Minding Your Business- Cross Rip Gallery

“We are more of a destination,” said Georgene Riedl, artist and owner of Cross Rip Gallery in Harwich Port. “People come here specifically looking for us once they see us in the newspaper or on our website. I’ll just put the open flag out and people can come in. It is a very casual environment here. Not formal at all.”

Cross Rip Gallery is located on Main Street in Harwich Port in a stunning Cape style antique home once owned by Riedl’s parents. The home once housed the family’s Real Estate company as well as a garden shop. The gallery has been in business for over a decade and most recently also features Riedl’s own art studio space. 

“I decided after years of renting space in other places and looking at all the different options, I realized I had my sweet spot right here in a building that I own and love,” he said. “I know people like this little added feature of being able to see an artist's work as well as seeing all the other artists in the gallery. Visitors come into the gallery and I have a separate room. They can take a look at what I'm doing and how an artist’s studio is set up. I also kept a lot of the original features in the house. And I have a regular exhibit of other artists in the other rooms here too.”

At Cross Rip there is an impressive array of art. Current artists exhibiting at the gallery include Suzanne M. Packer, Kate Nelson, Richard O. Perry, Deborah Forman, John Howard, Sally S. Fine and Georgene Riedl herself.

Cross Rip Gallery features contemporary, abstract and figurative fine art by award-winning and emerging artists. The gallery specializes in “art with an edge,” so that visitors know when they step inside that they will be rewarded with dynamic, imaginative and innovative work with fresh perspectives. Cross Rip Gallery is not only set-up “Gallery style”; sculpture, paintings, photography, reliefs, watercolors, and collages are also displayed in a residential setting so that collectors can easily visualize how a work of art would look in a home setting with natural lighting. 

“I try to offer something different to the Cape community because I kind of try to stay away from the regular beach scenes and things like that,” Riedl said. “If we have anything like that, it's usually a totally different take on it, a totally different perspective, maybe abstract for example. I'm trying to offer something different.”

Riedl, who studied poetry before leaning more into her visual art career, classifies her own style of work as more figurative expression with some pure abstract work as well.

“I am very self-taught and I am always experimenting,” Riedl said. “I always try different subjects as I’d hate to do the same thing over and over. It’s very experimental. Who wants to get bored with what you’re doing! It’s always a challenge and always exciting.”

After our delightful conversation, it was evident to me that the poet in this visual artist is not entirely gone. 

“I'm trying to offer something different,” Riedl said. “That's the cross rip, you know. I took the image of a cross rip from Nantucket Sound to start the gallery because it’s a place where different currents of water meet. This is where different currents of art meet here at the gallery. It causes artists excitement. It is a very thrilling thing to go through a cross rip. If you’ve ever been out on a boat on Nantucket Sound you run into them. And that’s where water all comes together and is joined.”

Cross Rip Gallery stays open through the fall and holiday season, closing briefly from New Years day until April. Be sure to look out for that open flag out front and stop in to see Georgene in action in her studio or browse the exhibits throughout the space!

CROSS RIP GALLERY

486 ROUTE 28 (Main Street)