The ARTery: A Place For Creatives To ‘Learn, Connect, Create — Together’

A new creative hub in downtown Grand Junction is set to open this June, thanks to the Grand Valley Creative Alliance (GVCA), a nonprofit whose mission is to cultivate and promote the Grand Valley’s creative community.

The ARTery is located at 539 Colorado Ave., where renovations have been underway since the GVCA purchased the property a year ago. A brick-and-mortar presence will enhance the organization’s impact while advocating for the arts, notes Chip Walton, GVCA executive director.

The ARTery will include three professional working studios for ceramics, fiber arts and printmaking, and a fourth that Walton calls the “community studio” — a space that connects to an outdoor patio area — that will be able to serve multiple functions, like hosting classes and workshops, individual artist shows and other small events, as well as provide a working studio space.

Chip Walton, Grand Valley Creative Alliance. Photo by Sharon Sullivan.

“Artists and nonprofits without their own space will be able to use the ARTery studios,” Walton says. “It is designed to be a hangout place for artists.”

The ARTery will offer multiple levels of membership, including single-day and drop-in passes. Hours of availability will depend on a person’s level of membership, Walton says.

To access the potter’s wheel and other specialized equipment, reservations and training on the machinery will be required, adds Julia Croscetto, ARTery studio manger for fiber and printmaking.

At some point, art classes and workshops will be offered at The ARTery. “There are several pottery studios in town with completely full classes,” Walton says. “There’s a growing demand for good pottery classes.” There’s also an interest in fiber arts and printmaking.

Robbie and Chuck Breaux, longtime champions of the arts, donated $1 million to get the project off the ground. Robbie is GVCA board chairperson and has been central to the vision of this project from the beginning, says Walton.

For more information, visit gvcreates.org/the-artery.

Originally published in the summer 2026 issue of Spoke+Blossom.