In 1985 Jeanne Kronsnoble and an artist friend opened a studio in  Clayton, Georgia, where they could create and display their own art work. Before long, Jeanne’s interest in the local folk art became a passion and she began traveling the back roads throughout the Southeast to meet artists, hear their stories and collect their work.  In 1996, the gallery moved into a larger historic storefront space to showcase the work of these self-taught artists. The three floors of the gallery abound with artwork by over seventy-five artists. The work includes wood, metal, and found object sculpture, as well as primitive furniture, paintings and Southern folk pottery. Recently, fine art, jewelry, and international pottery were added, but contemporary folk art is still the specialty.

Main Street Gallery has evolved over the years into one of the premier folk art galleries in the United States, and has been featured in such publications as Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens, and the New York Times.

Five among the gallery’s 75 artists are featured in this Brown’ Guide Gallery:

JOHN “CORNBREAD” ANDERSON is one of the most popular folk painters featured at Main Street Gallery. Most people know him best by his childhood nickname – Cornbread. He was raised on a farm in Lumpkin County, Georgia where he still lives. Like most country kids, he was fascinated by critters and loved to hunt in the woods, fish in the ponds, chase the farm animals around. As an adult and artist he harkens back to these experiences and records them in his paintings. Cornbread is known for a vibrant color palette and an energetic, strong style, mostly working on large panels of wood. Fox, quail, guinea hens, raccoons, deer and fish are among his favorite subjects.

DORETHEY GORHAM is one of the gallery’s most talented artists. She paints colorful landscapes and interiors in a flat style and with a great deal of detail. Her works of art are alive with activity and joy. In her interior scenes, we see intimate glimpses of family life; in her exteriors, we see thriving, busy communities. In both venues the viewer senses Dorethey’s belief in the absolute connection between man/woman and God in even the most basic aspects of every day life.

JEFFERY KRONSNOBLE earned his Bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and his MFA from the University of Michigan in 1963. That year, he was hired by the University of South Florida and continued on the faculty there until his retirement in 2005. Throughout his career he has been dedicated to his studio work and exhibited regionally and nationally in group and solo shows. A 25 year retrospective exhibition of his work was presented in 1990 at the Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland and traveled to museums in Melbourne, Hollywood and Ft. Myers.  In the summer of 2008 he was featured in a one-person exhibition, “Notes on the 19th, 20th and 21st Centuries,” at the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia.  Of his art, Museum Curator Jay Williams says, “Kronsnoble’s paintings and drawings are poetic commentaries - he calls them ‘notes’ - about the struggle between order and chaos in modern life and contemporary art.”Kronsnoble’s art includes a range of traditions – from landscapes, portraits and abstractions to mixed media collages, assemblages and large-scale dioramas. His work is represented in the permanent collections of art museums in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Jacksonville, New Orleans and in over 200 public, corporate and private collections.  Today he resides in Tiger, GA and Tampa, FL.

KAREN CRONER was born and raised in Arizona. She went on to San Francisco State University where she earned a B.A. in Anthropology.  Her sculptures are inspired by her childhood, her education, and her love of wildlife. She began creating papier mache works of art ten years ago when her young son asked her to make him a dragon sculpture. She fell in love with the art form. Each of her creatures is one-of-a-kind, inspired by a lot of research, photos and up-close looks at the real thing. She makes the pieces by hand and builds the sculpture with wire, then adds several layers, at least half a dozen, of papier mache, using different types of paper. She adds details with shredded paper pulp or paper clay, and then paints with acrylics and finishes it with a coat of acrylic urethane for moisture protection and durability.  These are heirloom works of art.

TOM & KAREN CASSARA are a retired couple who collaborate to make critters out of gourds. The Cassaras are both from New York and moved to Atlanta in 1972.   They owned a hair styling business until they retired in 1999. Looking around for good retirement projects, Karen started painting animals on river rocks and then one day found an interesting book on painting gourds. She thought this could be something she and Tom could do together and it has become a second business for them. Karen does the designing and painting while Tom does the preparation, cutting, and carving. They are known for the charming personalities of their critters.