Crawl events. “We want to create a space where people can come in and be comfortable and be surrounded by art every day.”

That emphasis goes even to Mainline’s projected business hours and social media. Eagleston, a 10-year veteran of the food service industry, said the duo is contemplating operating 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily simply as an art gallery. Liquor sales could then join the mix from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. They also plan two websites, one for the gallery and one for the bar.

Such details remain in the developmental stages as Knowlton and Eagleston oversee build-out of the leased commercial space.

“We’re just repainting and buying furniture,” Knowlton said of their status, their contractors having just finished repainting the deep blue walls a light gray.
The exposed ceiling will remain black, matching the black concrete floor.

“I just want it to be real eclectic and different, a place artists would like to hang out,” Knowlton said. “Maybe a little mid-century modern, with other things kind of thrown in around, things that people don’t see very often.”

Hanging globe clusters will light the bar, accenting a chandelier of crystal balls forming a large, ringed sphere.

“We’re going to add plants and books and dividers,” Knowlton said. “We want to create warm, nice little spaces for people to feel comfortable in.”

Mixed throughout that will be pottery, sculpture, painting and print displays from Oklahoma artists, with large displays on the north and south walls. Knowlton, whose personal art collection includes more than 500 works just by Oklahoma State University’s J. Jay McVicker, intends to showcase work by multiple Sooner State artists.

“When I started collecting, I started collecting Oklahoma art,” Knowlton said. “Then it kind of morphed into art professors from Oklahoma, and now we’re real excited and into the historical art aspect of Oklahoma.

“To me, Oklahoma has as good of artists as anybody in the nation, but we’ve always been overlooked because we’re Oklahoma,” he said. “We hope to educate people and let them see it and admire it. We hope they like it as much as we do.”

Eagleston, who will manage the bar, is still plotting out her liquor cabinets. She will carry more than a dozen beers, with 15 to 20 wine options and other elixirs. Knowlton said the startup cost of the bar, which has a capacity of 118, was about $100,000.

“We plan on having some special cocktails that we’ll name after artists,” Eagleston said. “We’re going to have some local brews.”



- read more here: Mixed media: New art gallery also a cocktail lounge | The Journal Record