"Small Works" For Good Causes: New Hope Gallery Celebrates 1 Year

NEW HOPE, PA — When Erin Simmons signed to rent the space for her business Scrambled! Gallery of Gifts in February of 2020, she had no idea what was in store. But after winning the Best New Business award from Bucks Happening this April, Simmons is celebrating a successful year selling handmade wares by local and regional artists — and she wants to give back.

“I always wanted this small store to do big things, so I figured I would do some sort of charity event,” she said.

The resulting Scrambled! Small Works Show will benefit the local non-profit Pine2Pink and the Bucks County SPCA. But since she “can’t afford to just write a check” to support these causes, Simmons involved her community in another way, too. She reached out to a friend who teaches at the Painted Oak Nature School in Hopewell, NJ, and sent his students each a five-by-five inch canvas. When she got in touch with an art teacher at Buckingham Friends School in Lahaska, her students were also excited about creating art for the benefit show.

As such, Saturday evening’s Small Works Show will feature 40 pieces of student artwork, which patrons can take home at a minimum of $20 a piece — or however much they’d like to donate.

“Because I’m crazy, I also got [in touch with] 15 adult artists,” Simmons said, laughing. “And they’ve got some small works coming too, and each of them will give ten percent of their sales.”

While pieces from the show will be sold through the third weekend in July, this Saturday's reception is the main event. Patrons can gather together to celebrate and enjoy refreshments on the shop’s beautiful deck overlooking the Delaware Canal.

Creating a communal atmosphere like this is important to Simmons.

“I love my store so much … and people want to be a part of that whole vibe,” she said.

Because the rent she pays to New Hope Arts, a non-profit arts center, isn’t too expensive, she’s been able to support her weekends-only store by selling only the handmade artworks she’d hoped to. Today, the gallery represents work by 23 local and regional artists.

“I like the interaction with people,” Simmons said, explaining why she prefers not to sell online. “I like them to come in and touch stuff. … I try to have sangria sometimes, or hot mulled cider in the winter. I like it smelling pretty. I like it to be bright: this refreshing, old-school brick-and-mortar shop.”

While opening a store last June was challenging and could be slow, she also feels that the atypical year helped her find her way and build strong relationships in the community.

“I was able to work out any issues in my system, so I was able to grow a little bit slower than going from never having [had] a business to being thrown into the New Hope art mecca,” she said. “That’s why I won Bucks Happening — because the customers believed in the store.”

The Scrambled! Small Works Show will take place at 39 West Bridge St. on Saturday, June 19 from 5-8:30 p.m. Attendance is free, and works will remain up through Saturday, July 17.

Click here to learn more about the show or about Scrambled! Gallery of Gifts.