Local spotlight: Samsara Folk Art Gallery

Sara Nichols and Christie Jago of Samsara Folk Art Gallery (Photo by Sarah Dussault/Sun-Sentinel)

In Fort Lauderdale's F.A.T. Village, there's an art venue called Samsara Folk Art Gallery.

Sara Nichols and Christie Jago have run it for nine months, without so much as a sign bearing the gallery's name.

This "pop-up" gallery that never left continues to pop up each month, an evolving space filled with folk art, as Samsara's co-owners define it. On Sept. 29, it will open again for the F.A.T. Village Art Walk, which takes place every last Saturday of the month.

"I always tell everyone that we buy directly from the artists," Nichols says. "We know them, they're our friends. We love them."

The women, known as "The Folk Finders," travel to annual folk art festivals, collecting works and stories. Rather than take art on commission, they buy it outright.

Jago and Nichols, whose husbands work in South Florida's yachting industry, met 25 years ago. While traveling through Georgia, where both own property, the women began buying folk art and soon started attending folk art festivals where they met more artists. After several years of collecting, they were running out of room.

"These [folk artists] are so genuine and they're not making millions of dollars," says Jago, whose background is in interior design. "We said: Well, if we can't buy more folk art, we can't help the artists or support the art."

So she and Nichols, who has been working in real estate for 10 years, started selling the art, too. ...

To continue reading Arterpillar's story in the Sun-Sentinel's Lifestyle section.