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On a recent Saturday in December, Deborah Webster and Beth Ross opened the red doors of Madrone Arts, an art gallery on Stage Road in Pescadero, and let the sun filter through their new exhibit on winter themed 3D. The exhibit marked a year in operation for the gallery, which has featured the work of nearly 40 local artists. Bill Bishop, an 84-year-old artist from La Honda and co-op member of Madrone since its opening, showed up early to hang a new work. Bishop, a retired filmmaker, specializes in composite photographs that involve layering photographs on a background and blending colors to create abstract art. The process takes weeks, sometimes months, said Bishop, who keeps his trove of finished work in the gallery’s storage drawers to quickly replace pieces that have sold. Since joining the co-op, Bishop said interacting with local artists influences both his work and his life. “I’m not isolated,” when at the gallery, he said. As he gave an impromptu tour of fellow artists’ work, he spoke proudly about what the gallery has become over its short tenure: a source of community and artistic inspiration to artists and locals alike. “I really believe in this gallery,” he said. Madrone was the brainchild of a group of local artists who sought a stronger creative community in the rural coastside. Ross, another one of the 12 founding members who started the gallery in 2023, and a Pescadero local for more than two decades, wanted a place to show her composite photography. She soon found herself at the helm of the group, serving as the chair of marketing and tasked with seeking out local talent. “There are a lot of artists around here, you just have to reach out and find those people,” she said. Madrone’s steady group of 12 members pay dues to be a part of Madrone, which operates as a co-op. This grants them entry to show their work at the gallery at its weekend exhibitions throughout the year. The gallery has also featured 27 other “consignment artists,” non-members who Ross has sought out to show their work at one of Madrone’s exhibits. A year after it opened, “the community is really strong,” said Ross. Madrone, whose building is a collaborative work of art itself—its natural look of slab concrete flooring and redwood benches were built and refinished in a large part by volunteers—now hosts workshops and art-based events. Not just about art skills, workshops have been led on how to develop a sales database online or how to market more effectively. “Artists aren’t generally marketers,” said Webster, a founding member of Madrone and former Silicon Valley biotechnology executive, who seeks to help members build their reach and sales. While marketing skills are important, Webster said, the gallery is centered around community, not selling. “We don’t aspire to self-fund by the sales,” she said. We are here to “encourage artists to be able to express themselves with art that resonates with a theme and build the art community.” While Webster estimates that sales are roughly the same as other local art galleries, financial sustainability has come from the gallery’s events, workshops and contributions of local artists and donors. More surprisingly, said Ross, is the sense of community that has formed this year. “When the space is animated with people, it takes on a sense of place that I haven’t felt that strongly before, and a sense of community.” For the 40 to 50 people visitors that filter into the gallery during the weekends to gaze, there has been meaning for them, too, said Webster. Where many art galleries can be stiff and intimidating, Webster said Madrone is attempting to create a different kind of experience. “What I try to say to people when they stick their head in, because some people are intimidated by art galleries, is ‘I don’t want you to feel pressure to buy,’” instead, just to engage, Webster said. Tom Dodd, who came to tour the gallery just as it opened Saturday, said he always comes as soon as a new exhibit opens. Beyond anything else, he said, plain and simple, “It’s really good quality work.” Many of the artists are friends, he added. “That they have this in Pescadero, it’s just great.” Rosemary Munnerlyn, who was visiting from Santa Cruz with her mother, wandered into the open doors of the gallery while passing by. The pair walked through the sunlit gallery together, pausing at the sculptures, paintings and harder to define works to discuss or sometimes just silently observe. Munnerlyn said she didn’t know the gallery was here, but “I’m really glad we popped in. It’s really cool.” A year, three exhibitions, hundreds of visitors, and dozens of works of art later, the gallery is here to stay, said Ross. And its impact, she said, is growing as more communities learn about the gallery through word of mouth and marketing. For makers and visitors alike, said Webster, “I hope it’s changing the mindset around art.”