Northwest by Northwest Gallery

Copying my post from the other listing for this gallery too:
We recently visited Canon Beach for our anniversary and decided a great piece of art would be an awesome gift for our many years together. We visited every gallery in town having a very pleasant experience, that is until we entered North By Northwest. I casually asked if they were connected to the gallery next door because I saw a work that appeared to take a similar approach to the subject matter. Boy was that a mistake. I felt like I was suddenly transported into an episode of Portlandia as I was thoroughly and dramatically chewed out. The level of drama was actually comical. The woman at one point said «I’m going to go outside and bang my head on the concrete for ten minutes!» The man repeatedly told me as he followed me around the gallery how offensive I had been. OK, maybe I have a lot to learn about shopping for art, but why wouldn’t these sellers have seen this as an opportunity to teach me about the art and artists they were exhibiting? They could have helped make me a loyal patron for many years to come. Despite their rudeness, we stuck it out in their gallery for a few minutes because we really were interested in buying a beautiful original piece. It was only when they realized we were serious purchasers that they started to apologize for their rudeness, which just totally soured us. So we took our thousands and spent it at another gallery. I’m writing this in the hopes that the artist’s represented in this gallery will read this. In my humble, unsophisticated opinion, great artists should not be represented by people like this.

This business is listed, for some reason, under two different names (perhaps they changed gallery names). After posting my review to the other name (North by Northwest), I realized the correct name for the business is this one… so I am posting my review to both names. As it is there are only four reviews on the other listing and mine seems to be the first under this name.
Way to scare off customers… bravo! I saw a previous review (which is under the other business name) talking about photography as well and their comment was how did the woman know that they were not someone loaded who wanted to buy a ridiculous amount of art. Well, I am not loaded… however, I do buy art and was going to make a purchase at this gallery. I had never been to this gallery before this weekend. I visit art galleries and frequently take photos of art and the tags so I can research artists. I post photos with the artist name, gallery name and also info about them I find — I have even had friends who wanted to go to that gallery to get pieces from artists based on my posts. I have a lot of friends who are artists and I promote them as well. As a fellow artist, I also love looking up different painting techniques etc out of curiosity and admiration. My favorites are pottery, paint, and sculpture. Most of the artwork I own is from a few galleries in Cannon Beach and I have never given photography at galleries a second thought. All the other galleries are amazingly friendly. The gallery I visited right before this one I was joking with the lady helping us because I took photos of half the gallery in between my purchases of this gorgeous raku piece, an amazing print and cards. She was encouraging me to take a photo of this rare piece they had in their back area by a favorite local artist of mine and was encouraging me to take pictures of everything and making sure I had artist cards with as much info as possible — we made plans to come back in June for their outdoor festival to meet some of the artists we own works from and will probably add more to my collection.
With that said, I walked into this gallery and after looking around with my husband, I see this gorgeous glass bowl. So I took a photo of it on the table with my cell phone as it was presented which is my tradition when I plan to make a purchase… and then I started to snap a photo of the artist name to make sure I have it — usually the gallery has an artist statement they include but for art glass it is harder to store with the item. Plus then I have a picture of the original tag with the name of the piece on it. With pottery I store it inside and with a painting I always have my framer include it mounted to the back of the piece protected for me. So, as I snap the photo, I hear behind me the woman behind the counter start lecturing me about taking photos and how it is illegal is Oregon and copyright infringement and on and on and on and on… pretty much chasing me out of their gallery. I get it… I do… especially after she tells me this story about someone she heard of whose jewelry business was put under by some Chinese company reproducing her work for cheap or something like that. And then tells me about someone trying to capture every detail about an art piece. And not to be a bitch… BUT seriously… it does suck people reproduce works like that but you might want to hang signs and telling me or assuming what I will be doing with a crappy camera phone photo. Apparently this gallery must not post photos of any piece of artwork in their gallery online to promote their artists? If I buy something here and post it to the internet to show off an amazing piece I purchased with the artist name I might have the gallery owner show up at my house to arrest me?
Well, I deleted the photos since most artists are just at their chosen gallery and I will not step foot in here again — and I really wanted that gorgeous bowl. I doubt the woman even realized I was about to buy the bowl. I honestly was so taken aback by her hostility that I just said I take photos of artist names so I can research them and we left fast — I want a pleasant experience when I purchase art and I love my memories of each each I collect — not a lecture by some boring person leaving a bad taste with it. I am sure they get plenty of people who buy things there — I think they have been there a long time and they are right next to the only spa in Cannon Beach so they probably get a lot of exposure that way. Right after leaving this gallery I discovered another favorite gallery is closed after the owner decided to retire so the rest of my art budget was spent on home goods at Sesame and Lilies… If you would like a list of places which would like your money and good conversation in Cannon Beach look to my Coastal Perfection list which I add to every visit.