The art gallery owner

Stomach pains, barely making the bills, calming the kids while satisfying a customer.

This is the cost of pursuing passion.

Mindy Clark had a steady job with benefits. She taught kids at Davis High School, her alma mater, to think about art, to integrate it into the rest of their studies.

But it wasn’t enough. She wanted to make learning about art accessible to the public. She had left Davis for the chance to teach at-risk kids, but that didn’t turn out to be the right choice, either.

That’s where the stomach pains started.

Clark, 35, sacrificed her retirement fund to open Red Gallery and Studios at 30 N. Third St. The gallery has been open since April 2007, and Clark thrives on the fact that she is pursuing her dream of creating a community arts center.

“I want everyone to have a venue for their art — even a child. I don’t think it should be out of reach,” Clark said in an interview at the gallery.

Children throng into the place for after-school art classes, and more than 20 emerging or less-established artists have joined the gallery cooperative.

The artists pay a small monthly fee to show their art at the gallery and use studio space. In return, they help staff the gallery during public hours and assist with other tasks of running the place.

Regardless, art doesn’t come easily to Yakima, and dreams don’t pay the bills. Clark needs every dollar to pay the rent and other bills; she’s close enough to the edge that she can’t afford to pay her own co-op fee to show in the gallery.

Doesn’t matter. Clark says she hopes to see the venture flourish. If need be, she will move into a smaller space, perhaps seek nonprofit status.

Her husband, Jeff Clark, who owns his own business, has supported her along the way. He takes care of much of the housework, among other duties.

The busy mix of gallery owner, mother and wife is obvious. Clark’s two young children spend time at the gallery, and she sometimes has to take care of them while waiting on customers. These customers are gracious about it and seem to understand, she says.

Clark has been drawing since an early age and was surrounded by artistic relatives while growing up. Her grandparents took her to see sheep being sheared in order to understand where the wool came from.

That foundation has carried forward to her current instruction. She wants students to realize that art fits into the rest of life, too — it’s not just a half-hour class tacked onto the end of the day.

This is the reward of following passion, regardless of the stomach pains.

“I feel so good. It’s really good for my soul,” Clark said.