A Gallery for All

At most galleries, when you buy art that’s part of an exhibition, you have to wait weeks or months until the show ends before you can start enjoying it.

“It can deter people who are first-time collectors [from buying art],” says Chelsey Luster, owner of Luster Gallery +Studio at Crane Arts. “I want them to be able to take home an original piece of art immediately, at a price point that’s super accessible.”

That’s why Luster’s new group exhibition, Bye, Buy: 100 Works at $100, which runs from November 13 – January 26, allows buyers to purchase the art right off the walls. The vibrant group exhibition features 100 original works by queer artists, artists of color, and women/femmes based in Philadelphia. Every piece in the show is 12” x 12” and all are priced at $100.

“It’s a show with an accessible price point that embraces the spirit of experimentation and includes mixed media, photography, and digital work,” says Luster.

She opened her gallery and studio in September with her inaugural show, Shades: Expanding the Language of Black Skin. A group exhibition centering Black figurative artists, the exhibition included Khari Turner, Zeinab Diomande, Eustace Mamba, Devyn Dais, Shawn Theodore, Michele Pierson, and Traci Johnson.

Luster Gallery’s inaugural show

“I knew I wanted to center artists of color, women/femmes, local artists, and emerging artists,” says Luster. That commitment is reflective of her work at artist Isaiah Zagar’s Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, where, as exhibitions manager, she curates regular guest exhibitions in addition to shows that highlight Zagar’s work. “I wanted to create conversations between emerging and established artists, people who had never shown work and people who have exhibited a lot,” she adds.

While opening her own gallery had long been a dream of Luster’s, she wasn’t expecting it to happen this year (much of which had been spent planning her recent wedding). Still, sometimes things happen when they are meant to.

“I had reached out to Crane Arts in May, just to see if they had anything open, gallery- or studio-wise,” she says. When the building manager told her of an opening in July, she took the leap.

The timing might have been a surprise, but basing her gallery in the sprawling former warehouse that houses Crane Arts on N. American St. was always part of Luster’s plan. She has collaborated with Crane Arts tenants in the past, like Icebox Project Space, The Young Artist Program (for whom she painted a mural), was a member at Vox Populi at the same time as James Britt (the curator of exhibitions & programs at TILT), and was excited about the potential to work with other artists in the space.

Works from Shades: Expanding the Language of Black Skin

Luster’s mission for the gallery is aligned with the exhibition program mission at the Magic Gardens, which also often focuses on artists of color, women artists, and queer artists.

“I have learned so much at the Magic Gardens,” she says. “I’ve been able to be experimental: painting the walls, changing the design. I can bring the work out of the walls and into the space.”

At her new gallery, “I can experiment a bit more,” she reflects. “The possibilities are endless now. I’m planning for 2026, and it’s the first time I’ve had complete freedom. I can do a solo show or a group show, and I can change my mind. I’ve never had that as a curator. In every collaboration [with a gallery or host organization] there’s so much planning and communication. This is the first time it’s solely my vision.”

Luster operates her gallery part time when she isn’t at the Magic Gardens, where she intends to remain in her role. She also has a team of volunteers who support exhibition openings and gallery sitting, so the space can be open when Luster is working.

In the year ahead, she is planning to pilot an artist’s residency using her own artistic practice – both working in the gallery and including her work in the exhibitions. She has been making art in the gallery already, working on three major commissions, including one that will be shown at the Philadelphia Airport.

“I’m working on these commissions at the same time as I’m talking about the work [on the walls],” she says. “I’m thinking about the gallery also as a studio space, and taking the first year to experiment and see what it feels like to exhibit alongside working.”

Luster also envisions the gallery becoming a community space.

“I want to experiment for the first couple of years and see what people are drawn to,” she explains. “And I want to make collectors out of people! Focusing on these artists, making it price-inclusive… the impact feels bigger than just my vision.”

Bye, Buy: 100 Works at $100 opens November 13. Luster Gallery & Studio is open every Second Thursday of the month, during special events and programs, and on select weekend days. To learn more, visit https://www.lustergallerystudio.com/ or follow them on Instagram.

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