{"id":337236,"date":"2026-03-19T10:10:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/337236\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:10:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:10:15","slug":"quirky-art-gallery-bivy-reopens-in-downtown-anchorage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/337236\/","title":{"rendered":"Quirky art gallery Bivy reopens in downtown Anchorage"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"A small memorial marks the place where the original Bivy used to be on G Street in downtown Anchorage. March 13, 2026. (Photo by Kerry Tasker) <\/p>\n

It was fall of 2017 when Bivy first appeared. <\/p>\n

Seemingly out of nowhere, the contemporary art gallery took up residence in an office and retail building in downtown Anchorage. For five years, Bivy hosted performance art, installations, exhibitions and multimedia projects in a small room in front. An even smaller back room held zines and art books. <\/p>\n

If the gallery\u2019s appearance was a surprise, its disappearance felt all-too understandable. The building was demolished alongside the 4th Avenue Theatre in late 2022 and Bivy gallery was gone. <\/p>\n

Until now. <\/p>\n

This fall, Bivy re-appeared \u2014 across the street and down the block from the first Bivy. <\/p>\n

New Bivy would be easy to miss, except for a sandwich board pointing the way up a narrow staircase, down a white hallway and into some rooms over the Alaska Ivory Exchange shop. In what used to be offices, Bivy has found a new home. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a different building, but there are similarities.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth spaces are pretty tiny, and they have a homey vibe,\u201d said Bivy founder Simonetta Mignano. <\/p>\n

\"\"Simonetta Mignano founded the contemporary art gallery Bivy in 2017. After the original site was demolished, Mignano re-opened the gallery in 2025 in a different building on the same street. Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Kerry Tasker) <\/p>\n

Interviewed at Bivy on a recent Saturday, Mignano could not have looked more like the image of an Italian gallerist. Wearing a long leather trench coat, aviator sunglasses and Adidas trainers, Mignano sat by a window that overlooks the construction site where Bivy used to be. <\/p>\n

Mignano started Bivy about a year after moving from her home in Rome, Italy. She was in her 20s and struggling to adjust to her new city. But it wasn\u2019t the cold or darkness that she had difficulty with, Mignano said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to create some stability, because you need that when you change everything about your life,\u201d Mignano said. Not stability in the financial sense, but of \u201cdoing something that you feel compelled to do and that brings you joy and interest and connection with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before her move, Mignano had been managing an art gallery in Rome. Even before her career in the arts, Mignano spent years in community organizing. Armed with that skill set and considerable gumption, Mignano set out to find a gallery space.<\/p>\n

\"\"Detail of \u201cmy mothers and grandmothers laughed at me from the garden,\u201d a watercolor painting on paper handmade from mustard greens, by Cecilia Karoly-Lister. Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Kerry Tasker) <\/p>\n

After some searching, Mignano discovered a spot near Fourth Avenue and negotiated the rent down to a jaw-dropping $350 a month. She didn\u2019t have many local connections yet, so she tapped some international artists in her network for the first few shows. With that, Bivy was launched. <\/p>\n

But what is Bivy? Officially, it\u2019s what Mignano calls a \u201crelational art gallery.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has \u201cthat sense of collective intimacy, and that really emerges when people have gathered here face-to-face in our small spaces,\u201d Mignano said. <\/p>\n

Within a year, Bivy quickly gained momentum, with shows that emphasized cross-disciplinary and interactive elements. <\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cUsing feelings to get rid of feelings VII \/ Hobbes Opera,\u201d by A Constructed World, with musical direction by Quinn Christopherson and the participation of local performers, Bivy, 2020. (Photo by Emma Sheffer \/ Courtesy of Bivy) <\/p>\n

In \u201cUsing feelings to get rid of feelings VII \/ Hobbes Opera\u201d by A Constructed World, seven people simultaneously played an electric guitar with seven necks. Musician Quinn Christopherson served as musical director. In Emma Sheffer\u2019s 2019 work \u201cA note upon \u2018The Mystic Writing Pad,\u2019\u201d visitors to the gallery were invited to erase parts of drawings, which Sheffer would come back to redraw. <\/p>\n

Poet Olena Kalytiak Davis created a piece of a house inside Bivy\u2019s back room, where her personal belongings, furniture, art and other objects were displayed and available for sale, bid, discussion or giveaway. People would come to hang out in \u201cHOUSE PIECE\u201d for hours during its six-month run, Mignano said. <\/p>\n

