at Salt Hill Gallery

This magazine is all about noteworthy happenings. We tell the stories of those individuals and businesses making the FM area what it is, a busy and evolving region full of entrepreneurs, creatives and doers. When Taylor Mertz founded and opened Salt Hill Gallery, she also introduced a new concept to the area: wearable art.

Taylor

Owner

Everything about the gallery screams new, modern, stylish and chic—even the location. The storefront is located in a ground-level space in the new RDO Tower, looking out to Broadway Square and one of the busiest intersections downtown. With huge, wide windows covering most of the front-facing walls, natural light pours into the gallery from mid-morning through the early afternoon during the winter months and a majority of the day during the warmer seasons.

This light fills the mid-size room, glistening off the glass bottles of fine fragrance and other apothecaries in the east end of the room, illuminating the velvet and wood furnishing centering the store, shining into the crystal clear cases lining the west wall and reflecting more sparkle

Geneva

Taylor Mertz moved to Fargo about four years ago. After having her fourth child, Taylor’s schedule was adjusted to allow her more time at home. Change also inspired her motivation to devote more time to her creative endeavors. Her personal interest in

“I began working on Salt Hill Gallery approximately two years ago, first building relationships with the artists we represent and planning for collections. We launched an online preview sale as a test. I then participated in business planning with Paul Smith at the

Winter and Winter Nights fragrances, cult favorites by indie fragrance house Dasein!

ND Small Business Development Center and with Emerging Prairie's Women's Entrepreneurship Cohort,” she said. “Both guided me in conducting market research, developing a business and financial plan, and implementing a strategy. We opened our doors to the public in September 2022 and are rapidly expanding our collections.”

When hearing the words collection and gallery, one might think that Salt Hill Gallery is predominantly an art gallery; while it's true to say that it showcases art within its walls, Salt Hill Gallery is essentially a jewelry store. They display and sell a variety of different jewelry collections from different artists, as well as collected vintage pieces.

Taylor carefully chose what artists she wanted to work with to build her jewelry collection.

“The artists we work with are incredibly talented, and we feel we best represent their work by offering a collection that showcases the breadth of their talent. By working with a core group of artists, we can show the collection well, and we can continue to support their creative process and grow with their evolving work,” she said. admiring manner but also in a way that they can touch, feel and even try on the pieces if they’d like—a bonus if they decide to take them home and add them to their personal collection.

The artists featured in the store come from all over. They feature regional artists from Minneapolis, such as Betty Jäger and Emily C. Johnson, and more from across the country, as well as a few from the U.K. and Paris.

New jewelry is added to the store’s display cases weekly, whether they are new acquisitions to the vintage and antique collection or new work from those existing artists.

Taylor revealed that they plan to open collections from some notable new artists in the upcoming weeks and months, and those will be featured online at salthillgallery.com You can follow and look out for new releases on the gallery’s Instagram, @salthillgallery where they typically announce those!

Salt Hill Gallery is, at its essence, a jewelry store. That said, I do consider jewelry to be art you wear—tiny sculptures that move with you throughout your day. Because the collections are best experienced when thoughtfully displayed, and in a manner that highlights the materials and skills that make up each piece, we have chosen to exhibit the collections in a gallery-like setting. Hence, Salt Hill is both a showroom and retail space. It's a jewelry store that exhibits jewelry as a collection of artwork made by artists.” - Taylor

Mertz

113

Through a partnership with a European jeweler, beautiful antique rings, brooches and lockets have made their way to their gallery!

social networks. That support thankfully continues, and we have experienced a rapidly expanding customer base from across the country, thanks in large part to interest in the

Duma is thrilled to showcase the Puppet Area, which wouldn't be complete without over a dozen pretty outrageous puppets!

By Grant Ayers