Artist in the Alley was started just over 5 years ago by myself and my daughter Haily. Our goal was to bring art back to the Pomona art walk. As a kid, I remember thousands of art lovers showing up for the art walk. It was an amazing time. Alas, the artist who became famous moved out and the art patrons dwindled. Instead of telling my daughter the story of greater times I decided to do my part to bring it back to life.

Where did we decide to start this venture? In a dirty old alley of the 500 block. My daughter and I took over the old Magu studio and began planning right away. On October 13th 2018 we opened our roll up door to the public. To a gallery that collected no hanging fees or commissions from the artists. And what was our complicated process of art selection you ask? We sent out a call and just took the first 30 artist to respond without even looking at the art. We wanted to make it as easy and fair as possible for artists to display their beautiful works of art. We also wanted everyone to feel welcome in the gallery so one of our only hard rules was nothing political. It was a slow beginning but after years of persistence we fill up with artist within 10 minutes, we turn away at least 10 bands, and tend to be one of the busiest galleries in Pomona for art walk.

A huge thanks to the amazing artists that bless our gallery with their works, the killer bands that play for free, and the loyal patrons that attend our gallery. Artist in the Alley has become this organic, raw, underground art scene. A dirty old alley in the 500 block of downtown Pomona once a month becomes a magical place to saturate one's soul in art. Thanks to the iconic DA, you now can experience a little bit of this magic.

Thank you, Nate McMullen

March 2024

Video Created by: Jocelyn M.