Artists Push for New Hood River Cooperative Studio & Gallery

Home Page

May 1

Artists and partners in the fledgling Industrial Street Studio Dyana Fiediga, Emily Grigone, Kate Hamilton, Aliza McHugh, Annie Hamilton, Megan Mesloh, Page Case. Photo by Meg Kalmach

By Tom Peterson

Hood River, Ore., April 30, 2025 — A group of local artists in Hood River are working to establish a collective studio and community space in a building owned by the Port of Hood River, addressing a shortage of small artist studio spaces in the area.

Aliza McHugh, board president of the Industrial Street Studio Cooperative, said her board has been working for over a year on the project. The initiative began when artists discovered additional space was available in the Big 7 Building at 616 Industrial Street, which is already home to Wolf Ceramics and The Clay Commons.

"Sarah Wolf of Wolf Ceramics and Dyana Fiedega of the Clay Commons hosted a meeting a year ago in March," McHugh said. "We discovered the building still had a 5,000 square foot space available."

The group is now leasing the space with plans to create 20 different studio spaces ranging from 50 to 150 square feet.

McHugh, 29, community organizer and project manager, leads a cooperative board that includes an architect, designer, and fiber artist. She explained that these affordable studios will serve artists seeking appropriately sized creative spaces.

"We envision shared facilities, tools, and resources for artists and makers looking to be part of a vibrant creative community in the Gorge," McHugh said. "Those artists will support one another while having a showcase for their work through public events and gatherings."

Here is the space at the Big 7 building that will eventually be built out into studio spaces, a classroom and gallery.

A cooperative is a business owned and controlled by its members, who are also its customers, employees, or residents. Co-ops are democratically governed, with each member typically having one vote.

"It will be a communal workspace and a cooperative where it is not owned by any of us," McHugh explained.

The group signed the lease recently and is now focusing on fundraising efforts. "We're getting the word out to artists and to everyone about our fundraising," McHugh said on Tuesday, April 29. "We are looking to raise funds for the build-out of the space and initial operating costs."

The facility will provide not only a creative workspace but also a dedicated classroom and a gallery to exhibit works.

"We have a list of over 40 artists that are interested," she said, noting some are painters and photographers. However, McHugh acknowledged that "some art mediums might not be feasible in the shared space," specifically mentioning oil paints or art that creates loud noise.

The group has already received $30,000 in donations toward its goal of $200,000 to build out the space. They expect to complete construction over the summer and be ready to move in by August. Click here for their gofundnme.

"This began with artists coming together to envision something our community desperately needed," McHugh said. "We're not just building studios—we're hopefully cultivating a creative ecosystem that will represent the Gorge’s artistic landscape. This space represents our collective vision for affordable, accessible art in the Gorge. This is our moment to make it happen.”