Eclectic Works from Forty Local Artists

​Zero Degrees Gallery is the united effort of forty-plus established and emerging local artists, exhibiting and selling their artwork through the gallery. Located in Marquette, Michigan, the gallery was formed initially in 2010 and reincorporated in 2022 as a non-profit. The gallery is comprised of a dynamic and diverse group of artists who want to support artistic endeavors in the community, while providing a year-round venue for their work. Zero Degrees Gallery's name is a triple entendre:  (1) the founders of the gallery, none of whom had art degrees; (2) the perception that we live in a cold place; and (3) the commitment to creating zero degrees of separation between our artists and our customers.

On display you will find a wide range of artisan crafts and fine art, including ceramics, fiber, jewelry, mixed media, painting, illustration, woodworking, photography, sculpture, and woodblock printing.  You'll find a wide assortment of unique styles, with many artists incorporating upcycled or recycled materials in their work.

Zero Degrees Gallery Marquette is a non-profit corporation with a passion for serving our community in three ways:
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1 - We help independent artists of the area succeed.
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is remote and isolated, with many people engaged in home-based entrepreneurial work for their financial support. Many are artists who need significant guidance and education with improving their artistic and marketing skills, as well as opportunities to offer their services to the community. Some are able to support themselves with their art, but most have other jobs as well. Everyone in the gallery is part-time and gallery earnings are modest at best. Gallery members each receive a webpage of their own. Accordingly, the gallery offers opportunity for these self-employed artists to grow in experience, offer their services, and sell their art.
 
2 - We offer high quality local visual art to the community.
The intrinsic character of the environment and culture of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula makes the area very attractive both as a residential area and as a travel destination. The desire for appropriate décor and remembrances creates a very unique and highly motivated market for local art. This is an opportunity which serves both our artists and our community.
Our artists enjoy the collegial relationship of the gallery which is in itself a valuable means of personal and social support. As volunteer salespersons they are able to interact with visitors and customers in ways which inform what they do as artists.
Our gallery visitors and customers enjoy the tremendous diversity of art available and are stimulated by the imaginative work they see, whether or not they purchase anything. In turn, their purchases support the artists and the gallery, and the gallery uses the funding from sales to achieve their educational purposes.
 
3 - We provide art education to the community. 
     These are our current programs of education:

• Regular meetings are held for gallery artists, during which gallery issues are discussed and information is given. Just as important are the informal times spent building relationships and learning from each other.
• Presentations, Demonstrations and Workshops are given frequently by gallery artists throughout the local community, across the Upper Peninsula and beyond. The gallery encourages its artists to make themselves available and encourages the community to invite them.
• The gallery hosts many special exhibitions, promotions and events, many of which coincide with local events in Marquette, such as First Thursday Art Walk, Music on Third, Art Week, Ladies Night, Lake Superior Art Association’s Art on the Rocks, and the Outback Art Fair.
• Art Gives Back is our long-standing program in which the gallery gives toward a local charity. Two or three are chosen each year, with contributions made from gallery proceeds and donations by our artists.
• Our Visiting Artist Series brings non-member artists invited monthly or bimonthly to display and sell their art in a special area in the gallery. This program began very successfully in the midst of the pandemic.
• Our Youth Mentoring Program has just gotten started. Local teenagers who are aspiring artists are invited to display and sell their work in team with a gallery artist of their genre who serves as their Mentor. They learn new skills and discover the ins and outs of being an artist and operating a gallery.
• A future program with community volunteers will develop a group to support the purposes of the gallery. We envision that they will serve in various capacities to design new educational events, create digital online publications, enlarge our use of social media, and sponsor member artists.

Take a look around our two rooms...