When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, Bivy had to pause in-person gatherings, and Mignano along with artists Hollis Mickey and Alice Mazzarella created the \u201cSchool of Nonfunctional Studies<\/a>\u201d in 2020. Offering online programs, lectures and workshops, the School for Nonfunctional Studies continued after the shutdown and added hybrid and in-person offerings.<\/p>\n

Bivy became a kind of literal home in 2022. Mignano was going through a transitional period and lived out of a suitcase with her small dog at the gallery for a few months. But with demolition plans in the works, Mignano would soon close the door at 419 G St. for the last time. <\/p>\n

\"\"Bivy\u2019s new location is above Alaska Ivory Exchange on G Street in downtown Anchorage. March 13, 2026 (Photo by Kerry Tasker) Bivy 2.0 <\/p>\n

Bivy lost its physical location in 2022, but the project continued, Mignano said. A highlight was Bivy\u2019s participation in a major international contemporary art event, the Artissima Art Fair in Turin, Italy, in 2022. She was also working on a book about Bivy\u2019s first five years. <\/p>\n

At first she wasn\u2019t thinking of reopening the gallery, Mignano said. At some point that changed. <\/p>\n

\u201cI saw the sign,\u201d Mignano said. Specifically, a \u201cfor rent\u201d sign in the window above a shop on G Street. By October 2025, Bivy was back.<\/p>\n

The new Bivy is, like the old Bivy, a different experience from other galleries in Anchorage. The art isn\u2019t presented in neat rows on the walls, and there are no labels to identify artists, materials or pricing. One room has shelves of books and zines. <\/p>\n

There\u2019s an informational pamphlet about the exhibition at the door, but if it weren\u2019t for that you might feel like you\u2019d stumbled into a slightly surreal clubhouse. <\/p>\n

Showing now until Saturday, March 21, is \u201cWe Are Going to Build a House,\u201d a group exhibition with works that frequently relate to themes of home, often in ways that trick the eye.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ceramic shoes made by University of Alaska Anchorage art students. Feb. 16, 2026. (Photo by Kerry Tasker) <\/p>\n

A group of ceramic shoes made by students at the University of Alaska Anchorage is clustered around the entrance, so realistic that on the show\u2019s opening several visitors started taking off their own shoes at the door. <\/p>\n

Cecilia Karoly-Lister\u2019s scenes of family life are painted on paper made from mustard greens and laid out on Mignano\u2019s own kitchen table. A folded tablecloth in the book room is actually a folded painting of a table cloth by Sally Carr. A sculptural kitchen brush and rag by Susan Joy Share hang nearby. <\/p>\n

Alanna DeRocchi\u2019s sculptural pillow looks like it could be filled with soft down but is actually ceramic. In another room, a large piece by Amy Meissner weaves dark threads into a traditional doily. Young Kim\u2019s quietly devastating photograph of a slightly open door hangs next to the exit. <\/p>\n

\"\"Detail of \u201cActs of Fortification,\u201d by Amy Meissner. Pictured Feb. 16, 2026 (Photo by Kerry Tasker) <\/p>\n

Bivy shows generally stay up for two months. On top of researching the exhibitions, running the gallery and holding special programs, Mignano works full time and is in grad school. Between keeping Bivy going and paying her artists\u2019 60-70% commission, Bivy doesn\u2019t make a profit. It\u2019s only recently that Mignano has received outside support for the gallery, from the Alaska State Council on the Arts and as a Rasmuson award recipient. <\/p>\n

Keeping an independent art gallery going has taken a lot of hard work. Mignano comes from a modest background, she said, which helped hone her ability to be frugal and resourceful while building high-value projects.<\/p>\n

Regardless of location, the idea driving Bivy has remained the same. <\/p>\n

\u201cSmall, local, and seemingly insignificant transformations enacted by aligned groups can accumulate over time to reshape the social fabric or fix what\u2019s broken with it,\u201d Mignano wrote in an email. <\/p>\n

\u201cI like to think Bivy is a small agent of incremental action like that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

Bivy<\/p>\n

\u201cWe Are Going to Build a House\u201d will be on view until Saturday, March 21<\/p>\n

Bivy is open 5-9 p.m. on the first Friday of the month, 1-4 p.m. Saturdays and by appointment.<\/p>\n

406 G St., Suite 205 (second floor), Anchorage<\/p>\n

www.b-i-v-y.com<\/a> or on Instagram @bivy_anchorage<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n

Reporting for this project was supported by the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0\u2022\u00a0\u2022<\/p>\n