RUMFORD – The track lights are up, the hardwood floor is bright and shiny, and the newly installed revolving door is about to do just that.

All that’s left is the hanging of dozens of works of art from River Valley artists.

Work on the town’s first commercial art gallery, known as the Pennacook Arts Center, has been under way for months.

Now, gallery manager Betsy Bell and owner Lem Cissel are looking for water color and oil artists, sculptors, photographers and other visual artists to bring their work to the Congress Street site for possible acceptance as a part of the gallery’s first exhibit.

The exhibit, scheduled for sometime in late spring or very early summer, will focus on River Valley artists, said Bell.

“We want a place for artists to display their works and to sell them,” said Bell, a third year college student in the arts at the University of Maine at Farmington and Augusta.

Bell, from Rumford, is an illustrator, graphic artist, calligrapher and sometime painter.

Artists interested in submitting works should contact Bell at 364-9972 to schedule an appointment for review of artworks. She is generally in the gallery Tuesdays through Fridays from 2 to 5 p.m. An artist may bring a maximum of six works. Cissel will choose up to three for display.

As the gallery develops, Bell said specific theme shows may be held. But right now, it’s a time to meet the local artists, she said.

The major portion of the gallery is on the Congress Street front. Smaller galleries will be set up at the rear of the main gallery in two rooms and the hallway.

Besides traditional fine arts, Bell said management is looking for creators of handmade jewelry, as well. Prints may be accepted in the future.

“I believe the area is on an economic upswing,” said Bell. “I see the gallery as adding to that. Much more is going on in the arts and culturally with the whole creative economy concept.”

While the gallery is preparing to open, a River Valley Arts community group is also getting itself organized. Becky Welsh, coordinator of the River Valley Arts Initiative, is about ready to have published a directory of more than a hundred visual and performing artists, writers, poets and others involved in the art community.

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