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It’s been hard keeping a dedicated private art gallery going in Tacoma over the last few years. Traditional galleries like Traver and Sandpiper have closed and hipster venues like Fulcrum have become sporadic, leaving the scene largely comprised of temporary Spaceworks sites, corporate-gallery-cum-frame shops and artist cooperatives, with a few businesses squeezing in art on the side.
Enter B2 Fine Art Gallery, which opened five years ago and has managed to rotate a stable of around 45 national and international artists in six or seven regular shows per year while working to integrate Tacoma’s gallery scene. It’s partly the high-quality art that has helped B2 thrive — like this month’s anniversary show of three regional abstract artists, “Driven to Abstraction.” But it helps to have a few other things on your side, said co-owner Gary Boone.