The Goldmark Cultural Center is located at 13999-14001 Goldmark Drive in North Dallas, at the epicenter of a Bermuda Triangle made up of a Sonic, a Walmart, and a Micro Center. It’s the kind of indoor/outdoor office complex that was cool when it was built in 1977 but where now the owner plays classical music in the parking lot to shoo away the vagrants.
The owner is Chin-Chin Yeh. She’s a former human rights attorney, and the property used to be her parents’. But when commercial tenants became scarce, Yeh needed another option. Her friend Du Chau, a pathology technical coordinator at Methodist Medical Center and an artist, suggested that she turn the long hallways of glass-fronted offices into low-cost studio spaces. It could be a co-working space for artists, with a gallery and a gift shop. They could help cover costs by hosting art classes, and the tenants could share equipment and lunch.
So in 2017, that’s what they did. Of the 110 office spaces, nearly half are now occupied by a range of artists including theatrical costume makers, ceramicists, photographers, and oil painters.
Yeh is hosting an art walk this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be studio open houses, demonstrations, music, and art for sale. From 2 to 4 p.m. in the on-site John H. Milde Gallery, you can attend a reception for Ben Muñoz (who I profiled in the May issue) and view the incredible oversize prints in his exhibition, “¿Qué Más Quieres?” And you, too, can be an artist for the day. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., join Dallas Art Therapy, one of the Goldmark’s tenants, and help paint a mural. Or buy one of the 100 miniature works of art for $100 to support their art therapy for mental health services.
Then skip the Sonic. First Chinese BBQ is just up Greenville Avenue.
