(WSB photos)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

An empty-for-a-while South Delridge space is filling up fast with dreams and plans.

Artist Jake Prendez and partner Judy Avitia-Gonzalez are transforming the storefront at 9414 Delridge Way SW into Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery. It will be a place to share, show, learn, explore, and sell art – a place they hope will connect an art-making and art-loving community that is otherwise “fragmented,” scattered around the region.

Nepantla, in the Aztec language Nahuatl, “describes being in the middle or the space in the middle,” explains their flyer about the project, continuing:

The term was popularized by Chicana writer/scholar Gloria Anzaldua. Most often the term references endangered communities, cultures, or genders who, due to colonialism/marginalization or historical trauma, engage in resistance strategies of survival. Nepantla becomes the alternative space in which to live, heal, function, and create.

Jake lives in West Seattle; Judy, in White Center, where she went to high school at Evergreen. She is especially excited about the prospect of workshops for youth: “We didn’t have anything like this,” particularly a place where the area’s growing Latino population can feel welcome.

Creating this space in this area is important to them both. Jake says he was getting offers to take over spaces elsewhere – Columbia City and Beacon Hill, for example – but wanted to hold out for “the perfect space.” This one, he is certain – found by Judy – is it.

And others share his vision. He says a youth arts program he’s been running at the Rainier Cultural Arts Center in Columbia City for Northwest Folklife will move to Nepantla once it’s open, with its 13-to-18-year-old participants in the program, Próxima Generación, meeting every other Wednesday afternoon/evening.

Workshops for adults will be offered too, and collaborative events where people can “work together (and) learn from each other,” Jake says. He also expects new gallery shows each month – focused on marginalized communities – and retail space where locals can sell their work. “Not just my stuff!” he smiles – though his work will bring a national reputation – here’s some of what he showed us during our conversation:

(7 Generations of Genetic Memory, by Jake Prendez)

(Santa Selena and Artista, by Jake Prendez)

From retail to workshop space, it will all be housed in Nepantla’s ~1,100 square feet (between Fresh Flours and Hoang Kim), as well as some furniture visitors can use to “engage with the space” – armchairs, for example.

Both Jake and Judy have lived in Los Angeles and say their inspiration is from many community spaces they’ve encountered there. And they know Nepantla will evolve “once the community starts engaging.” Already, while it’s still taking its initial shape, “a lot of folks are asking, ‘what can I do?'” Jake says.

One answer: They’re crowdfunding to help cover the cost of the buildout, which is already well under way. A grant from 4Culture is helping too – though the second half isn’t available until they’re open. When we visited earlier this week, they were working on the walls and the floors, and a point of pride for a community space, an all-new restroom.

They hope Nepantla will be open sometime in December. You can help support it by going here.